Committee hears HB1900 amendment to reporting rules; amendment reduces maximum penalty language but bill fails on final roll call

Representative Rick Beck presented an amendment to HB1900 that, he said, moves reporting language from one code section to another and removes a proposed $100,000 maximum penalty amount, restoring previously used penalty limits (discussion in the hearing referred to a return to a $500 maximum in one cited subsection).

Beck told the committee the change is largely organizational: "This bill is basically exactly the bill that was passed out of this committee the first time... all this is all just about reporting." He said the amendment removes a $100,000 maximum figure and returns the penalty language to the prior amount that had been in the earlier committee-passed bill.

Industry testimony included an oil-and-gas attorney who said the amended language largely duplicates existing reporting obligations, and reiterated earlier concerns that excessive fines could raise constitutional issues if penalties were very large. Jim Rankin, who practices oil-and-gas law, asked the committee not to pass the bill on behalf of clients who would be affected.

After debate and a motion to report, the committee held a roll-call vote recorded in the transcript and the bill did not pass the committee (the chair announced the bill "failed"). The transcript includes multiple individual roll-call responses; the committee chair announced "Your bills failed, brother" following the vote.

The amended text moves reporting sections from one code section to another and reduces the statutory maximum penalty language; witnesses asked for clarity surrounding how the penalties apply and whether the changes would affect operators in the oil-and-gas sector.