House Bill No. 414

Introduced By _______________________________________________________________________________

A Bill for an Act entitled: "An Act defining "artificial monument" for the purpose of land surveys; requiring the preservation of monuments and artificial monuments for the purposes of land surveys; and amending section

70-22-103, MCA."

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Montana:

Section 1.  Section 70-22-103, MCA, is amended to read:

"70-22-103.   Definitions. Except where when the context indicates a different meaning, terms used in this part shall be are defined as follows:

(1)  An "accessory to a corner" is means any exclusively identifiable physical object whose spatial relationship to the corner is recorded. Accessories may be bearing trees, bearing objects, monuments, reference monuments, line trees, pits, mounds, charcoal-filled bottles, steel or wooden stakes, or other objects.

(2)  An "artificial monument" means a road, railroad track, or similar, relatively permanent cultural feature that has been used to identify the location of any parcel or tract of land in a deed filed at the office of the county clerk and recorder.

(3) The "board" is the board of professional engineers and professional land surveyors, provided for in 2-15-1873.

(3)(4)  A "corner", unless otherwise qualified, means a property corner or a property controlling corner or a public land survey corner or any combination of these.

(4)(5)  A "monument" is an accessory that is presumed to occupy the exact position of a corner.

(5)(6)  A "property controlling corner" for a property is a public land survey corner or any property corner which that does not lie on a property line of the property in question but which that controls the location of one or more of the property corners of the property in question.

(6)(7)  A "property corner" is a geographic point on the surface of the earth and is on, is a part of, and controls a property line.

(7)(8)  A "public land survey corner" is any corner actually established and monumented in an original survey or resurvey used as a basis of legal description for issuing a patent for the land to a private person from the United States government.

(8)(9)  A "reference monument" is a special monument that does not occupy the same geographical position as the corner itself but whose spatial relationship to the corner is recorded and which that serves to witness the corner.

(9)(10)  A "registered surveyor" is a surveyor who is registered to practice land surveying under Title 37, chapter 67, and has a paid-up license for that calendar year or who is authorized under Title 37, chapter 67, to practice land surveying."

NEW SECTION. Section 2.  Monument preservation. (1) Prior to the time that a person engages in activity that will or is likely to disturb or destroy a monument or the accessories to a monument, the person shall engage a registered surveyor to:

(a) locate and reference the monument or the accessories to the monument; and

(b) file a corner record showing the location of the references to the monument or to the accessories to the monument.

(2) Within 30 days after a person has completed activity that has disturbed or destroyed a monument or the accessories to a monument, the person shall engage a registered surveyor to:

(a) restore or replace the monument or the accessories to the monument from the references established in subsection (1)(b); and

(b) file a new corner record as required in 70-22-104.

(3) Prior to the time that a person engages in activity that will or is likely to disturb or destroy an artificial monument, the person shall engage a registered surveyor to:

(a) locate and reference the artificial monument; and

(b) establish permanent reference monuments at known locations relative to the artificial monument.

(4) Within 30 days after a person has completed activity that has disturbed or destroyed an artificial monument, the person shall engage a registered surveyor to prepare and file a certificate of survey pursuant to 76-3-404, showing the relationship of the reference monuments established as required in subsection (3)(b) to the artificial monument so that the location of land legally described with reference to the artificial monument may be accurately determined.

NEW SECTION. Section 3.  Codification instruction. [Section 2] is intended to be codified as an integral part of Title 70, chapter 22, part 1, and the provisions of Title 70, chapter 22, part 1, apply to [section 2].

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