By: Morrison H.B. No. 4280
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to funding for counties for transportation infrastructure
projects located in areas of the state affected by increased oil and
gas production.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 251.018, Transportation Code, is amended
to read as follows:
Sec. 251.018. ROAD REPORTS. A road condition report made by
a county that is operating under a system of administering county
roads under Chapter 252 or a special law, including a report made
under Section 251.005, must include the primary cause of any road,
culvert, or bridge degradation, if reasonably ascertained, along
with a brief description of the degradation.
SECTION 2. Sections 256.101(3) and (4), Transportation
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(3) "Weight tolerance permit" means a permit issued
under Section 623.011 for [Chapter 623 authorizing] a vehicle
operating specifically in relation to the exploration,
development, or production of oil or gas [to exceed maximum legal
weight limitations].
(4) "Well completion" means the completion, reentry,
or recompletion of a vertical or horizontal [an] oil or gas well.
SECTION 3. Section 256.103, Transportation Code, is amended
by adding Subsection (a-1) and amending Subsection (b) to read as
follows:
(a-1) To be eligible for a grant under this subchapter, a
county must have at least 400 active wells, including horizontal,
vertical, and oil and gas waste disposal wells, as determined by the
most recent data of the Railroad Commission of Texas.
(b) Grants distributed during a fiscal year must be
allocated among counties as follows:
(1) 10 [20] percent according to weight tolerance
permits, determined by the ratio of weight tolerance permits issued
in the preceding fiscal year for the county to the total number of
weight tolerance permits issued in the state in that fiscal year, as
determined by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles;
(2) 20 percent according to oil and gas production
taxes, determined by the ratio of oil and gas production taxes
collected by the comptroller in the preceding fiscal year in the
county to the total amount of oil and gas production taxes collected
in the state in that fiscal year, as determined by the comptroller;
(3) 15 [50] percent according to vertical well
completions, determined by the ratio of vertical well completions
in the preceding fiscal year in the county to the total number of
vertical well completions in the state in that fiscal year, as
determined by the Railroad Commission of Texas; [and]
(4) 45 percent according to horizontal well
completions, determined by the ratio of horizontal well completions
in the preceding fiscal year in the county to the total number of
horizontal well completions in the state in that fiscal year, as
determined by the Railroad Commission of Texas; and
(5) 10 percent according to the total number [volume]
of oil and gas waste disposal wells as defined by the Railroad
Commission of Texas [injected], determined by the ratio of the
total number [volume] of oil and gas waste disposal wells
[injected] in the last full [preceding fiscal] year for which the
Railroad Commission of Texas has a report for commercial disposal
wells in the county to the total number [volume] of oil and gas
waste disposal wells [injected] in the state in that [fiscal] year,
as determined by the Railroad Commission of Texas.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.