Senate Bill 1824
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2000 SB 1824
By Senators Campbell, Grant, Mitchell, Sullivan, Bronson,
Webster, Kirkpatrick, Childers, McKay, Horne, Myers and Scott
33-1381A-00
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to land conveyances; creating
3 s. 253.1201, F.S.; validating the title to
4 previous conveyances of land by the state which
5 may have included sovereignty lands; clarifying
6 the public use of certain navigable waters;
7 providing legislative intent; providing an
8 effective date.
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10 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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12 Section 1. Legislative intent.--The Legislature
13 recognizes that it is in the public interest that the
14 controversy arising from the assertion of state sovereignty
15 ownership claims against private landowners who derive their
16 titles from deeds or grants issued by state agencies or
17 officials which purported to convey swamp and overflowed
18 lands, internal improvement lands, or other nonsovereignty
19 lands, but which may have included sovereignty lands within
20 the legal description, be resolved expeditiously and
21 economically, in a manner that is equitable to the private
22 landowners but that preserves the people's rights to use the
23 navigable waters within the state for the purposes of boating,
24 fishing, or swimming.
25 Section 2. Section 253.1201, Florida Statutes, is
26 created to read:
27 253.1201 Certain titles derived from state conveyances
28 that may have included sovereignty lands, ratified, confirmed,
29 and validated.--
30 (1) Any title to real property that is derived from a
31 deed or grant made before this act takes effect by the Board
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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2000 SB 1824
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1 of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, or by any
2 other state agency or official, which purported to convey
3 swamp and overflowed lands, internal improvement lands, other
4 nonsovereignty public lands is ratified, confirmed, and
5 validated in all respects, notwithstanding that sovereignty
6 lands may have been included within the legal description of
7 the land purportedly conveyed in the deed or grant, if:
8 (a) The title of the present landowner is derived from
9 a deed or grant issued by the Board of Trustees of the
10 Internal Improvement Trust Fund, or by any other state agency
11 or official, which appears on its face to be a valid
12 conveyance of lands that the issuing agency or official was
13 then authorized by law to convey, without express reservation
14 of or deduction for any sovereignty lands;
15 (b) The title to the property has remained in private
16 possession since the conveyance and has been developed,
17 improved, or put to a qualified agricultural use by a private
18 party at its expense; and
19 (c) The acreage conveyed has been classified as
20 private property for ad valorem tax assessment purposes.
21 (2) This section does not affect the public's right to
22 use any navigable waters for boating, fishing, and swimming on
23 lands validated under this section. Notwithstanding subsection
24 (1), this section may not be construed to affect title to
25 lands under navigable waters within the meaning of Section 11
26 of Article X of the State Constitution.
27 Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a
28 law.
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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2000 SB 1824
33-1381A-00
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2 SENATE SUMMARY
3 Validates the title to previous conveyances of land by
the state which may have included sovereignty lands in
4 the legal description. Clarifies the public use of any
navigable waters on those lands.
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