By Hawley H.B. No. 2449
76R7896 SMH-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the period during which the School Land Board may
1-3 reduce the royalty rate under certain oil and gas leases.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Sections 32.067(c) and (d), Natural Resources
1-6 Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-7 (c) The royalty rate for oil and gas produced from a
1-8 qualifying reservoir may be reduced to not less than one-sixteenth
1-9 (6.25 percent) for a term prescribed [not to exceed two years
1-10 unless extended at the reduced rate for additional periods not to
1-11 exceed two years on approval] by the board. In determining whether
1-12 to grant a reduction in the royalty rate, the board may consider
1-13 whether the qualifying property is being operated efficiently,
1-14 including whether the property is pooled or has reasonable
1-15 potential for the application of secondary or tertiary recovery
1-16 techniques.
1-17 (d) The royalty rate for the state's share under a lease
1-18 issued under Subchapter F, Chapter 52, or Sections 51.195(c)(2) and
1-19 (d) may be reduced under this section to not less than
1-20 one-thirty-second (3.125 percent) for a term prescribed [not to
1-21 exceed two years unless extended at the reduced rate for additional
1-22 periods not to exceed two years on approval] by the board. The
1-23 state's royalty rate may be reduced under this subsection only if
1-24 the royalty rate for the owner of the soil is reduced in the same
2-1 proportion.
2-2 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-3 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-4 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-5 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-6 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.