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Committee approves bill changing Natural Resources Committee membership and notification duties
Summary
Senate Bill 368, advanced by committee, modifies Natural Resources Committee membership appointments and alters notification requirements for Department of Energy and Environment seats; committee members raised concerns about designee appointments.
Senate Bill 368, presented to the Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development Senate committee, would modify membership and notification rules for the Natural Resources Committee, an entity tied to the Commissioner of State Lands.
The presenter told the committee the bill updates the committee’s membership provisions and adds a requirement that each member may appoint a designee. It also removes a prior notification requirement directed to three positions at the Department of Energy and Environment (ENE) and replaces that requirement with notification to the ENE secretary. The committee was told the change follows collaboration between the Commissioner of State Lands and the Department of Energy and Environment.
A committee member expressed concern about allowing secretaries to appoint designees without prior Senate confirmation of those designees, saying that the change “gives me a little heartburn” because the Senate would have no way to vet appointees’ qualifications under the revised language. The transcript records discussion of existing confirmation practices for certain constitutional officers, but no amendment to require Senate approval of designees was adopted in the committee record.
The bill was presented as a coordination between the Commissioner of State Lands and ENE; the committee was told ENE is currently represented on the Natural Resources Committee by three positions: the Director of Production and Conservation of the Oil and Gas Commission, the State Geologist, and the Director of the Division of Environmental Quality. The bill’s language would permit those seats to be represented by a designee appointed by the member rather than requiring separate direct notification to each of the three ENE positions.
A motion to report the bill do pass was made and seconded; the committee voice-voted in favor and the motion passed. The transcript records a congratulatory remark naming Bill Pate after the vote.
