Section 77-2-103 - Processing of application(1) Upon the filing of an application and plats, the department shall, whenever it considers it necessary, examine the proposed right-of-way and report its findings to the board. The board shall consider the application and report and take any action it considers proper, including the fixing of compensation and damages to be paid to the state. The compensation must be the full market value of the estate or interest disposed of through the granting of the right-of-way easement, and the damages must be the actual damages resulting to the remaining land as nearly as they can be ascertained. If the right-of-way is granted according to the plat, the plat is the official plat of the right-of-way and must be retained in the office of the department.(2) If the state land over or through which a right-of-way is applied for is under certificate of purchase or sales contract, the purchaser or the purchaser's assignee must be made a party to the proceedings and the purchaser's or assignee's consent in writing to the laying out and establishment of the proposed highway, street, or other easement and to the amount of compensation and damages to be paid must be filed with the board before the right-of-way is granted. The board is the judge of how much compensation and damages must be paid to the state and applied on the certificate of purchase or sales contract and of how much, if any, must be paid to the purchaser, as the circumstances in each individual case warrant. This subsection applies to all grants of rights-of-way on state lands.(3) If the purpose of the right-of-way applied for is a regional water authority provided for in Title 75, chapter 6, part 3, the provisions of 77-2-351 related to public entities apply.(4) A right-of-way easement issued pursuant to 77-2-102(6) is exempt from the requirements of Title 22, chapter 3, part 4, and Title 75, chapter 1, parts 1 and 2.(5) Damages for a lessee's improvements, crops, or leasehold interests are not allowed for right-of-way easement applications made pursuant to 77-2-102(6).Amended by Laws 2023, Ch. 309,Sec. 3, eff. 5/1/2023.En. Sec. 61, Ch. 60, L. 1927; re-en. Sec. 1805.61, R.C.M. 1935; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 108, L. 1939; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 99, L. 1951; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 203, L. 1953; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 200, L. 1965; amd. Sec. 54, Ch. 428, L. 1973; R.C.M. 1947, 81-803(2), (3); amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 300, L. 1995; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 141, L. 2011.