It is hereby found and determined:

Unless the context otherwise requires, the general provisions and definitions contained in this chapter govern the construction of this article.

As used in this article, “person” means any natural person, corporation, association, partnership, limited liability company, joint venture, receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary or other representative of any kind and includes the state and any city, county, city and county, district or any department, agency or instrumentality of the state or of any governmental subdivision whatsoever.

“Pool” means an underground reservoir containing, or appearing at the time of determination to contain, a common accumulation of crude petroleum oil or natural gas or both. Each zone of a general structure which is separated from any other zone in the structure is a separate pool.

“Field” means the same general surface area which is underlaid or reasonably appears to be underlaid by one or more pools.

“Repressuring operations” means gas injection operations, water injection operations, water flooding operations, or any combination thereof, or any other operations intended primarily to arrest or ameliorate subsidence, or to restore or increase the pressure in a pool, or to avoid or minimize a reduction of pressure within a pool.

“Subsidence” means sinking, lowering, collapsing, compaction or other movement of the land whether covered by water or not.

“Unit area” means all or part of a pool or pools included within the area embraced by a unit created pursuant to an order of the supervisor as provided in Section 3322, or created by a unit agreement voluntarily entered into.

“Unit production” means all oil, gas and other hydrocarbon substances produced from a unit area from the effective date of the order of the supervisor creating the unit, or from the effective date of a unit agreement approved by the supervisor.

“Fieldwide repressuring plan” means a plan based upon a competent engineering study or studies, prepared by a petroleum engineer licensed by the State, of all the pools in a field, designed so as to provide for a program of pressure restoration or maintenance as to most effectively arrest or ameliorate subsidence with respect to those land areas referred to in Section 3315.

“Unit agreement” means and includes, in addition to the unit agreement, any unit operating agreement, consent agreement and other agreement entered into in connection with and supplemental to such unit agreement, but shall not include any preliminary agreement confined to effectuating any exchange of interests in tracts of land which the parties to such preliminary agreement may desire.

“Increased production” means that portion of the oil or gas produced from all wells bottomed within a unit area, or within any other area where the supervisor finds repressuring operations feasible, during any year over and above the oil or gas that would have been produced from all wells bottomed within the same area during the identical year at the projected rate of decline for the wells in the absence of repressuring operations conducted pursuant to this article.

“Working interest” means an interest held in lands by virtue of fee title, including lands held in trust, a lease, operating agreement or otherwise, under which the owner of such interest has the right to drill for, develop and produce oil and gas. A working interest shall be deemed vested in the owner thereof even though his right to drill or produce may be delegated to an operator under a drilling and operating agreement, unit agreement, or other type of operating agreement.

“Working interest owner” means a person owning a working interest.

“Royalty interest” means a right to or interest in oil and gas produced from any lands or in the proceeds of the first sale thereof other than a working interest.

“Royalty interest owner” means a person owning a royalty interest.

“Unit operator” means the person or persons designated by the unit agreement or in accordance with subdivisions (g) and (j) of Section 3322 as operator or operators of the unitized area.

“Land” means both surface and mineral rights.

This article applies only to lands, referred to in Section 3315, overlying or immediately adjacent to a producing pool or pools, when such lands are subsiding, portions of which lands are subject to threat of inundation from the sea and which subsidence is endangering the life, health and safety of persons or which is damaging or is threatening to cause damage to, any surface or underground improvements located on such lands overlying or immediately adjacent to such pool or pools. The area within the exterior boundaries established pursuant to Section 3336 shall be known as a “subsidence area.”

An order of the supervisor which involves tide or submerged lands which may have been granted to any city, county, or city and county, or district, shall prohibit any impairment of the public trust for commerce, navigation, or fisheries to which the granted lands are subject. The Legislature hereby finds and declares that compliance with any such order containing such prohibition will not impair the public trust for commerce, navigation, or fisheries to which the granted lands are subject, and that any acts or things done pursuant to the terms thereof or resulting therefrom are consistent with and not in violation of the terms and conditions of any such grant or of any trusts, restrictions, or conditions of appertaining thereto. No such order shall effect or result in, or be construed to effect or result in a revocation of or change in any trust pertaining to the granted lands, or in any grant, conveyance, alienation, or transfer of the granted lands, or any part thereof, to any other individual, firm, or corporation, even though such order provides for the pooling of oil, gas, or other hydrocarbon substances produced from the granted lands with oil, gas, or other hydrocarbon substances produced from other lands, or results in the migration of any oil, gas or other hydrocarbon substances between the granted lands and other lands. If any of the granted lands are contained in any unit created or approved by an order of the supervisor, and, when applicable, the State Lands Commission, then any trust, restrictions, or conditions pertaining to any production from the granted lands included within such a unit, or to any proceeds from such production, shall apply only to that part of the production or that part of the proceeds therefrom which is allocated to such city, county, or city and county or district on account of the granted lands under any such order, and shall not apply to any other production or the proceeds therefrom, whether or not the same may have been produced from the granted lands or other lands.

