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Committee briefs wide-ranging surface mine fee changes; action deferred
Summary
Committee members received an extensive staff briefing on Senate Bill 53-19, a Department of Natural Resources request bill that would raise and restructure surface mine permit fees. Lawmakers deferred action on SB 53-19 pending further work; staff and members noted the item would make the committee's executive session complicated.
Staff briefed the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee on Senate Bill 53-19, a Department of Natural Resources request measure that would raise and restructure surface mine permit fees. Committee leadership deferred action on the bill during the April 1 executive session.
Lily Smith, staff to the committee, told members the bill proposes to raise various surface mine fees and includes multiple line amendments that change how fee tiers are structured. Some amendments replace two fee categories in the underlying bill with three tiers based on production or acreage, with fees ranging from about $2,000 to $4,000; other amendments preserve lower fee caps for smaller county mines ($1,000 in one amendment, $1,750 in another). One striking amendment would allow multiple line amendments to merge; combined with the smaller-mine fee cap, that change would create four categories in some proposals.
Representative Springer asked whether staff had a fiscal analysis available to determine whether any of the amendment options would be revenue neutral. Smith said she did not have a fiscal analysis and could not say how many mines would fall into the new categories. Committee leaders signaled the item would be the most complicated executive-session bill on the agenda and then deferred action for further consideration.
Because the committee deferred action, no vote was recorded on SB 53-19 at this meeting. Members and staff noted the bill's complexity and the need for fiscal information and category counts before the committee takes final action.
