AN ACT
1-1 relating to the period during which the School Land Board may
1-2 reduce the royalty rate under certain oil and gas leases.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subsections (c) and (d), Section 32.067, Natural
1-5 Resources Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-6 (c) The royalty rate for oil and gas produced from a
1-7 qualifying reservoir may be reduced to not less than one-sixteenth
1-8 (6.25 percent) for a term prescribed [not to exceed two years
1-9 unless extended at the reduced rate for additional periods not to
1-10 exceed two years on approval] by the board. In determining whether
1-11 to grant a reduction in the royalty rate, the board may consider
1-12 whether the qualifying property is being operated efficiently,
1-13 including whether the property is pooled or has reasonable
1-14 potential for the application of secondary or tertiary recovery
1-15 techniques.
1-16 (d) The royalty rate for the state's share under a lease
1-17 issued under Subchapter F, Chapter 52, or Sections 51.195(c)(2) and
1-18 (d) may be reduced under this section to not less than
1-19 one-thirty-second (3.125 percent) for a term prescribed [not to
1-20 exceed two years unless extended at the reduced rate for additional
1-21 periods not to exceed two years on approval] by the board. The
1-22 state's royalty rate may be reduced under this subsection only if
1-23 the royalty rate for the owner of the soil is reduced in the same
1-24 proportion.
2-1 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-2 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1731 passed the Senate on
April 19, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1731 passed the House on
May 26, 1999, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
_______________________________
Date
_______________________________
Governor