A.R.S. tit. 37 ch. 3 — Arizona Revised Statutes Title 37 Chapter 3 — Acts Of Congress Relating To State And Federal Lands

37-701. Acceptance of Carey land acts; state agency The state accepts the conditions of the acts of Congress known as the Carey land acts, and the grants of land upon the conditions imposed by those acts. The selection, management and disposal of lands granted by those acts shall vest in the state land department. 37-702. Application for selection of arid lands for irrigation projects or reclamation projects; proposal; deposit A. Any person desiring to construct irrigation works or to reclaim lands under the provisions of this article shall file with the state land department an application for selection of the lands to be reclaimed. The application shall be accompanied by a proposal for complete reclamation of the lands so designated. B. The proposal shall state: 1. The source and right of the water supply acquired or to be acquired. 2. The location and layout of the works constructed, in process of construction or proposed. 3. The maximum price and terms per acre at which perpetual water rights will be sold to settlers on the land to be reclaimed. 4. The maximum price per acre per annum for maintenance charges. C. If the applicant is a corporation, the proposal shall state: 1. The purposes for which the corporation is organized. 2. The names and residences of its directors and officers. 3. The amount of its authorized and paid-up capital. D. If applicant is not a corporation, the proposal shall set forth the names of the parties and such facts as will enable the commissioner to determine their financial ability to carry out the proposed enterprise. E. A certified check in a reasonable sum required by the department, but not less than two hundred fifty dollars, shall accompany each proposal to be held as guaranty for the execution of the contract with the state in accordance with its terms, if the proposal is approved by the department. 37-703. Processing of proposal by land department; processing by director of water resources; approval or disapproval of application A. The state land department shall determine: 1. Whether the land applied for can be reclaimed by means of the proposed irrigation project. 2. Whether according to records of the department of water resources there are sufficient water rights vested in the applicant, or sufficient unappropriated water in the source of supply. 3. Whether the capacity of the project is adequate. 4. Whether the proposed cost of construction is reasonable, and the lands proposed to be irrigated are desert in character and may properly be set apart. B. The application for selection of lands shall then be submitted to the director of water resources who shall make a written report and make recommendations upon the application to the land department. The director of water resources shall make a survey or examination to provide an accurate report if requested by the department to do so. C. If the application is approved, the state land department shall file in the local land office a request for withdrawal from entry of the land described in the application. If disapproved, the parties shall be notified and given reasons for the disapproval. The parties shall have sixty days in which to submit another proposal, or further time if allowed by the department. 37-704. Contract; contents; bond of contractor A. Upon approval of the application and withdrawal of the land by the department of the interior, the state land department shall enter into a contract with the applicant containing complete maps and specifications of the proposed project. The contract shall state: 1. The maximum price per acre at which perpetual water rights shall be sold to settlers. 2. The maximum cost per annum for maintenance charges. 3. The price and terms upon which the state is to dispose of the land to settlers. B. The contract shall provide that the sale to a settler of a tract of land with a permanent water right shall include an interest in the project and any power plants that may be built equal to the proportion that the tract of land purchased by him bears to the entire tract to be reclaimed by the irrigation project, and that upon full payment of the purchase price of the land, capital stock of the corporation, representing the interest, shall be issued and delivered to the settler by the person constructing the project. The price and terms of water rights, maintenance charges, and land, shall be reasonable. C. The contracting party may provide in the contract with the applicant for the land and permanent water right the amount of the annual water supply, and may provide rules and regulations for the use and distribution of the water, to be approved by the department. D. The contractor shall make and deliver to the state a bond in a penal sum equal to five per cent of the estimated cost of the project but not exceeding fifty thousand dollars for the faithful performance of the contract. 37-705. Contract provisions as to beginning and completion dates; forfeiture for failure to prosecute work A. The contract with the state shall provide that the work shall begin within six months from the date of the contract, and shall be prosecuted diligently and continuously to completion, and that cessation of work for a period of six months shall be a ground of forfeiture of all rights under the contract, upon which the state may obtain a judgment of forfeiture and recover the penal sum named in the bond. No property or right which was vested in the applicant or contractor at the date of the contract shall be forfeited. In such cases the forfeiture shall extend only to the portions of the system unconstructed at the time of default, and to the penalty of the bond. B. Upon failure of the contractor to comply with any requirement of his contract, the state land department shall notify the contractor that, unless he complies with such requirements within sixty days from