The Florida Senate

253.62  Board of trustees authorized to convey certain lands without reservation.--

(1)  The Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund in making exchanges of land under ss. 253.42 and 253.43, is hereby authorized in its discretion to convey said land without reservations of oil and gas or of phosphate and other minerals required by s. 270.11, where deeds to lands received in exchange convey title in fee simple without such reservations or to determine the part or parts to be reserved and the part or parts to be conveyed, so as to facilitate exchange on a basis as nearly equal as may be.

(2)  The Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund is further authorized in its discretion to convey land to the United States free from reservations for oil, gas, phosphate and other minerals, provided agreement satisfactory to the board be effectuated with the United States whereby, in the event oil, gas, phosphate or other minerals are ever produced from said land, said board shall receive the customary royalty therefrom. In any conveyance heretofore made to the United States for national park or related purpose subsequent to June 30, 1943, which contained such reservations, said board shall have authority to convey said reservations subject to the conditions hereof in respect to customary royalty.

(3)  The authority to convey, granted in subsection (2), shall apply to the conveyance of lands by the board of trustees to the United States for the establishment of the Biscayne National Monument, as defined by Pub. L. No. 90-606 of the United States, and the board is authorized to convey public lands to the United States for the establishment of the Biscayne National Monument. All acts and actions of the board of trustees and all agreements between the board and the United States Government regarding the conveyance of any state lands to the United States for the establishment of the Biscayne National Monument are hereby ratified, confirmed, and validated. For the purposes of the conveyance authorized by this subsection, no provision of this chapter shall apply, and the board of trustees shall not be required, prior to such conveyance, to comply with any conditions precedent to sale of lands set out in this chapter, nor shall the board be required to reserve oil, gas, phosphate, or other mineral rights, or enter into an agreement for royalties, if any, if same are produced from said lands. However, the waiver herein shall not apply to the requirements of this chapter relating to the setting of bulkhead lines and to dredging and filling.

(4)  The legislative intent embodied in this section is to authorize the board of trustees to convey or obligate itself to convey the herein referred to state-owned lands in accordance with the provisions of Pub. L. No. 90-606. Upon certification to the board by the United States Government that all private lands intended to be acquired have been acquired and that owners of private property who have not donated or otherwise conveyed their lands have been paid therefor, the conveyance herein authorized shall become absolute. Nothing herein shall alter the right of the United States Government to immediate possession of said state-owned lands.

History.--ss. 1, 2, ch. 23617, 1947; s. 11, ch. 25035, 1949; s. 2, ch. 61-119; ss. 27, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 1, ch. 70-364; s. 1, ch. 70-439.