HB 1454 Summary

• Restructures county surveyor duties into four enumerated responsibilities: executing court orders for surveys, obeying partition orders, performing court-directed duties, and accompanying road viewers.

• Changes terminology from "chainmen" to "chain carriers" and updates language regarding their employment and oath requirements.

• Allows courts to appoint replacement surveyors when the county surveyor has a conflict of interest or in landlocked cases, with replacement surveyors not required to be county residents.

• Establishes procedures for landlocked property owners to petition county court for access easements to public roads or navigable waterways, requiring 20 days' written notice to adjacent landowners and deposit of estimated costs before proceeding.

• Modifies the viewer appointment process to use a single surveyor instead of multiple viewers, allows parties to propose potential viewers, and adds a court-appointed viewer role to assess damages and property valuations.