Title 77, Title 77

Whenever lands granted for any of the purposes mentioned in 77-2-101(8) through (11) cease to be used for those purposes, the easement terminates upon notice to that effect to the person to whom the grant was made, served at the person's last-known post-office address.

(1) The board shall charge and collect the full market value of the estate or interest disposed of through the granting of any easement and also fix, charge, and collect the amount of the actual damages resulting to the remaining land from the granting of an easement as nearly as…

(1) Except as provided in 77-2-103(5), whenever any kind of right-of-way easement has been granted under this part and the state land in which it is granted is under lease, the party receiving the grant shall give timely notice to the lessee and shall make just settlement with th…

(1) (a) The board may enter into contracts or agreements with the United States or any department thereof having jurisdiction for the waiving and relinquishment to the United States of any rights of the state in and to sections 16 and 36 of any township and to any other parcel of…

(1) Subject to subsection (2), the board is authorized to exchange state land for land owned by: (a) the state or an agency of the state; (b) a political subdivision of the state, including a county, city, town, public corporation, or district created pursuant to state law; (c) a…

(1) Upon receipt of a proposal for an exchange of land under this part, the board shall give notice of the proposed exchange by certified mail to each person who has leased, under chapter 1 of this title, any portion of land involved in the proposed exchange. Any such leaseholder…

An exchange for nongovernment-owned land under 77-2-203 may not be made that will induce or encourage large-scale commercial, industrial, or residential development unless the development value is considered in determining the fair market value and unless the proposed development…

If any state land is exchanged on which there are improvements belonging to a lessee and some person other than the lessee is the transferee, that person shall settle with the lessee for all improvements on the land belonging to the lessee before the exchange is completed. The pr…

All exchanges of state lands are subject to approval and confirmation by the board, and no exchange is considered completed until after such approval and confirmation. The board has the power and it is its duty to disapprove any exchange which in its opinion would be disadvantage…

The board may accept on behalf of the state title in fee simple to any timbered lands or lands from which the timber has been cut or burned and in exchange may convey lands not to exceed an equal value, as determined by the board after appraisal by a qualified land appraiser, of …

The board shall adopt and promulgate such rules and methods of procedure affecting or touching the exchanges of lands under 77-2-211 through 77-2-217 as in its judgment seems advisable to the end that the public interests may be conserved.

(1) When a proposal for an exchange pursuant to 77-2-211 is made and the owners of the respective tracts involved seem agreeable to negotiate exchanges, the proposal must be referred to the department and the department shall thoroughly investigate all the lands involved in the p…

(1) The department shall, as soon as it concludes its investigation thereof, report to the board the facts disclosed by its investigation and include in its report a recommendation concerning the proposal, including its reasons therefor in writing. (2) After considering the repor…

If the board approves a proposal for exchange pursuant to 77-2-211, the department shall publish at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in each county in which any of the lands involved are located a notice stating in general terms the proposal and describing the lan…

The board shall make a final order describing the terms of the proposal for the exchange of the land involved and shall either dismiss the proposal as not being in the public interest or direct the proper officers to proceed to complete the exchange, as authorized by 77-2-211.

All lands taken in exchange under 77-2-211 through 77-2-216 for lands granted by the United States to the state of Montana prior to July 1, 1931, shall be subject to the same restrictions, limitations, and provisions as the lands granted by the United States are now subject to. A…

The board may decide when sales of state land are to be held and what state lands are to be offered for sale, subject to the limitations of this title, as the best interests of the state may appear to require.

(1) Notwithstanding any other section in this chapter, any lands, including buildings, that were formerly used as or by a state institution and that are no longer used for institutional purposes may be disposed of in whole or in part on the terms and in the manner that the board,…

(1) Land that in the judgment of the department is likely to contain valuable deposits of coal, oil, oil shale, phosphate, metals, sodium, or other valuable mineral deposits is not subject to sale of either the surface land or any of the mineral deposits. However, this subsection…

All coal, oil, oil shale, gas, phosphate, sodium, and other mineral deposits in state land, except sand, gravel, building stone, and brick clay, which were not reserved by the United States before July 1, 1927, are reserved to the state. Those deposits are reserved from sale exce…

Whenever state lands are located within the boundaries of federal irrigation projects, the land shall be sold in conformity with the classification of farm units as made by the United States, and all certificates of purchase issued for such lands shall show that the lands are loc…

(1) State land may be sold to any person who is 18 years of age or older or any governmental or private entity including tribal governments as defined in 18-11-102. (2) A sale involving land in excess of 160 acres may not be made under this section without first consulting with t…

All sales of state lands shall be subject to the approval and confirmation by the board, and no sale shall be deemed completed until after such approval and confirmation. The board shall have the power and it shall be its duty to disapprove any sale which in its opinion would be …

The board has the option of determining whether or not state land must be surveyed, platted, and laid off into blocks and lots.

