Senate Bill No. 119
(By Senator Miller)
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         [Introduced February 13, 2013; referred to the Committee on Energy, Industry and Mining; and then to the Committee on the Judiciary.]                            
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §36-3-8a, relating to permitting a surface owner to have the right of first refusal to purchase a mineral estate beneath the surface when the mineral owner offers the mineral estate for sale.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
    That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §36-3-8a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. FORM AND EFFECT OF DEEDS AND CONTRACTS.
§36-3-8a. Surface owners' rights to purchase mineral estates.
               Beginning January 1, 2014, an owner of a mineral estate shall give the surface owner the right of first refusal to purchase the mineral estate in the event the mineral estate is sold.

               NOTE: The purpose if the bill is to grant a surface owner the right to purchase a mineral estate in the event the mineral estate is sold.

               This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.