Prior to the adoption of a fieldwide repressuring plan and general specifications of the work to be done thereunder, as provided in Section 3319, the supervisor, upon the application of any city, county, city and county, any part of which is in a subsidence area, or any contractor or lessee for the production of oil or gas therefor, or any person having a working interest therein, who has submitted therewith an engineering report and plan for pressure restoration or pressure maintenance of a particular pool or pools, or portion thereof underlying a certain described area or portion of such field, designed for the purpose of arresting or ameliorating subsidence therein, prepared by a petroleum engineer licensed by the State, shall hold a public hearing to consider the need for repressuring operations in such pool or pools, or portion thereof, in order to arrest or ameliorate subsidence. Applications relating generally to the same described area or portions of such field may be ordered consolidated by the supervisor for such public hearing thereon.

The procedure and method prescribed in Section 3319, with reference to the determination of amount, assessment, payment and refunding of costs, in conjunction with the holding of the hearing therein provided, are hereby incorporated with reference to the determination of amount, assessment, payment and refunding of costs as a condition precedent to the holding of the hearing herein provided.

If, after a public hearing and from the evidence adduced therefrom, and from such engineering studies as he may have ordered made and which have been presented and considered at such hearing, the supervisor finds that repressuring operations of such pool or pools or portions thereof will tend to arrest or ameliorate subsidence, he shall by order adopt a repressuring plan and specifications of the work to be done thereunder in such pool or pools or portions thereof, if in his judgment such plan and specifications are necessary and will not substantially reduce the maximum economic quantity of oil or gas ultimately recoverable from such pool or pools under prudent and proper operations.

Any such repressuring plan and specifications adopted in furtherance thereof shall be designed to most effectively arrest or ameliorate subsidence with respect to those affected land areas overlying or immediately adjacent to such pool or pools, or portions thereof. The supervisor may amend such repressuring plan and specifications in the same manner as herein provided for the initial adoption of said repressuring plan and specifications.

Any order of the supervisor adopting a repressuring plan and specifications of the work to be done thereunder with respect to a particular pool, or pools, or portions thereof, shall be expressly conditioned so as to provide that such plan and specifications shall be subject to amendment or modification if, after the holding of a public hearing thereon, it be determined that such amendment or modification is necessary in order to conform such plan and specifications with the subsequently adopted fieldwide repressuring plan and general specifications as provided for in Section 3319.

The provisions of Section 6879 shall apply to any such voluntary or co-operative agreement which includes tide and submerged lands of the State which have been granted to a city, county, city and county or district by a grant which does not except and reserve to the State all deposits of minerals, including oil and gas, in said lands.

Any agreement for the cooperative management, development and operation of two or more tracts in a pool or pools, or portions thereof, in a field for the production of oil or gas, including repressuring operations therein, shall be valid and binding upon those who consent thereto and may be filed with the supervisor for approval.

If in the judgment of the supervisor a unit agreement or cooperative agreement filed for approval is not detrimental to the intent and purposes of this article to arrest or ameliorate subsidence, or otherwise unlawful, the supervisor may approve the agreement. No such agreement approved by the supervisor hereunder or heretofore approved pursuant to applicable law prior to the enactment of this article shall be held to violate any of the statutes of this state prohibiting monopolies or acts, arrangements, agreements, contracts, combinations or conspiracies in restraint of trade or commerce.

Then the supervisor shall make and enter an order which shall provide that unless the nonconsenting persons, within 30 days after service upon those persons of the order in the manner specified by the supervisor, become parties to the agreement by signing or ratifying the agreement, the right of eminent domain may be exercised as provided in subdivision (c) for the purpose of acquiring the properties of the nonconsenting persons which are found by the supervisor to be necessary for the initiation and conduct of the repressuring operations.

