Art. 6077o. LEASING FOR OIL AND GAS  

1. A Board is hereby created to consist of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, one (1) citizen of the state, appointed by the Attorney General with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall serve for a term of two (2) years, and the chairman of the Parks and Wildlife Commission, who shall perform the duties hereinafter indicated; the Board shall be known as the "Board for Lease of State Park Lands." The term "Board" wherever it appears hereafter in this Act shall mean the Board for Lease of State Park Lands. This Board shall keep a complete record in writing of all its proceedings.

Authority of Board

Sec. 2. The Board hereinabove created is hereby authorized to lease to any person or persons, firm or corporation subject to, and as provided for in this Act, for prospecting, or exploring for and mining, producing, storing, caring for, transporting, preserving and disposing of the oil and/or gas therein to all lands or parcels of same included in the following State Parks, to wit: Abilene State Park, Balmorhea State Park, Bastrop State Park, Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, Buescher State Park, Big Spring State Park, Blanco State Park, Bonham State Park, Caddo Lake State Park, Cleburne State Park, Daingerfield State Park, Davis Mountains State Park, Fort Griffin State Park, Fort Parker State Park, Old Fort Parker State Park, Frio State Park, Garner State Park, Goose Island State Park, Huntsville State Park, Inks Lake State Park, Jim Hogg State Park, Kerrville State Park, Lake Corpus Christi State Park, Longhorn Cavern State Park, MacKenzie State Park, Meridian State Park, Mineral Wells State Park, Mother Neff State Park, Palmetto State Park, Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Possum Kingdom State Park, San Jose Mission State Park, Stephen F. Austin State Park, Thirty-sixth Division State Park, Tyler State Park, Independence State Park, Barreda State Park, Jeff Davis State Park, Katemcy State Park, Love's Lookout State Park, Robinson State Park, Tips State Park, Fannin State Park, Goliad State Park, Gonzales State Park, Kings State Park, Governor James Stephen Hogg Memorial Shrine, Lipantitlan State Park, Acton State Park, and Monument Hill State Park.

Survey and Subdivision; Abstracts of Title

Sec. 3. The Board is hereby authorized to cause State Park lands to be surveyed and subdivided into such lots or blocks as will be conducive or convenient to facilitate the advantageous sale of oil and/or gas leases thereon and identify such lots and blocks by permanent markings on the ground, and to make such maps and plats as may be thought necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act. The Board shall forthwith obtain authentic abstracts of title to such State Park lands, and cause same to be examined by the Attorney General who shall file written opinions thereon, and said Board shall take such steps as may be necessary to perfect a merchantable title to such lands in the State of Texas. Such Abstracts of Title and the Attorney General's opinion thereon shall be held on file in the General Land Office as public documents for the inspection of any prospective purchasers of oil and gas leases on said lands.

Advertisement for Bids

Sec. 4. Whenever, in the opinion of the Board, there shall be such a demand for the purchase of oil and/or gas leases on any lot or tract of said land as will reasonably insure an advantageous sale, the Board shall place such oil and gas in said land on the market in such blocks or lots as the Board may designate. It shall cause to be advertised a brief description of the land from which the oil and gas is proposed to be sold, and that sealed bids for the purchase of said oil and/or gas by lease will be opened at designated day, at ten o'clock a.m. that day, and that sealed bids received up to that time will be considered. Said advertisements shall be made:

(a) By insertion in two or more papers of general circulation in this State.

(b) By mailing a copy thereof to the county clerk and county judge of every county in this State in which an advertised area may be situated.

(c) In addition to the two foregoing the Board may in its discretion cause advertisement to be placed in oil and gas journals in and out of the State, and to be mailed generally to such persons as they think might be interested.

Bidding

Sec. 5. All bids shall be directed to the said Board in care of the General Land Office of the State of Texas, and shall be retained by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, until the day designated for the opening of bids, and upon that day the said Board, or a majority of its members, shall open said bids and shall list and file and register all bids and money received. A separate bid shall be made for each whole survey or subdivision thereof. No bid shall be accepted which offers a royalty of less than one-eighth (1/8th) of the gross production of oil and/or gas in the land bid upon, and this minimum royalty may be increased at the discretion of the Board, all members concurring, before the promulgation of the advertisement of the land. Every bid shall carry the obligation to pay an amount not less than One Dollar ($1) per acre for delay in drilling, such amount to be fixed by the Board in advance of the advertisement, and which shall be paid every year for five (5) years, unless in the meantime production in paying quantities is had upon the land.