the date of the notice, the bond and contract shall be forfeited to the state, and, if not complied with, the department will advertise for proposals to complete the work, and may contract with the bidder who will pay the original contractor the highest amount for the works partially completed to complete the works as stated in the original contract. If no bid is received the department shall proceed to collect the bond. 37-706. Persons eligible to apply for entry; limitation on area; contents of application; price of lands; disposition of monies received A. Any citizen of the United States, or any person who has declared his intention to become a citizen, over the age of eighteen years, may make application to enter any of the lands not exceeding one hundred sixty acres, under the regulations of the department of the interior and the state land department. B. The application shall be accompanied by a certified copy of a contract for a perpetual water right, made by applicant with the person authorized to furnish water for reclamation of the lands, together with twenty-five cents per acre for the land applied for, to be returned if the application is not allowed, and the application shall contain the declaration that applicant will settle upon and improve the land. If the application is allowed, the applicant shall be issued a certificate of the location. C. If the contractor fails to furnish water to any settler under the provisions of his contract, the state shall refund to the settler all payments he has made to the state. D. The state land department shall dispose of all lands accepted by the state at a price not to exceed fifty cents per acre, twenty-five cents to be paid at the time of entry and the remainder at the time of making final proof by the settler. No settler shall be entitled to make more than one entry. Settlers shall also pay, at the time of making final proof, whatever additional amount per acre, if any, which the state may be required to pay to the United States for the land so entered. E. All monies received for the sale of lands, except those required to be paid to the United States, shall be deposited, pursuant to sections 35-146 and 35-147, in the appropriate fund of the state. 37-707. Procedure upon completion of project by settler; application for federal patent; grant of state patent to settler Upon completion of the project or any section thereof, the contractor shall notify the state land department that he is prepared to supply water to the land designated in his application, or any particular tract thereof, whereupon the department shall request the department of the interior that a patent to such land be issued to the state, and notice shall be given to each settler of that fact. Within three years thereafter, each settler shall appear before the state land department and make final proof of reclamation, settlement and occupation, and make final payment for the land entered upon by him. Upon final payment the state, through the state land department, shall issue to the settler a patent for the land entered upon. 37-708. Water rights appurtenant to lands; lien; foreclosure and redemption A. The water rights shall attach and become appurtenant to the land when the title passes from the United States to the state. Any person furnishing water for any tract of land so acquired shall be entitled to receive directly, when due under the water contracts, all payments upon the land, and shall have a first lien on the water rights, which shall be prior to other liens created or attempted to be created by the owner or possessor of the land. The lien shall remain in force and effect until the last deferred payment for the water rights is fully paid and settled according to the terms of the contract under which the water rights were acquired. The contract for the water rights upon which the lien is founded shall be recorded in the office of the county recorder. B. Upon default of any deferred payment secured by lien, the lienholder may foreclose the lien as mortgages are foreclosed, and the settler may within one year from the date of foreclosure redeem by paying the deferred payments, with interest at not to exceed ten per cent per annum, accrued interest and cost of maintenance. C. The contractor shall have a like lien on and against the separate legal subdivisions of land reclaimed upon the interest therein of the settler for the actual cost and necessary expenses of reclamation, and interest thereon at the rate of six per cent per annum, from the date of reclamation. 37-709. Maps of project; right of easement reserved A. The maps of the lands shall show the location of the irrigation project approved in the contract. Certified copies of the maps shall be filed and recorded in the office of the county recorder in each of the counties into which the irrigation project, or the lands to be reclaimed thereby, extend. B. The lands filed upon by settlers shall be subject to rights of way and easements of the canals, reservoirs, dams and irrigation projects to the extent specified in the contract, and of other structures connected with the acquisition and control of water power to be used, directly or indirectly, for the purpose of the irrigation project. 37-710. Reservation of mineral rights in school lands sold A. The additional grant of numbered school sections, mineral in character, made to the state by the act of Congress approved January 25, 1927 is accepted. B. All sales, grants, deeds or patents for any lands so granted shall be subject to and contain a reservation to the state of all minerals in the lands so sold, granted, deeded or patented, together with the right to explore for, mine and remove them. 37-721. Acceptance of Taylor grazing act, amendment of enabling act and other federal laws relating to exchange of lands A. The state accepts the provisions of the act of Congress of June 28, 1934, as amended, known as the Taylor grazing act, and the provisions of the act of Congress of June 5, 1936 amending section 28 of the enabling act, and all other applicable acts of Congress which are enacted relating to the exchange of state land for federally owned land. B. The state land department may cooperate with the federal government in the administration of the Taylor grazing act and other applicable acts of Congress relating to the exchange of state lands for federal lands whenever the interest of the state can best be served thereby. 