Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Gas Well Valuation Taxation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee approves bill to standardize county valuation of gas wells statewide
Summary
House Bill 1937 would clarify how county assessors value gas wells, extending the uniform approach already applied to oil wells in earlier legislation; the committee approved the bill by voice vote.
The Senate Revenue & Tax Committee voted to pass House Bill 1937, a measure intended to standardize county appraisal of gas wells across the state. Sen. Matt Stone, State Senator for District 2, presented the bill as a clarification to existing law so gas wells are taxed consistent with oil wells.
“Two sessions ago, there was a law passed that clarified how oil wells would be taxed by the county assessors. And this is just ... clarifying the gas wells should be taxed in the same manner,” Stone said, adding that assessors in different counties were applying different methods.
Stone told the committee the change is intended to create uniformity in assessments and is “net revenue neutral to the state.” No members of the public testified for or against the bill during the hearing.
Senator Crow moved the favorable recommendation; Senator Hester seconded. The committee approved the bill by voice vote and the chair announced the bill passed; no roll-call tally appears in the hearing record.
The committee did not discuss specific valuation methodology or auditing procedures during the hearing; those implementation details were not specified. The bill was presented as a legal clarification to align gas-well assessments with the oil-well framework enacted previously.
