By:  Brown                                    S.B. No. 638

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to the responsibility for the plugging of an oil or gas

 1-2     well.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subdivision (2), Subsection (a), Section 89.002,

 1-5     Natural Resources Code, is amended to read as follows:

 1-6                 (2)  "Operator" means a person who assumes

 1-7     responsibility [is responsible] for the physical operation and

 1-8     control of a well as shown by a form the person files with the

 1-9     commission and the commission approves [at the time the well is

1-10     about to be abandoned or ceases operation].  In [However, in] the

1-11     event of a sale or conveyance of an unplugged well or the right to

1-12     operate an unplugged well, a person ceases being the operator for

1-13     the purpose of Section 89.011 only if the well [that has ceased

1-14     operation, but that] was in compliance with commission rules

1-15     [applicable to such wells that have ceased operation] at the time

1-16     of sale or conveyance and[, the term "operator" for the purpose of

1-17     determining plugging responsibility shall not mean the person who

1-18     sells or conveys the well or right to operate the well, once] the

1-19     person who acquires the well or right to operate the well:

1-20                       (A)  specifically identifies the well as a well

1-21     for which the person [it] assumes plugging responsibility on [such]

1-22     forms [as may be] required and approved by the commission [and such

1-23     filings are approved by the commission];

 2-1                       (B)  has a commission-approved organization

 2-2     report as required by Section 91.142 of this code;

 2-3                       (C)  has a commission-approved bond or other form

 2-4     of financial security under Sections 91.103-91.107 covering the

 2-5     well [or is eligible for a nonrefundable annual fee of $100 as

 2-6     provided by Sections 91.104(b)(1)-(3) and Section 91.107 of this

 2-7     code]; and

 2-8                       (D)  places the well in compliance with

 2-9     commission rules.

2-10           SECTION 2.  Subsection (b), Section 89.011, Natural Resources

2-11     Code, is amended to read as follows:

2-12           (b)  The duty of a person to plug an unplugged well that has

2-13     ceased operation ends only if the person's interest in the well is

2-14     sold or conveyed while the well is in compliance with rules of the

2-15     commission applicable to wells that have ceased operation and the

2-16     provisions of Sections 89.002(a)(2)(A)-(D) [of this code] have been

2-17     met.  The person acquiring the seller's interest through such a

2-18     sale or conveyance succeeds the seller as the operator of the well

2-19     for the purpose of plugging responsibility only if [once] the

2-20     provisions of Sections 89.002(a)(2)(A)-(D) [of this code] have been

2-21     met.

2-22           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-23     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-24     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-25     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 3-2     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 3-3     passage, and it is so enacted.