Brief (1)
SB 582 amends statutes dealing with land surveyors and subdivision plats and survey corners. The bill repeals a section of current law which requires the county surveyor to review subdivision plats before the plats are recorded and authorizes a county engineer to contract with a land surveyor for the review.
The bill also requires a copy of reference measurements for quarter section corners or section centers that are reset by a surveyor and a copy of a reference report made by a land surveyor when any person is engaged in any activity in which a US public land survey corner or any related accessory is likely to be altered, removed, damaged, or destroyed to enable these reference points to be reestablished to be filed also with the county surveyor if one exists or with the county engineer if one exists, otherwise with the office of the county road department.
Background
The bill as amended was supported by the Kansas Association of Counties, the Kansas Register of Deeds Association, and others.
The bill as introduced would have deleted amendments adopted by the 1999 Legislature.
The Wabaunsee County Register of Deeds said Wabaunsee County was one of the 76 counties in the State of Kansas which did not have a county surveyor or county engineer. Wabaunsee County was said to be currently complying with KSA 58-2005 as amended in 1999 by contracting with an independent licensed surveyor to review and certify all surveys and plats, with the cost of the review being paid for by the person or entity requesting the same to be recorded. To comply with this proposed amendment, Wabaunsee County, along with 75 other counties, would be forced to hire a county surveyor or county engineer, causing an additional tax burden upon the county taxpayers. If there is to be such a review, any cost should be paid for by the person or entity requesting or needing the documents recorded.
She said Section 2 of the bill as introduced would provide that any plat certified by a planning commission shall constitute full compliance. However, surveys in most counties are not submitted to a planning commission. Therefore, surveys under this proposed amendment would still have to be reviewed by a county surveyor or county engineer prior to recording; thereby, still forcing a county to hire a surveyor or engineer.
The Douglas County Engineer suggested various amendments to the bill. A land surveyor said current law was being misinterpreted.
The bill has no fiscal impact on the state. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html