Oil and Gas Lawyer Blog
Representative Drew Darby, Chair of the Texas House Committee on Energy Resources, wrote the members of the committee to ask their input on issues that should be addressed by the committee during the interim between legislative sessions. A copy of the letter can be viewed here: Darby letter.
Of the 33 energy-related bills referred to the committee, it reported 22 favorably, nine were passed by the legislature, and two of those were vetoed by the governor – so seven became law. They are described in Darby’s letter.
Darby mentions two issues he believes should be suggested to the Speaker of the House as “Interim Charges” for the committee to study: allocation wells and oil equipment theft. The legislature passed House Bill 3291, which would have increased penalties for oil-field theft, but the governor vetoed it, declaring it “overly broad.” Darby also reminds the committee that the Texas Sunset Commission will be reviewing the Texas Railroad Commission during the interim, and he expects the Sunset report to be a “significant focus of the Committee next session.”
Rep. Tom Craddick’s bill on allocation wells, House Bill 1552, did not make it out of the House Energy Committee, but lobbyists for the industry strenuously lobbied for the bill. Representatives of the University of Texas System and the Texas General Land Office testified that the bill would have cost UT and the State hundreds of millions of dollars a year in lost revenue. Representatives of the Texas Land & Mineral Owners’ Association, the Texas Cattle Raisers’ Association, the National Association of Royalty Owners – Texas, and others testified against the bill as unnecessary and contrary to established legal precedent.