SB 255

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                                      SENATE BILL NO. 255
                    IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA
                   THIRTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE - SECOND SESSION
 BY SENATOR YUNDT
 Introduced: 2/23/26
 Referred: Community and Regional Affairs, Resources
                                               A BILL
                                    FOR AN ACT ENTITLED
1  "An Act relating to the selection and conveyance of municipal general grant lands;
2  providing for the transfer of real property to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough; and
3  providing for an effective date."
4  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:
5    * Section 1. AS 29.65.050(b) is amended to read:
6(b) All approved selections under former AS 29.18.190 and 29.18.200 for
7which patent has not been issued to a municipality on July 1, 1978, shall be reviewed
8by the director within nine months after July 1, 1978. Any approved selection of land
9that was vacant, unappropriated, unreserved land on the date of selection is valid as of
10the date of the approval under former AS 29.18.190, 29.18.200, 29.18.201, 29.18.202,
11and 29.18.203, and a patent shall be issued to the municipality within three months
12after approval by the director of a plat of survey or upon the director's receipt of
13notice from the municipality that it will accept the land without a survey under
14AS 29.65.070(a). The acreage shall be credited toward fulfillment of the
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1municipality's entitlement. A municipality is not entitled to receive patent under this
2chapter to more than its entitlement determined under AS 29.65.010 - 29.65.030. Any
3prior approval by the director of municipal selections for land that was not vacant,
4unappropriated, unreserved land on the date of selection shall be rescinded, and patent
5may not be issued except when disposal to a third party by sale or lease has occurred.
6Transfers of land to municipalities under this chapter are subject to AS 38.05.321.
7Classification actions as reflected on the land status records of the Department of
8Natural Resources are determinative of land classification status for purposes of this
9chapter.
10  * Sec. 2. AS 29.65.050(c) is amended to read:
11(c) The director shall approve or disapprove each selection for patent within
12nine months of its selection by a municipality. Before a decision is issued, the
13Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development shall review the
14selection and recommend approval or disapproval of it. The director may disapprove a
15selection only upon a finding that the public interest in retaining state ownership of the
16land outweighs the municipality's interest in obtaining the land. If the director
17determines that the public interest in land selected in satisfaction of an entitlement
18under AS 29.65.010(a)(13), (14), (15), or (16) can be adequately protected by issuing
19a patent that is subject to stipulations, conditions, or covenants, and if the municipality
20agrees to accept the land subject to those stipulations, conditions, or covenants, the
21director may approve a selection that would otherwise be disapproved and may issue
22the patent with the stipulations, conditions, or covenants agreed to by the municipality.
23A patent shall be issued to the municipality for land selected in satisfaction of a
24general grant land entitlement vested under AS 29.65.010 - 29.65.030 within three
25months after
26(1) approval by the director of a plat of survey; or
27(2) the director's receipt of notice from the municipality that it will
28accept the land without a survey under AS 29.65.070(a).
29  * Sec. 3. AS 29.65.070(a) is amended to read:
30(a) If land selected by a municipality is not surveyed [UNSURVEYED] at the
31time of approval, the director may [SHALL] survey, or may approve the
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1municipality's survey of, the exterior boundaries of an approved selection without
2interior subdivision, and, for surveyed land, shall issue patent in terms of the exterior
3boundary survey. The cost of the survey shall be borne by the municipality. If land
4selected by a municipality has been surveyed at the time of its selection, the
5boundaries shall conform to the public land subdivisions established by the approved
6survey. A municipality may request a patent for land that has not been surveyed.
7The director may issue a patent for an approved selection that has not been
8surveyed if the municipality has provided notice that it will accept the land
9without a survey. In issuing a patent for a parcel of land that has not been
10surveyed, the director shall issue a patent that includes sufficient detail to
11describe the exterior boundary of the selection.
12  * Sec. 4. AS 38.04.045(b) is amended to read:
13(b) Except as provided in AS 29.65.070, before [BEFORE] the issuance of a
14long-term lease under AS 38.05.070 or of a patent for state land, an official cadastral
15survey shall be accomplished, unless a comparable, approved survey exists that has
16been conducted by the federal Bureau of Land Management. Before land may be
17offered under AS 38.08 or AS 38.09, or before land may be offered under
18AS 38.05.055 or 38.05.057, except land that is classified for agricultural uses, an
19official rectangular survey grid shall be established. The rectangular survey section
20corner positions shall be monumented and shown on a cadastral survey plat approved
21by the state. For those areas where the state may wish to convey surface estate outside
22of an official rectangular survey grid, the commissioner may waive monumentation of
23individual section corner positions and substitute an official control survey with
24control points being monumented and shown on control survey plats approved by the
25state. The commissioner may not issue more than one conveyance for each section
26within a township outside of an official rectangular survey grid. Land to be conveyed
27may not be located more than two miles from an official survey control monument
28except that the commissioner may waive this requirement on a determination that a
29single purpose use does not justify the requirement if the existing status of the land is
30known with reasonable certainty. The lots and tracts in state subdivisions shall be
31monumented and the cadastral survey and plats for the subdivision shall be approved
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1by the state. Where land is located within a municipality with planning, platting, and
2zoning powers, plats for state subdivisions shall comply with local ordinances and
3regulations in the same manner and to the same extent as plats for subdivisions by
4other landowners. State subdivisions shall be filed and recorded in the district
5recorder's office. The requirements of this section do not apply to land made available
6for material sales, for short-term leases, for parcels adjoining a surveyed right-of-way,
7or for land that has been open to random staking under the homestead program in the
8past; however, for short-term leases, the lessee shall comply with local subdivision
9ordinances unless waived by the municipality under procedures specified by
10ordinance. In this subsection, "a single purpose use" includes a communication site, an
11aid to navigation, and a park site.
12  * Sec. 5. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to
13 read:
14TRANSFER        OF    REAL      PROPERTY       TO     THE     MATANUSKA-SUSITNA
15 BOROUGH. (a) The director of lands shall convey the state's interests in the surface estate of
16 the six parcels of land described in (b) of this section to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough in
17 partial fulfilment of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough's general grant of land determined under
18 AS 29.65.010(a)(11) and shall credit the acreage transferred under this Act toward fulfillment
19 of the borough's entitlement. Notwithstanding the requirements of AS 29.65.050, as amended
20 by secs. 1 and 2 of this Act, and AS 29.65.070, as amended by sec. 3 of this Act, that the
21 director of lands may issue a patent for a parcel of land that has not been surveyed after
22 receiving notice from the municipality that it will accept the patent without survey, municipal
23 notice is not required for the transfer of land under this section that has not been surveyed.
24(b) The six parcels of land subject to this Act are identified as follows:
25(1) approximately 251 acres, identified by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough as
26 parcel no. 212784;
27(2) approximately 640 acres, identified by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough as
28 parcel no. 214413;
29(3) approximately 39 acres, identified by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough as
30 parcel no. 206599;
31(4) approximately 319 acres, identified by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough as
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1 parcel no. 214259;
2(5) approximately five acres, identified by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough as
3 parcel no. 541327;
4(6) approximately 11 acres, identified by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough as
5 parcel no. 201355.
6  * Sec. 6. This Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).
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