Sec. 51.195. PURCHASE OR LEASE BY APPLICANT

(a) If no good-faith claimant exists or if no good-faith claimant exercises a preferential right within the applicable period, the applicant has a preferential right to purchase or lease the land determined to be vacant on or before the 60th day after the date:

(1) the commissioner determines that no good-faith claimant exists; or

(2) the period for a good-faith claimant to exercise a preferential right to purchase or lease the land determined to be vacant expires.

(b) If a good-faith claimant exercises the claimant's preferential right in the land determined to be vacant, the applicant has a preferential right to either:

(1) an award by the board of a perpetual 1/32 nonparticipating royalty of the full mineral interest of the vacancy; or

(2) a preferential right to purchase or lease any remaining interest in the land determined to be vacant.

(c) If a lease described by Section 51.194(d)(1) exists on the land determined to be vacant, the applicant's 1/32 nonparticipating royalty interest, as described by Subsection (b)(1), shall be taken from the state's royalty interest as reserved under Section 51.194(d)(1) for the duration of the lease, provided that the applicant's share for the duration of the lease may never equal more than the interest retained by the state.

(d) An applicant who exercises a preferential right under Subsection (a) or (b)(2) may purchase or lease the land or an interest in the land:

(1) at the price set by the board;

(2) subject to the royalty reservations provided by the board; and

(3) in accordance with the law in effect on the date the application is filed.

Amended by: Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 874 , Sec. 1, eff. June 17, 2005.