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Committee hears consolidation and oversight question for Ombudsman royalty program; auditor role clarified as federally funded
Summary
Lawmakers discussed the department’s royalty ombudsman program, recent consolidation of related programs and whether a separate auditor role duplicates services; staff said the auditor’s new position focuses on federal royalty audits and is federally funded, while the departmental ombudsman helps private royalty owners resolve disputes.
The Senate committee examined the Department of Agriculture’s Ombudsman royalty program and potential overlap with an auditor position in the state auditor’s office during the March 6 hearing.
Commissioner Goren said the Ombudsman program provides mediation and dispute-resolution services between companies and royalty owners, and that the program had been expanded in earlier sessions to include pipeline and wind reclamation and, more recently, a royalty ombudsman function for private royalty issues.
Senator Dwyer raised whether the auditor’s recently requested position would duplicate services. Grant and department staff told the committee the auditor’s mineral-royalty division conducts audits and compliance reviews to ensure the federal government received correct lease royalties from energy companies on federal leases; staff said the new auditor position is federally funded and focuses on government royalty compliance rather than private royalty mediation.
The department also noted that several programs (pipeline, post-production royalty oversight, wind reclamation and the ombudsman) had been consolidated under a single funding source (the abandoned oil-and-gas reclamation fund, sometimes referenced as OPSERV), and the net spending authority for that combined line was reduced by $200,000 in staff adjustments.
Ending: Committee members concluded the auditor’s federally funded role appears to address government audit and compliance and is not duplicative of the department’s private-royalty mediation function; members asked staff to confirm the distinctions in writing for committee records.
