Committee advances bill to survey abandoned railroad rights-of-way, 21-0

The House Committee on Agriculture voted to advance House Bill 2,280 with a 21-0 roll call on the motion that the bill "do pass." The motion was made in executive session and carried after a period of debate about costs.

Representative Nolte summarized the bill for the committee, saying it would assign the state land surveyor responsibility for surveying abandoned railroad rights-of-way statewide and give the office 20 years to complete the work so that ownership and boundary geometry can be established after rail lines are abandoned. "As railroads abandon their track ... the land generally sits idle and no one really knows the status of it," Nolte said, describing difficulties for land surveyors and adjoining landowners trying to determine center-line reversionary interests.

Committee members questioned the bill's fiscal note and whether the state should shoulder survey costs rather than requiring railroads to provide maps. Nolte said previous efforts at a federal or national level to shift the mapping requirement to railroads had failed and that he may pursue legislation next year to require railroads to provide maps, but for now the bill tasks the state land surveyor with the surveys.

The clerk conducted a roll call. The committee recorded 21 ayes and 0 noes; the clerk announced the result and declared that House Bill 2,280 "do pass." The committee then closed its executive session and moved to public hearings on other bills.

The next procedural step is committee reporting; no implementation timeline or appropriation detail was specified during the session. The sponsor and members acknowledged a fiscal note described in testimony as "hefty" but did not offer a quantified amendment at the hearing.