Posted: | December 28, 2020 12:27 PM |
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From: | Senator Gene Yaw |
To: | All Senate members |
Subject: | Natural Gas Royalty Interest Transparency Legislation |
In the near future, I will be introducing legislation aimed at ensuring landowners are afforded a clear and distinct assessment of royalties paid to them through lease agreements with natural gas operators. Concerns have been expressed by land and mineral owners for some time now centered on the lack of transparency that can come with deductions from their royalty payments. In some cases, general deductions with little to no description are subtracted from landowner’s checks, leaving them with a fraction of what was promised. My legislation would not impact lease agreements, but it would require entities making payments to landowners to provide more description, clarity and uniformity on their royalty check statements. This proposal is designed to help ensure all parties feel their lease agreements are executed as intended, and it will help mitigate concerns that have developed in recent years. It further provides assurance and a remedy if landowner inquiries to natural gas operators are not addressed in a timely matter. In 2017, this plan unanimously passed the state Senate as Senate Bill 138. Please consider supporting this legislation and its goal of increasing transparency in the development of our state’s natural gas assets. |
Introduced as SB806