37-722. Authority of land department and selection board to make exchanges of state owned for federally owned land The state land department and the selection board may effect exchanges of state owned land for federally owned land, and the department and the selection board may do all things necessary or required to be done by the state in order to comply with the provisions of the Taylor grazing act as amended, section 28 of the enabling act as amended, or any other act of Congress relating to the exchange of lands and any rules or regulations promulgated pursuant thereto. Such exchanges shall be made in the same manner and under the same rules and regulations as required for the selection of lands under the provisions of the enabling act, as amended, provided that if the federal government retains the mineral rights on the land it exchanges the state shall retain the mineral rights on the land it exchanges. 37-723. Distribution of money received from United States; appropriations to counties A. All monies received by the state as its distributive shares of the amounts collected by the United States government under the provisions of the act of Congress of June 28, 1934 known as the Taylor grazing act, and acts amendatory thereof, shall be deposited with the state treasurer. The treasurer shall distribute the funds to the several counties of the state in which the public lands are located. B. The state treasurer shall ascertain from the proper United States officers having the records of receipts from grazing permits and leased public lands the amount of receipts from sources in this state for each year for which money is received by the state. A separate account shall be kept of the amount received from each grazing district and lease of public lands, and the state treasurer shall pay the county in which the grazing district or leased public land is located. If the grazing district or leased land lies in more than one county, each county shall receive the proportional part of the amount as the area of the grazing district or leased public land included within the boundary of the county bears to the total area of the grazing district or lease. C. For the purposes of this section the monies deposited with the state treasurer as provided by subsection A are appropriated to the several counties of the state in the proportions in which the counties are entitled thereto, as shown by the records of the United States officers and transmitted to the state treasurer. 37-724. Receipts from lease of public lands All monies received from leases of public lands within any county shall be placed to the credit of the school district within the county in which the land lies. If the lands do not lie within a school district, the monies shall be placed to the credit of the general school fund of the county. 37-725. Receipts from grazing district fees; district treasurer; duties A. All monies received from grazing fees of a grazing district regularly established and including public lands within the county shall be placed to the credit of a special fund designated the range improvement fund of the grazing district which shall be given a number. B. The county treasurer of the county in which such public lands are located shall be the ex officio district treasurer of any federal grazing district located wholly or in part within the county, and shall be liable upon his official bond for the proper care and distribution of the monies. He shall collect, receive, receipt and account for all monies from such source, and shall pay it upon the warrant of the grazing district signed by the chairman of the board of district advisors and countersigned by the vice-chairman thereof and the regional grazier in administrative charge of the district. 37-726. Expenditure of grazing fees of district; purposes authorized The monies from grazing fees of grazing districts shall be expended within the county as the board of district advisors directs for range improvements and maintenance thereof, predatory animal control, rodent control, poisonous or noxious weed extermination, or the purchase or rental of lands within the county which will benefit the grazing district or the part thereof within the county. 37-741. Public roads and public education fund; purposes; approval of expenditures by legislature; distribution A. There is created a special fund known as the state public roads and public education fund. There shall be deposited in the fund all monies received by the state as its distributive shares of the amounts collected by the United States government under the provisions of the act of Congress of February 25, 1920, chapter 85 (41 Stat. 437) and acts amendatory thereof, entitled, "an act to promote the mining of coal, phosphate, oil, oil shale, gas and sodium on the public domain". B. No monies shall be expended from the fund created by subsection A of this section without prior approval therefor by an act of the legislature. The legislature may authorize expenditures from the fund for any of the following purposes: 1. The construction and maintenance of public roads. 2. The support of public schools or other public educational institutions. C. At the beginning of each fiscal year, one-half of the balance in the state public roads and public education fund shall be transferred to the state highway fund to be expended for secondary roads and one-half shall be transferred to the permanent state school fund and shall be administered as provided by section 37-521.