(1) Any part of state lands that in the opinion of the board may be sold for residential or commercial purposes must before sale, at such time as the board may consider to be in the best interests of the state, be surveyed in conformity with the laws of the state for the survey a…

The board may cause any part of the lands bordering on lakes described in 77-2-303(2) and on navigable streams that are reserved from sale to be surveyed and platted into blocks and lots. The lots may not be less than 125 feet in width, measured in the general direction of the ab…

(1) State lands purchased from the state are subject to taxation. The department of revenue shall assess the purchaser for the full value of the land on January 1 following the date of purchase. The holder of certificates of purchase to lands within an irrigation district is liab…

If any lands sold under this title revert to the state for any reason, the department shall notify the department of revenue and the county treasurer of the county in which the land is situated of that fact. Upon the receipt of the notice, the department of revenue shall cancel a…

(1) A purchaser of state lands is authorized and empowered to sign any petition that the purchaser may desire to sign for the creation of an irrigation district and the inclusion of the land purchased from the state in the irrigation district and any other petition relating to ir…

(1) (a) Prior to the board's approval of any sale of state land leased as a cabin or home site or state land with a vacant cabin or home site as provided in 77-2-318, the board shall separately determine the full market value of the land and the value of the cabin site improvemen…

(1) (a) The board shall, consistent with the board's constitutional fiduciary duty of attaining full market value, make available for sale within a reasonable period of time as provided in this part those lands that were state land cabin or home sites on May 6, 2013, at the reque…

All sales of state lands shall be only at public auction held at the county courthouse of the county in which the lands are located. In case no suitable room can be found in such courthouse at the time for holding the sale, then the sale may be transferred to a more convenient pl…

(1) The department shall give notice of each sale by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the sale is to be held, once each week through the 4 consecutive weeks preceding the date of sale. The notice shall give the day, date, and time of the begin…

(1) At the time fixed for the sale, state land must be offered for sale at auction in the order that the land appears in the notice of sale. Under the direction of the department, the state land must be sold to the highest qualified bidder. State land may not be sold for less tha…

The lessee of the land need not make a higher bid than others, but the lessee has the option to match the high bid and must be given the preference. If the lessee matches the high bid, bidding must be reopened to all bidders, with the lessee retaining the right of preference to m…

Except for the sale of a cabin or home site, if any state land is sold on which there are improvements belonging to a lessee and some person other than the lessee is the purchaser, that person shall settle with the lessee for all improvements on the land belonging to the lessee b…

In the case of lands under lease the purchaser shall be given possession by the state on March 1 next succeeding the date of sale and not before unless the lease expires prior to that date, except through special agreement between the purchaser and the lessee.

(1) Upon the approval of the sale and receipt of satisfactory evidence of settlement with the former lessee, if any, for improvements on the land, the department shall execute and mail to the purchaser a certificate of purchase signed by the governor as president of the board and…

The board may prescribe any additional rules for the conduct of sales of state land as in its judgment the interests of the state may demand. The rules may not include a deduction of fees from land granted to the state pursuant to the Morrill Act of 1862, 7 U.S.C. 301 through 308…

(1) A purchaser of state land shall pay on the day of sale that portion of the purchase price that the purchaser desires, but not less than 10% of the total sales price. If the balance on the purchase price is not an exact multiple of $25, the purchaser shall pay the additional s…

The balance of the purchase price shall draw interest from the date on which the sale was confirmed and approved by the board, and all installments on principal and interest shall become due and payable on that date in each succeeding year until payment has been made in full.

(1) The department is not required to accept fractional payments of the installments on certificate of purchase on account of the complications arising from the division of payments. (2) The purchaser may make payment of one or more installments before the same becomes due, but u…

(1) If a purchaser or assignee of state land defaults for a period of 30 days or more in the payment of any of the installments due on the certificate of purchase, the certificate is subject to cancellation. The department shall mail to the purchaser at the purchaser's last-known…

(1) In all cases in which a certificate of purchase of state lands has been canceled and annulled as provided by law and the lands under the certificate have not been resold to another purchaser, the board may in its discretion reinstate the canceled certificate upon: (a) proper …

Certificates of purchase may be assigned to a citizen of the United States or to a person who has declared an intention to become a citizen or to a corporation organized under the laws of this state. These assignments must be made on forms prescribed by the department, must be du…

If a certificate of purchase to state land is lost or is wrongfully withheld by any person from the owner of the land, the rightful owner may apply to the board for the issuance of a substitute certificate. This application must be accompanied by an affidavit from the owner of th…