Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Land Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee approves A1 and lays over bill expanding PLSS monument program, allowing tribal access
Summary
House File 1478, amended with an A1, would continue and expand a grant program to locate public land survey system (PLSS) monuments across Minnesota, allow tribal access and add criteria for county grants; the committee passed the A1 and laid the bill over.
The State Government Finance and Policy Committee on March 6 approved an A1 amendment and laid over House File 1478, a bill extending and refining a grant program to locate Minnesota's public land survey system (PLSS) monuments.
Representative Freiberg, the bill's author, said the PLSS predates statehood and that many survey monuments are lost or have unknown locations. He said Minnesota has about 325,000 PLSS monuments, of which fewer than half (about 148,000) have known locations and that locating monuments costs roughly $1,800 per marker.
"More precise data creates informed records for land management and accurate taxation," Representative Freiberg said, and he noted the bill enables tribes to access the program and sets additional criteria for counties to receive grants. He moved the A1 amendment, which nonpartisan staff said corrected technical issues and "put the bill in the shape the author wishes." The committee voice-voted the A1 amendment with "Aye" responses and then laid the bill over for possible inclusion.
Preston Dowell, deputy county surveyor for St. Louis County and past president of the Minnesota Society of Professional Surveyors, testified that improved monumentation reduces property disputes and costs for private landowners and governments. Phil Raines, representing the Minnesota Society of Professional Surveyors, said better maps "save lives" and can cut the cost of an $8,500 survey to about $2,500 by reducing uncertainty and dispute resolution costs.
Representative Bonner and others expressed support, calling the work important and underappreciated. Chair Nash said the bill would be considered further after the day's budget forecast.
Why it matters: The PLSS underpins property boundaries, mapping and taxation. Locating lost monuments can reduce litigation, lower surveying costs for landowners and improve government land-management data.
