84R22443 BPG-D
By: Springer, Frank, Phillips, VanDeaver, H.C.R. No. 113
Geren
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The Red River Boundary Compact of 2000 set the
boundary between Texas and Oklahoma at the vegetation line on the
south bank of the Red River, with the exception of the Texoma area,
where the boundary is established pursuant to procedures outlined
in the agreement; and
WHEREAS, In 2013, the United States Bureau of Land Management
began developing a resource management plan for the use of land
along a 116-mile stretch of the Red River; it claims that as many as
90,000 acres in Texas may actually be part of federal lands and
would therefore be public land under a 1923 Supreme Court ruling;
and
WHEREAS, Many Texas residents have held title to this land
for generations, and they have been paying property taxes on the
land while cultivating and maintaining it; the boundary between the
states was settled in 2000 for legal jurisdiction, when the U.S.
Congress ratified the compact, but now, confusion over the boundary
threatens the value of this privately owned land and makes it
difficult for property owners to make informed decisions concerning
its disposition and their livelihoods; and
WHEREAS, Private property rights are the bedrock of a free
society, and the actions of the Bureau of Land Management with
regard to land covered by the Red River Boundary Compact are an
egregious example of federal overreach; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 84th Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to direct the
Bureau of Land Management to affirm the provisions of the Red River
Boundary Compact and to acknowledge that the vegetation line on the
south bank of the Red River forms the boundary between Oklahoma and
Texas; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the secretary of the United States Department of the Interior, to
the director of the United States Bureau of Land Management, to the
president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.