|
|
|
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 85th 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. |