State Mineral Revenue Protection Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 998 To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to require the Secretary of the Interior to convey to a State all right, title, and interest in and to a percentage of the amount of royalties and other amounts required to be paid to the State under that Act with respect to public land and deposits in the State, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 6, 2019 Ms. CHENEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources A BILL To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to require the Secretary of the Interior to convey to a State all right, title, and interest in and to a percentage of the amount of royalties and other amounts required to be paid to the State under that Act with respect to public land and deposits in the State, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘State Mineral Revenue 4 Protection Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H998.IH H998 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 998 IH SEC. 2. CONVEYANCE TO STATES OF PROPERTY INTEREST 1 IN STATE SHARE OF ROYALTIES AND OTHER 2 PAYMENTS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 35 of the Mineral Leasing 4 Act (30 U.S.C. 191) is amended— 5 (1) in the first sentence of subsection (a), by 6 striking ‘‘shall be paid into the Treasury’’ and in- 7 serting ‘‘shall, except as provided in subsection (b), 8 be paid into the Treasury’’; 9 (2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 10 following: 11 ‘‘(b) CONVEYANCE TO STATES OF PROPERTY INTER- 12 EST IN STATE SHARE.— 13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 14 provision of law, on request of a State and in lieu 15 of any payments to the State under subsection (a), 16 the Secretary of the Interior shall convey to the 17 State all right, title, and interest in and to the per- 18 centage specified in that subsection for that State of 19 all amounts otherwise required to be paid into the 20 Treasury under that subsection from sales, bonuses, 21 royalties (including interest charges), and rentals for 22 all public land or deposits located in the State. 23 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT.—Notwithstanding any other 24 provision of law, after a conveyance to a State under 25 paragraph (1), any person shall pay directly to the 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H998.IH H998 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 998 IH State any amount owed by the person for which the 1 right, title, and interest has been conveyed to the 2 State under this subsection. 3 ‘‘(3) NOTICE.—The Secretary of the Interior 4 shall promptly provide to each holder of a lease of 5 public land to which subsection (a) applies that are 6 located in a State to which right, title, and interest 7 is conveyed under this subsection notice that— 8 ‘‘(A) the Secretary of the Interior has con- 9 veyed to the State all right, title, and interest 10 in and to the amounts referred to in paragraph 11 (1); and 12 ‘‘(B) the leaseholder is required to pay the 13 amounts directly to the State.’’; and 14 (3) in subsection (c)(1), by inserting ‘‘and ex- 15 cept as provided in subsection (b)’’ before ‘‘, any 16 rentals’’. 17 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 18 (1) Section 6(a) of the Mineral Leasing Act for 19 Acquired Lands (30 U.S.C. 355(a)) is amended— 20 (A) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘Sub- 21 ject to the provisions of section 35(b) of the 22 Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 191(b)), all’’ 23 and inserting ‘‘All’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H998.IH H998 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 998 IH (B) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘of 1 the Act of February 25, 1920 (41 Stat. 450; 30 2 U.S.C. 191)’’ and inserting ‘‘of the Mineral 3 Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 191)’’. 4 (2) Section 20(a) of the Geothermal Steam Act 5 of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1019(a)) is amended in the mat- 6 ter preceding paragraph (1), in the second sentence, 7 by striking ‘‘the provisions of subsection (b) of sec- 8 tion 35 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 9 191(b)) and’’. 10 (3) Section 205(f) of the Federal Oil and Gas 11 Royalty Management Act of 1982 (30 U.S.C. 12 1735(f)) is amended by striking ‘‘Such costs’’ 13 through ‘‘mineral activities.’’. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H998.IH H998 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS