7401-7424
PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE
SECTION 7401-7424
7401. As used in this article, "permanent reservation" applies only to a National reservation established by proclamation of the President of the United States. "Temporary reservation" applies to any withdrawal of public lands from entry, for any purpose, and lands within the exterior boundaries of any such withdrawal, where the withdrawal has not become a permanent reservation by proclamation of the President of the United States. 7402. All sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections, both surveyed and unsurveyed, which are now or hereafter included within the exterior boundaries of a military, Indian, forest, or other National reservation, or of a reserve, or of a National forest, National park, or National monument, or within the exterior boundaries of lands withdrawn from public entry, may be used as bases for indemnity selections except as otherwise provided in this chapter. 7403. No person shall have the right to apply for or be entitled to designate or have selected or located for him by the commission in the United States land offices any lands in lieu of loss to the State in or to any grant made to it by the United States except upon the surrender of an indemnity certificate or scrip, as provided in this article. 7404. All sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections situated within the exterior boundaries of a permanent reservation, and also all losses sustained by the State to its school grants, are valid bases for indemnity selections, and shall be available as bases when indemnity certificates or scrip have been issued therefor and sold. Where indemnity selections are based upon surveyed school sections included within the exterior boundaries of permanent reservations, if the lands applied for are finally listed to the State in lieu of the sections constituting such bases, the title of the State to such bases shall vest in the United States without further act on the part of the State, and the title of the State to such bases shall be deemed to have been conveyed to the United States, as of the date of the listing. 7405. Whenever the State has the right to select lands from the United States, for any of the causes or reasons for which it may be entitled to make indemnity selections, the commission shall ascertain from time to time the number of acres of land to which the State is entitled as indemnity and shall keep on file a statement showing of what such bases consist. 7405.1. Whenever the commission determines it to the advantage of the State so to do, it may pursuant to law select lands of the United States equal in area to the number of acres to which the State is entitled as indemnity, and the lands so acquired may be thereafter sold in the manner and for cash as provided in Article 1 of this chapter. 7406. The commission is the general agent of the State for the location in the United States land offices of the lands desired to be selected and located in lieu of the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections granted to the State for the use of the public schools, and in lieu of any and all losses sustained by the State to its school grant, whenever the commission is authorized by law to make such location or locations, or whenever for any reason it is authorized to select lands in lieu of grants made to the State; but no such selection or reselection, designation or redesignation or amended selection shall be made, except pursuant to Section 7303 or Section 7405.1 or upon the surrender to the commission, as in this article provided, of a certificate of indemnity or scrip. 7407. No selection of any land for which a certificate of purchase is outstanding shall be made until the certificate of purchase issued therefor has been surrendered. 7408. The commission may accept the benefits of the act of Congress approved July 17, 1914, entitled: "An act to provide for agricultural entry of lands withdrawn, classified, or reported as containing phosphate, nitrate, potash, oil, gas, or asphaltic minerals," and on behalf of the State, or of any assignee of the State, accept and receive lists and patents to lands selected by the State as agricultural lands, which were subsequently withdrawn, classified or reported as being valuable for phosphate, nitrate, potash, oil, gas, or asphaltic minerals, and containing a reservation to the United States of all deposits on account of which the lands were withdrawn, classified, or reported as being valuable, together with the right to prospect for, mine and remove the same, as provided in said act of Congress. 7409. Whenever the State is entitled to make indemnity selections for any reason, the commission may, on behalf of the State, issue and sell indemnity certificates of location or scrip. 7410. No person may purchase an indemnity certificate of location or scrip unless he is qualified to purchase state lands as provided by law. As the commission from time to time ascertains the number of acres to which the State is entitled as indemnity, it may sell at its office in the City of Sacramento, for cash and to persons qualified to purchase state land, indemnity certificates or scrip, at a price fixed by the commission at not less than one dollar and twenty-five cents ($1.25) an acre and in such quantities as the commission deems are for the best interests of the State. 7411. No person shall purchase indemnity certificates or scrip for or on behalf of any other person without an authorization in writing so to do, executed by the principal, which authorization shall be filed in the office of the commission, together with the affidavit of the principal that he is qualified to purchase State lands. 7412. When certificates of indemnity or scrip are sold, the commission shall issue to the purchaser an indemnity certificate of location or scrip, in such form as may be provided by it, containing the date of the sale, a description of the land or a statement of the facts or other cause constituting the bases by reason of which the State is entitled to indemnity, the name of the person to whom issued, the price paid therefor, and the fact that such certificate may be surrendered to the commission, and that the holder and owner thereof, if he is the original purchaser of the certificate of indemnity or scrip, shall be entitled to have selected from the vacant unappropriated lands of the United States within the State open to selection, the same number of acres as represented by the certificate surrendered, which the person who makes the surrender shall designate. If the lands applied for are not open to entry the holder of a certificate of indemnity may apply for other lands or receive restitution to the amount paid for the certificate. 