Payments Accompanying Bids; Requisites of Bids

Sec. 6. Every bid shall be accompanied by a payment equal to the minimum price fixed on the land per acre for the delay in drilling if the bid is accepted. The bid shall further indicate the royalty the bidder is willing to pay, which royalty shall not be less than one-eighth (1/8th) of the gross production. The bid shall further name such amount as the bidder may be willing to pay in addition to the royalty and in the annual payment herein provided for, and shall be accompanied by cash or checks collectable in Austin to cover said amounts.

Lease or Sale

Sec. 7. If any one of the bidders shall have offered a reasonable and proper price therefor, and less than the price fixed by the Board, the lands advertised, or any whole survey or subdivision thereof, may be leased for oil and/or gas purposes under the terms of this Act, and such regulations as the Board may prescribe, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act. If after any bidding by sealed bids the Board should reject all bids, as it is hereby authorized to do, it may thereafter offer for sale and sell the oil and/or gas in said lands, in separate whole surveys only or subdivisions thereof, by open public auction at a price less than the price offered by the sealed bids. All bids may be rejected. In the event of no sale at public auction, any subsequent procedure for the sale of said oil and gas leases shall be in the manner above provided.

Filing Bids; Discontinuance of Yearly Payments; Termination of Lease

Sec. 8. If the Board shall determine that a satisfactory bid has been received for said oil and gas, it shall be filed in the General Land Office. Whenever the royalties shall amount to as much as the yearly payment as fixed by the Board, the yearly payment may be discontinued. If before the expiration of three (3) years oil and/or gas shall not have been produced in paying quantities, the lease shall terminate.

Rentals Not Payable During Drilling Operations; Discovery of Oil or Gas

Sec. 9. If during the term of any lease issued under the provisions of this Act the lessee shall be engaged in actual drilling operations for the discovery of oil and/or gas on land covered by any such lease, no rentals shall be payable as to the tract on which such operations are being conducted so long as such operations are proceeding in good faith; and in the event oil or gas is discovered in paying quantities on any tract of land covered by any such lease, then the lease as to such tract shall remain in force so long as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities from such tract. In the event of the discovery of oil and/or gas on any tract covered by a lease issued hereunder or on any land adjoining same, the lessee shall conduct such operations as may be necessary to prevent drainage from the tract covered by such lease to properly develop the same. Failure to comply with the obligations provided by this Section shall subject the holder of the lease to penalties provided in Sections 12 and 13 of this Act.

Duration of Rights; Assignment; Pipe Lines, Telephone Lines and Roads

Sec. 10. Title to all rights purchased may be held by the owners so long as the area produces oil and gas in paying quantities. All rights purchased may be assigned in quantities of not less than forty (40) acres, unless there be less than forty (40) acres remaining in any survey, in which case such lesser area may be so assigned. All assignments shall be filed in the General Land Office within one hundred (100) days after the date of the first acknowledgment thereof, accompanied by ten cents (10 ��) per acre for each acre assigned, and if not so filed and payment made, the assignment shall be ineffective. All rights to any whole survey and to any assigned portion thereof may be relinquished to the State at any time by having an instrument of relinquishment recorded in the county or counties in which the area may be situated, and filed in the Land Office accompanied with One Dollar ($1) for each area assigned but such assignment shall not relieve the owner of any past due obligations theretofore accrued thereon. The Board shall authorize the laying of pipe line, telephone line, and the opening of such roads over State Park Lands as may be deemed reasonably necessary for and incident to the purposes of this Act.

Payment of Royalty and Bonus; Sworn Statement; Inspection of Books and Accounts

Sec. 11. Royalty and bonus as stipulated in the sale shall be paid to the General Land Office at Austin, Texas, for the benefit of the State Park Development Fund on or before the last day of each month for the preceding month during the life of the rights purchased, and it shall be accompanied by the sworn statement of the owner, manager or other authorized agent showing the gross amount of oil produced and saved since the last report and the amount of gas produced and sold off the premises and the market value of the oil and gas, together with a copy of all daily gauges of tanks, gas meter readings, pipeline receipts, gas line receipts, and other checks and memoranda of the amounts produced and put into pipelines, tanks or pools and gas lines or gas storage. The books and accounts, receipts and discharges of oil wells, tanks, pools, meters, pipelines, and all contracts and other records pertaining to the production, transportation, sale and marketing of the oil and/or gas shall at all times be subject to inspection and examination by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, the Attorney General, or any member of the State Parks Board.