If the supervisor makes findings in accordance with the foregoing, the findings shall be prima facie evidence of all of the following:

The acquisition and use of land, including oil and gas rights therein, and personal property used in the production of oil and gas within a subsidence area for the purposes and by the persons mentioned in this section under the circumstances herein specified, are public uses on behalf of which the right of eminent domain may be exercised.

Except as otherwise provided in subdivisions (b) and (c), any condemnation action brought hereunder shall be governed by Title 7 (commencing with Section 1230. 010) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

If a condemnation action or actions to acquire the properties of the nonconsenting persons are promptly commenced and diligently prosecuted to final judgment by which the properties are acquired, no compulsory unit order affecting the area covered by the agreement shall be made by the supervisor under Section 3321 with respect to that area.

If the supervisor determines that sufficient of the working interest owners and royalty interest owners to make repressuring operations feasible in any pool or pools, or portions thereof, for which a repressuring plan and specifications have been adopted by the supervisor, have not prior thereto, or within the time designated in the order of the supervisor adopting such plan and specifications, entered into a unit agreement or co-operative agreement, or have not taken individual action under which the repressuring operations contemplated by such plan will be satisfactorily initiated and conducted, the supervisor shall have power to compel the unitization of all interests in such pool or pools, or portions thereof, in the manner and subject to the limitations set forth in this article.

If the supervisor shall compel the unitization of the interests in any pool or pools, or portions thereof, in a field as provided in Section 3321, the supervisor shall have power to order repressuring operations to be initiated and conducted in the unit area in accordance with the applicable repressuring plan and specifications previously adopted by the supervisor; provided, however, that no order compelling unitization or order requiring the initiation and conduct of repressuring operations in the unit area shall be made unless the supervisor shall find:

The supervisor shall have continuing jurisdiction to review the results of repressuring operations previously ordered by the supervisor and to make such further orders as may be necessary or desirable under the provisions of this article.

In determining, as required by Section 3320.2, whether the estimated cost of initiating and conducting such repressuring operations will exceed the estimated value of the increased production resulting from such operations, the supervisor shall exclude from consideration that portion of the cost of initiating and conducting such repressuring operations which any interested person or persons agree to bear, in addition to the portion of the cost of such operations which such person or persons would otherwise be obligated to bear pursuant to the provisions of subdivision (e) of Section 3322 under arrangements for the conditional repayment of such excess portion from increased production as follows:

In order to encourage the initiation and conduct of repressuring operations with the greatest possible speed in a subsidence area, the State, or any city, or county, city and county, or other political subdivision, deriving revenues from oil or gas produced from tide or submerged lands may expend such revenues for the purpose of bearing that portion of the cost of initiating and conducting repressuring operations in such subsidence area:

No working or royalty interest owner shall be liable for any loss or damage resulting from repressuring or other operations connected with the production of oil and gas which are conducted, without negligence, pursuant to and in accordance with a co-operative or unit agreement ordered or approved by the supervisor pursuant to this article.

1. That repressuring operations of such pool or pools, or portions thereof, will tend to arrest or ameliorate subsidence; and

2. That compulsory repressuring operations are required by reason of the failure, refusal or inability of the respective parties within the affected area to agree upon and initiate approved repressuring operations; and

3. That subsidence of land overlying or immediately adjacent to such pool or pools is injuring or imperiling valuable buildings, or other improvements, or harbor installations or is interfering with commerce, navigation and fishery, or substantial portions of such lands may be inundated if subsidence continues, thereby endangering life, health, safety, peace, welfare and property; and

4. That unit operation of such pool or pools, or portions thereof, is reasonably necessary to carry out repressuring operations in accordance with the theretofore adopted pressuring plan; and

5. That the creation of the unit is feasible, necessary and justifiable under all conditions affecting the unit at the time of its creation or which can be reasonably anticipated by the supervisor at such time;

then the supervisor shall issue an order requiring unit operation of such pool or pools, or portions thereof, on such terms and conditions as may be determined from the evidence to be fair, reasonable, equitable and in conformance with said repressuring plan.