7413. At the time of surrendering a certificate the person surrendering it shall make and file the same affidavit and application, as is required for the purchase of State school lands and shall pay all fees as provided in connection with the sale of State school lands, and the issuing of evidences of title therefor. The certificates of indemnity or scrip shall be accepted as the full purchase price of the land sought to be purchased by the applicant. 7414. A certificate of indemnity is not subject to sale or assignment; but if the purchaser dies without having selected lands in accordance therewith, his successors in interest or legal representatives may surrender the certificate and be entitled to restitution for the amount paid therefor. 7415. If it appears, when any certificate of indemnity or scrip is surrendered that the owner of the certificate was not qualified to purchase State lands when the certificate was purchased, the certificate shall be canceled and become null and void, and he shall be entitled to restitution therefor. 7416. If any applicant desires to purchase any of the lands mentioned in Section 7406, he shall, before filing his application with the commission, properly prepare all papers and documents on the forms prescribed by the commission and the Department of the Interior, and shall also surrender the indemnity certificate or scrip which he desires the commission to use as bases for indemnity. If the applicant complies with the provisions of this article and of law, the commission, unless it first determines that the listing to the State of the lands sought to be purchased by the applicant would be contrary to the best interests of the State, shall thereupon communicate with the United States Land Offices and ask that the lands sought to be purchased be listed to the State in lieu of the bases named in the surrender certificate. The applicant shall also pay to the commission at the time of the presentation of the application all fees required by the United States Land Offices for the location, shall furnish all county recorders' or other certificates required, and shall pay for publication of all notices required by the United States Land Offices. The county recorder, upon the request of any person or his agent or attorney, shall forthwith, on the payment of the fees allowed by law, furnish the certificate required by this section, or any other certificate that may be required by the rules or regulations of the United States Land Office. 7417. When the commission receives from the register or receiver of the United States Land Office, or both, a notice to the effect that any indemnity school land selection, has been filed and accepted, subject to future approval, the said commission shall, subject to the provisions of Section 7705, approve the application in accordance with the acceptance, and shall issue a certificate of purchase for the land sought by the applicant showing full payment therefor. 7418. All the provisions of the laws of this State governing the sale and disposition of State school land, where not in conflict with the provisions of this article, shall apply equally to lands purchased upon the surrender of certificates of indemnity or scrip. 7419. No person shall be considered as having made an entry of State lands under this article until the lands have been listed to the State. 7420. All moneys received by the commission under this article shall be disposed of in the same manner as other moneys received from the sale of State school lands. 7421. Whenever it appears to the satisfaction of the commission that the base named in any certificate of indemnity or scrip is invalid, or has been used in a previous State indemnity selection, or will not be accepted by the Land Department of the United States, the owner and holder thereof may surrender the certificate of indemnity or scrip to the commission. The certificate of indemnity or scrip shall thereupon be canceled, and the commission shall issue a new certificate of indemnity or scrip in lieu thereof containing an equal amount of acres of valid bases. If the base land described in the canceled certificate of indemnity or scrip has been used in making a State indemnity selection for the owner, the commission shall forward to the United States Land Office an amendatory of the State indemnity selection by substituting the base land described in the new certificate of indemnity or scrip for the base land in the certificate canceled by it. 7422. If a certificate of indemnity or scrip is lost or destroyed, the owner, upon filing an affidavit with the commission showing the facts constituting the loss or destruction, may have issued to him a duplicate, across the face of which shall be marked in red ink the word "Duplicate," which shall have the same force and effect as the original. 7423. Whenever any person has the right to recover from the State, or desires to receive from the State, any sum of money paid by him for a certificate of indemnity or scrip, he shall surrender the certificate or scrip to the commission, which shall thereupon cancel it and issue to him a certificate showing the amount paid and the class of land upon which the payment was made. Upon the surrender to the Controller of the certificate showing the amount paid, he shall draw his warrant in favor of the person surrendering it for the amount therein specified upon the Treasurer of the State, who shall pay the amount of the warrant out of the fund into which the purchase money was paid. In cases where certificates of purchase have been issued for the land selected in lieu of the base described in the indemnity certificate of location or scrip, the owner of the certificate of purchase shall be governed by the provisions of Sections 7971, 7972, and 7973. 7424. The commission may relinquish to the United States any unlisted lieu land for which there is no pending application to purchase from the State. The commission may relinquish any such land upon the request of the holder of a certificate of purchase for the land, upon the surrender of the certificate of purchase issued by the State for the land, the conveyance to the State of his interest in and to the land by a quitclaim deed, and the furnishing to the commission of satisfactory evidence that whatever title was conveyed by the State through the issuance of the certificate of purchase is revested in the State.