Disposition of Money Received

Sec. 11a. It is expressly provided, however, that any royalty or bonus derived from those park lands operated by local park commissions with the advice and consent of the Board of Control shall be paid to the General Land Office at Austin, Texas to the credit of the State Park Development Fund, which fund is hereby created. All moneys or sums so deposited to the State Park Development Fund shall be appropriated and expended by the Legislature.

Protection From Drainage

Sec. 12. In every case where the area in which oil and/or gas sold shall be contiguous to or adjacent to land not State Park Land, the acceptance of the bid and the sale made thereby shall constitute an obligation on the owner thereof to adequately protect the land leased from drainage from adjacent lands. In cases where the area in which the oil and/or gas is sold at a lesser royalty, the owner shall likewise protect the State from drainage from the land so leased or sold for lesser royalty. Upon failure to protect the land from drainage as herein provided the sale and all rights thereunder may be forfeited by the Board in the manner elsewhere provided herein for forfeitures.

Forfeiture of Lease; Damages; Specific Performance; Lien of State

Sec. 13. If the owner of the rights acquired under this Act shall fail or refuse to make the payment of any sum due thereon, either as rental or royalty on the production, within thirty (30) days after same shall become due, or if such owner or his authorized agent should make any false return or false report concerning production, royalty or drilling, or if such owner shall fail or refuse to drill any offset well or wells in good faith, as required by his lease, or if such owner or his agent should refuse the proper authority to access to the records and other data pertaining to the operations under this Act, or if such owner, or his authorized agent, should fail or refuse to give correct information to the proper authorities, or fail or refuse to furnish the log of any well within thirty (30) days after production is found in paying quantities, or if any of the material terms of the lease should be violated, such lease shall be subject to forfeiture by the Board by an order entered upon the minutes of the Board reciting the facts constituting the default, and declaring the forfeiture. The Board may, if it so desires, have suit instituted for forfeiture through the Attorney General of the State. Upon proper showing by the forfeiting owner, within thirty (30) days after the declaration of forfeiture, the lease may, at the discretion of the Board and upon such terms as it may prescribe, be reinstated. In case of violation by the owner of the lease contract, the remedy of the State by forfeiture shall not be the exclusive remedy but suit for damages or specific performance, or both, may be instituted. The State shall have a first lien upon all oil and/or gas produced upon the leased area, and upon all rigs, tanks, pipe lines, telephone lines, and machinery and appliances used in the production and handling of oil and gas produced thereon, to secure any amount due from the owner of the said lease.

Filing Papers; Payments; Appropriation and Expenditure

Sec. 14. All surveys, files, records, copies of sale and lease contracts and all other records pertaining to the sales and leases hereby authorized on State Park Land under the control of State Parks Board, shall be filed in the General Land Office and constitute archives thereof. Payment hereunder shall be made to the Commissioner of the General Land Office at Austin, Texas, who shall transmit to the Comptroller all bonus payments and royalty for deposit to the credit of the State Park Development Fund, and all rentals for delay in drilling and all other payments, including all filing assignments and relinquishment fees hereunder to the credit of the State Park Development Fund. All moneys or sums so deposited to the State Park Development Fund shall be appropriated and expended by the Legislature for the development, improvement and maintenance of State Parks.

Park Lands Operated by Local Park Commissions

Sec. 14a. Provided, however, that all bonus payments, royalty payments, delay rentals and all other payments paid in connection with park lands operated by local park commissions with the advice and consent of the Board of Control shall be paid to the State Park Development Fund.

Payment of Expenses

Sec. 15. The expenses of executing the provisions of this Act shall be paid monthly by warrants drawn by the Comptroller on the State Treasury, and for that purpose the sum of Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000), or as much thereof as may be necessary is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated until September 1, 1951.

Partial Unconstitutionality

Sec. 16. If any provision hereof should be held unconstitutional, the balance of the Act shall not be affected thereby.

Powers of Board

Sec. 17. The Board shall adopt proper forms and regulations, rules and contracts as will in its best judgment protect the income from lands leased hereunder. A majority of the Board shall have power to act in all cases, except where otherwise herein provided. The Board may reject any and all bids and shall have the further right to withdraw any lands advertised for lease prior to receiving and opening bids. Any and all or parts of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.