An order of the supervisor requiring unit operation, pursuant to Section 3321, may include lands owned by any person as defined in Section 3316.1, and shall contain such provisions as may be necessary or proper to protect, safeguard, and adjust the respective rights and obligations of the persons affected, including but not limited to lessees, operators, independent contractors, lien claimants, owners of mineral rights, royalties, working interests, production payments, mortgages, or deeds of trust. The order shall include:

Pending the adoption of a final formula for apportionment and allocation of unit production as above provided (which final formula must be adopted not later than 18 months from the effective date of the order of the supervisor requiring unit operation), an interim formula may be adopted based upon the gross oil production in the unit area during the calendar year preceding the date of such order of the supervisor, which shall be effective until the adoption of the final formula as above provided. The final formula, when adopted, shall be retroactive to the effective date of the order requiring unit operation and adjustment shall be made in the apportionment and allocation of production during such interim period in accordance with the final formula so adopted.

No order of the supervisor creating a unit and prescribing the plan of unitization applicable thereto shall become effective unless and until the plan of unitization has been signed, or in writing ratified or approved, by working interest owners who are entitled to 65 percent of the proceeds of production of oil and gas, prior to the payment of royalties, within the proposed unit area, measured by the production from such area in the calendar year preceding the date of the order of the supervisor creating such unit, and the supervisor has made a finding either in the order creating the unit or in a supplemental order that the plan of unitization has been so signed, ratified or approved by persons owning the required percentage interest in and to the unit area. Where the plan of unitization has not been so signed, ratified or approved by persons owning the required percentage interest in and to the unit area at the time the order creating the unit is made, the supervisor shall, upon petition and notice, hold such additional and supplemental hearings as may be requested or required to determine if and when the plan of unitization has been so signed, ratified or approved by persons owning the required percentage interest in and to such unit area and shall, in respect to such hearings, make and enter a finding of his determination in such regard. In the event persons owning the required percentage interest in and to the unit area have not so signed, ratified or approved the plan of unitization within a period of six months from and after the date on which the order creating the unit is made, the order creating the unit shall cease to be of further force and effect and shall be revoked by the supervisor.

Notice of the time and place of any hearing to be held by the supervisor shall be given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation printed and published in the county in which the subsidence is alleged to be taking place, and notice thereof sent, in the manner prescribed by Section 3303 to the persons mentioned in such section within the area which will be the subject of his order.

At hearings all persons interested are entitled to be heard and present evidence, both oral and written. All such persons shall be sworn, and a transcript of the proceedings shall be kept. The procedure to be followed by the supervisor with respect to the administering of oaths, applying for subpoenas for witnesses and for the production of books, records, well logs, production records, and other documents, the taking of depositions, and the penalties attaching for failure to comply with any order of the supervisor or subpoena issued, shall be in the manner as in this division provided. On the request of the supervisor, a hearing officer in the Office of Administrative Hearings may be assigned to assist in conducting the proceedings as provided in Section 11370.3 of the Government Code. The officer, however, shall not make the determination specified in Section 3321.

The provisions of Section 3234 prohibiting the giving of testimony as to the contents of records on file shall not apply to this article. All of these records shall be available and may be received in evidence in any public hearing or in any judicial proceeding herein provided for.

The supervisor shall make and enforce all rules and regulations necessary or proper to accomplish the purposes of this article or to administer or enforce any order issued pursuant thereto. Such rules and regulations shall be adopted in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 4 (commencing at Section 11370), Part 1, Division 3, Title 2 of the Government Code.

An order requiring unit operation may be amended for good cause by a subsequent order entered by the supervisor, except that no such order or amendment shall change the percentage of oil and gas allocated to a separately owned tract by the original order except with the consent of all persons who might be adversely affected thereby. Before issuing any such order, he shall make similar findings as are required for an original order, and such new order shall be subject to the same requirements and restrictions that are applicable to an original order. The provisions of this section shall not prohibit the establishment of an interim formula for the apportionment and allocation of unit production pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 3322.

Subject to the limitations in this article governing the creation of the unit previously established, the supervisor, by entry of a new order after a public hearing, may require unit operation in a pool, or a portion thereof, which embraces a unit area established by a previous order. Such new order, in providing for allocation of unit production from the enlarged unit area, shall first treat the unit area previously established as a single tract, and the portion of unit production so allocated thereto shall then be allocated among the separately owned tracts included in such previously established unit area in the same proportions as those specified therefor in the previous order.

The unit operator shall be authorized on behalf of and for the account of all the respective owners or possessors of the mineral rights within the unit area to supervise, manage and conduct the further development and operations for the production of oil, gas and other hydrocarbon substances from the unit area pursuant to the powers conferred, and subject to the limitations imposed by the provisions of this article and by the order of unitization.

The obligation or liability of the lessee or other owners of the mineral rights in the several separately owned tracts for the payment of unit expense shall at all times be several and not joint or collective and in no event shall a lessee or other owner of the mineral rights in the separately owned tract be chargeable with, be obligated or liable, directly or indirectly, for more than the amount apportioned, assessed or otherwise charged to his interest in such separately owned tract pursuant to the order of unitization and then only to the extent of the lien provided for in this section.

Subject to the provisions in the order of unitization, the unit operator shall have a lien upon all drilling and production equipment in and to each separately owned tract, and upon the portion of the unit production allocated to the working interest therein, to secure the payment of the amount of the unit expense chargeable to and assessed against such separately owned tract. Such lien may be enforced by the unit operator, as the agent of the respective owners or possessors of the mineral rights within the unit area, as against noncarried working interest owners, in the manner set forth in Section 3330. The interest of the lessee or other person who by lease, contract or otherwise is obligated or responsible for the costs and expenses of developing and operating a separately owned tract for the production of oil, gas and other hydrocarbon substances in the absence of unitization shall be solely responsible for and chargeable with any assessment for unit expense made against such tract.

When unit expenses incurred by a unit operator on behalf of the unit have not been paid, the unit operator may, in order to secure payment of the amount due the unit operator, fix a lien upon the interest of the debtor in all drilling and production equipment of the debtor on the premises and upon his allocated portion of the unit production as and when produced from the unit area, by filing for record, with the recorder of the county where the property or a portion thereof involved is located, an affidavit setting forth (1) in general terms the kind of materials, tools, equipment or supplies furnished, labor or services performed, or expenditure incurred, and (2) a description of the land involved, the name of the debtor and his interest in the production from the unit area, and (3) the amount which is still due and unpaid, and (4) a statement that at least 20 days prior to the date of the affidavit the unit operator gave written notice to the debtor by registered mail at his last known address, setting forth the information required under subdivisions (1), (2) and (3) above. Any such affidavit shall be filed for record not later than 90 days after the delivery of the property or the completion of the labor or the incurring of the expenditure. The lien shall not be construed as constituting a lien upon real property as such, except as to the recoverable oil and gas lying thereunder, but otherwise shall be of the same nature and subject to foreclosure in the same manner and within the same time as mechanics’ liens. In any case where a unit operator is in possession of the production which is subject to the lien, he may sell such production or so much thereof as may be necessary to satisfy said lien; provided, that he shall hold or arrange for the holding of the proceeds of such sale for appropriate distribution upon the determination of the controversy.

Any order issued by the supervisor pursuant to this article, from its effective date, shall be binding upon each person owning or claiming any legal or equitable interest in the area which is the subject of such order or in the oil and gas produced or to be produced therefrom or a right to participate in a share of the proceeds thereof. From the effective date of such an order it shall be unlawful for a person to drill, redrill, operate, work on or produce any well within such area otherwise than in conformity with the order.

Within 30 days after the written notice of the entry of a final order of the supervisor, or within such further time as the supervisor may grant for good cause shown, but in no event shall such time be extended more than 60 days from the written notice of entry of such final order, any person affected thereby may file with the supervisor an application for a rehearing in respect to any matter determined by such order, setting forth the particulars in which such order is considered to be objectionable. The supervisor shall grant or deny any such application in whole or in part within 30 days from the date of the filing thereof, and failure to act thereon within such period shall constitute a denial of such application. In the event that a rehearing is granted, notice to such effect shall be given to all persons affected by such order, advising them of the date of such rehearing and of their right to appear and be heard thereon. The date set for any such rehearing shall be not less than 30 days nor more than 60 days from the date the application for rehearing is granted, unless, upon good cause shown, the time is extended by the supervisor, but in no event shall such time be extended more than 90 days from the date such application for rehearing is granted. The supervisor may enter an amended order or a new order after the rehearing as may be required under the circumstances. The provision of Article 6 (commencing with Section 3350) of Chapter 1 of Division 3 relating to appeals and review shall not apply to this article.

