On Monday, Rep. Brett Geymann’s severance bills passed out of the House Ways & Means Committee:
-- HB 495, which limits the severance tax exemption on Natural Gas – we opposed; and
-- HB 600, which reduces the severance tax rate on oil – we supported.
The House moved quickly on these this week, as both passed the full House yesterday afternoon.
Two anti-CCUS bills also came up in Ways & Means on Monday; HB 444 (Mack) and HB 552 (Schamerhorn), both of which impose additional taxes on CCUS operators. Both were voluntarily deferred.
Wednesday was a rough day for CCUS. Three bills that we’re opposing passed out of the House Natural Resources committee;
-- HB 75 (McCormick), which requires unit operators to compensate non-consenting mineral owners within a unit for the value of stranded minerals or reimburse them for the additional costs.
-- HB 304 (Carter), which requires expropriation hearings in eminent domain cases be heard in the parish where the property in question is located.
-- HB 601 (Geymann), which removes exportation authority for CCUS pipelines and adds additional red tape to construct those pipelines.
We initially thought we had beaten HB 601 last week, but the vote tied 8-8, which allowed Chairman Geymann to bring it back up for reconsideration this week, where it passed 11-5.
Rep. McCormick’s HB 396, which declares that Carbon Capture to be illegal, was killed by the committee.
So far, out of the 21 anti-CCUS bills that have been introduced this session, 7 have been killed, 5 have been voluntarily deferred, 5 have yet to be heard, and 4 have made it out of committee.
The one CCUS bill that we’re supporting – HB 548 (Lacombe) – which clarifies how state revenue from CCUS on property owned by the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is allocated between the parishes and the conservation fund, passed out of Natural Resources.
Rep. Jacob Landry’s Legacy bills were supposed to be heard yesterday, but since there are still amendments being considered, LOGA President Mike Moncla was able to talk Rep. Landry into postponing the bill until next week. We’re getting close!
Visit the LOGA Tracker to stay up to date with all of the latest legislative action.
