1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to real property; providing for definite and 
  1.3             specific descriptions for certain easements; applying 
  1.4             the requirement retroactively to all easements 
  1.5             whenever created; amending Minnesota Statutes 1998, 
  1.6             section 300.045. 
  1.7   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.8      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 300.045, is 
  1.9   amended to read: 
  1.10     300.045 [EASEMENTS OVER PRIVATE PROPERTY, LIMITATIONS.] 
  1.11     (a) When public service corporations, including pipeline 
  1.12  companies, acquire easements over private property by purchase, 
  1.13  gift, or eminent domain proceedings, except temporary easements 
  1.14  for construction, they must definitely and specifically describe 
  1.15  the easement being acquired, and may not acquire an easement 
  1.16  greater than the minimum in a width necessary for the safe 
  1.17  conduct of their business.  
  1.18     (b) For the purposes of this section, a public service 
  1.19  corporation may meet the requirement of a definite and specific 
  1.20  description of an easement by: 
  1.21     (1) including in the recorded description of the easement 
  1.22  the specific legal reference points as to the location of the 
  1.23  easement in relation to the corners of the specific property 
  1.24  involved at the points the easement enters and departs from the 
  1.25  property, the width of the easement, and each change of course 
  1.26  as the easement crosses the property; or 
  2.1      (2) appending to the recorded description of the easement a 
  2.2   drawing that identifies by means of a scale or specific 
  2.3   measurements the location of the easement in relation to the 
  2.4   corners of the specific property involved at the points the 
  2.5   easement enters and departs from the property, the width of the 
  2.6   easement, and each change of course as the easement crosses the 
  2.7   property. 
  2.8      (c) When a question arises as to the location, width, or 
  2.9   course of an easement across specific property and the recorded 
  2.10  description of the easement does not include a definite and 
  2.11  specific description of the location, width, or course of the 
  2.12  easement by a method identified in clause (1) or (2), the public 
  2.13  service corporation holding the easement shall, upon written 
  2.14  request by the specific property owner, produce and record in a 
  2.15  timely manner an instrument that provides a definite and 
  2.16  specific description using a method described in clause (1) or 
  2.17  (2).  The definite and specific description must be the minimum 
  2.18  width necessary for the safe conduct of the business of the 
  2.19  public service corporation with respect to the language of the 
  2.20  original easement.  In the partial release or other instrument, 
  2.21  a public service corporation may reserve: 
  2.22     (1) the right of reasonable ingress and egress over and 
  2.23  across the released property, provided that it shall agree to 
  2.24  pay any damages caused by the exercise of such rights; and 
  2.25     (2) additional conditions and restrictions permitted in the 
  2.26  original easement. 
  2.27     Thirty days after a public service corporation has produced 
  2.28  to the property owner a definite and specific description, it 
  2.29  may record the description and is not thereafter required to 
  2.30  again produce or record under this section for the same property 
  2.31  or a part of the same property.  
  2.32     This section applies to every easement over private 
  2.33  property acquired by a public service corporation, regardless of 
  2.34  when the easement was acquired or created. 
  2.35     (d) This section does not require a public service 
  2.36  corporation to physically locate, establish, and monument by 
  3.1   means of a land survey prepared by a licensed land surveyor the 
  3.2   corners of the specific property involved. 
  3.3      (e) This section does not limit direct access to a public 
  3.4   service corporation easement in an emergency situation.  The 
  3.5   public service corporation affected by the emergency must 
  3.6   compensate the property owner for damages caused by directly 
  3.7   accessing the easement. 
  3.8      Sec. 2.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  3.9      This act is effective the day after its final enactment and 
  3.10  applies retroactively to all easements whenever created except 
  3.11  that this act does not apply to litigation pending on the 
  3.12  effective date.