The pendency of actions before the superior court or proceedings for review before any other court of competent jurisdiction of itself shall not stay or suspend the operation of any order; however, the superior court or such other court in its discretion, upon its own motion or upon proper application of any party thereto, may, for good cause, stay or suspend, in whole or in part, the operation of any order pending consideration or review thereof.

If an action for judicial review has not been commenced within the time prescribed for such action, or, if filed, the time within which to process an appeal by the petitioner from any judgment or order rendered therein has expired, or if such an appeal has been timely perfected and there has been an affirmance of such judgment or order, the supervisor may order that the production by noncomplying owners or operators of oil or gas from any pool or pools or portions thereof cease or be curtailed until such noncomplying owners or operators comply with said unit order.

The supervisor upon his own motion may, or shall upon the application of any interested person, hold a public hearing for the purpose of determining and establishing the exterior boundaries encompassing the lands referred to in Section 3317. If, after a public hearing and from the evidence adduced therefrom, the supervisor determines that the lands, or a portion thereof, come within the category of those lands referred to in Section 3317, he shall adopt an order fixing and establishing the exterior boundaries thereof. The supervisor shall retain jurisdiction in this regard, and shall, if it be made to appear necessary, hold further hearings for the purpose of determining whether the boundaries previously established should be enlarged or otherwise altered. Any such change or alteration in said boundaries shall be made by order of the supervisor.

The division shall exercise surveillance over all repressuring operations in the state.

At the termination of oil and gas production from a unit area established or approved pursuant to this article and the abandonment of attempts to obtain production therefrom, any interested municipal corporation or other public agency may acquire by eminent domain, in the manner provided by law for the condemnation of property for public use by the state, municipal corporation or other public agency, such oil production properties or facilities within the unit area as such municipal corporation or other public agency may deem necessary or essential to the maintenance of such pressures as will continue to arrest or ameliorate subsidence.

To the extent necessary to conform to the provisions and requirements of this article, and to any order of unitization or other order, rule or regulation of the supervisor, made and adopted pursuant hereto, all leases, contracts, and all other rights and obligations shall be regarded as modified and amended, but otherwise to remain in full force and effect. Nothing contained in this article shall be construed to extend the term of any lease or other agreement.

Nothing contained in this article shall be construed to require a transfer to or vesting in the unit operator, or in persons other than those owning the same at the time of the creation of the unit, of title to the separately owned tracts or to any leases or other drilling and operating agreements thereon within the unit area, other than the right to use and operate the same to the extent set out in the order of unitization; nor shall the unit operator or the working interest owners jointly be regarded as owning the unit production. Each respective share of the unit production and the proceeds from the sale thereof shall be severally owned by the persons to whom the same is allocated pursuant to the order of unitization. All property, whether real or personal, which the unit operator may in any way acquire, hold or possess, the cost of which is chargeable to the working interest owners, shall not be acquired, held or possessed for the unit operator for his own account but shall be so acquired, held and possessed by the unit operator for the account of and as agent for each of the several working interest owners and shall be the property of each of such persons as their respective interests may appear under the order of unitization, subject, however, to the right of the unit operator to the possession, management, use or disposal of the same in the proper conduct of the affairs of the unit, and subject to any lien the unit operator may have thereon to secure the payment of unit expense.

No unit order made by the supervisor shall be construed to have the effect of, result in, or in any manner require or provide for the alienation, transfer, conveyance or change of any title or ownership, whether legal or equitable, of any person in or to any separately owned tract of land included in the said order, or to the mineral rights therein, to any other person owning or possessing a separately owned tract of land which may likewise be included in said unit order.

No finding or determination made by the supervisor under the provisions of this article or by any court in proceedings involving the enforcement or review of the orders of the supervisor shall be received in evidence or be binding upon any person in any other proceeding not directly related to the making, enforcement or review of the orders of the supervisor under this article.

The provisions of this article shall supersede any conflicting provisions contained in any legislative grant of tide and submerged lands, or in any law amendatory or supplemental thereto, or any other laws affecting such granted lands.

If any section, subsection, subdivision, sentence or clause of this article is adjudged to be unconstitutional or invalid, such adjudication shall not affect the validity of the remaining portion of this article. It is hereby declared that this article would have been passed, and each division, section, subsection, subdivision, sentence or clause thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, subdivisions, sentences or clauses might be adjudged to be unconstitutional, or for any other reason invalid.