Certainty for States and Tribes Act

[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5259 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5259

  To direct the Secretary of the Interior to reestablish the Royalty 
 Policy Committee in order to further a more consultative process with 
key Federal, State, tribal, environmental, and energy stakeholders, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 17, 2016

  Mr. Zinke (for himself, Mrs. Lummis, Mr. McKinley, Mr. Tipton, Mr. 
 Gosar, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Westerman, and Mr. Johnson of Ohio) introduced 
  the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
                               Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the Secretary of the Interior to reestablish the Royalty 
 Policy Committee in order to further a more consultative process with 
key Federal, State, tribal, environmental, and energy stakeholders, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Certainty for States and Tribes 
Act''.

SEC. 2. RECONSTITUTION OF THE ROYALTY POLICY COMMITTEE.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Interior shall, by not later 
than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, reconstitute 
the Royalty Policy Committee as last chartered on March 26, 2010, 
except as otherwise provided in this Act.
    (b) Corrections and Updates.--In reconstituting the Committee, the 
Secretary shall make appropriate technical corrections and updates to 
the charter of the Committee, including the following:
            (1) Revision of all references to the Minerals Management 
        Service or Minerals Revenue Management so as to refer to the 
        Office of Natural Resources Revenue.
            (2) Revision of the estimated number and frequency of 
        meetings of the Committee to not less than once each year.
            (3) Revision of the non-Federal members of the Committee to 
        include--
                    (A) not fewer than 5 members representing Governors 
                of States that each receive more than $10,000,000 
                annually in royalty revenues from Federal leases; and
                    (B) not more than 5 members representing Indian 
                tribes that are mineral-producing Indian tribes under--
                            (i) the Act of May 11, 1938 (commonly known 
                        as the ``Indian Mineral Leasing Act of 1938'') 
                        (25 U.S.C. 396a et seq.);
                            (ii) title XXVI of the Energy Policy Act of 
                        1992 (25 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
                            (iii) the Indian Mineral Development Act of 
                        1982 (25 U.S.C. 2101 et seq.); or
                            (iv) any other law relating to mineral 
                        development that is specific to one or more 
                        Indian tribes.
            (4) Creation of a subcommittee of the Committee to be known 
        as the State and Tribal Resources Board, comprised of designees 
        of States' Governors and tribes participating as non-Federal 
        members of the reconstituted Committee.

SEC. 3. REVIEW OF REGULATIONS AND POLICIES THE ROYALTY POLICY COMMITTEE 
              ADVISORY ACTIVITIES SHOULD INCLUDE.

    (a) Consultation and Report.--Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the issuance by the Department of the Interior of any proposed 
regulation or policy related to mineral leasing policy for Federal land 
for exploration, development, or production of oil, gas, or coal 
(including valuation methodologies and royalty and lease rates for oil, 
gas, or coal), and not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act with respect to any proposed regulation of such 
Department relating to such policy that is pending as of the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Committee shall--
            (1) assess the proposed regulation or policy; and
            (2) issue a report that describes the potential impact of 
        the proposed regulation or policy, including any State and 
        tribal economic impacts described in subsection (b).
    (b) State and Tribal Impact Determination.--
            (1) In general.--Before the date on which any proposed 
        regulation related to mineral leasing policy on Federal land 
        (including valuation methodologies and royalty and lease rates 
        for oil, gas, or coal) may be issued as a final rule, the State 
        and Tribal Resources Board shall publish a determination of the 
        impact of the regulation on school funding, public safety, and 
        other essential State or Indian tribal government services.
            (2) Delay request.--If the State and Tribal Resources Board 
        determines that a regulation described in paragraph (1) will 
        have a negative State or tribal budgetary impact, the State and 
        Tribal Resources Board may request a delay in the finalization 
        of the regulation for the purposes of further--
                    (A) stakeholder consultation;
                    (B) budgetary review; and
                    (C) development of a proposal to mitigate the 
                negative economic impact.
            (3) Limitation.--A delay under paragraph (2) shall not 
        exceed 180 days from the date on which the State and Tribal 
        Resources Board requested the delay in finalization.
    (c) Revision of Proposed Regulation.--
            (1) In general.--Before the date on which any proposed 
        regulation related to mineral leasing policy on Federal land 
        (including valuation methodologies and royalty and lease rates 
        for oil, gas, or coal) is issued as a final rule, the Secretary 
        shall revise the proposed regulation to avoid any negative 
        State or tribal economic impact determined by the Committee 
        under subsection (a)(2).
            (2) Final rule.--Any final regulation subject to paragraph 
        (1) must include--
                    (A) a summary of the report required under 
                subsection (a)(2); and
                    (B) a clear explanation of why the recommendations 
                of that report (including the State and tribal 
                determination) were or were not taken into account in 
                the finalization of the regulation.

SEC. 4. SPECIAL REVIEW OF PROGRAMMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT.

    (a) Participants in Programmatic Review.--
            (1) In general.--In carrying out the programmatic review of 
        coal leasing on Federal land as described in section 4 of the 
        order of the Secretary of the Interior entitled ``Discretionary 
        Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement to Modernize the 
        Federal Coal Program'', numbered 3338 and dated January 15, 
        2016, the Secretary shall confer with, and take into 
        consideration the views of, representatives appointed to the 
        review board described in paragraph (2).
            (2) Review board.--The Governor of each State in which more 
        than $10,000,000 in revenue is collected annually by the United 
        States as bonus bids, royalties, and rentals, and fees for 
        production of coal under leases of Federal land or Indian land 
        may each appoint not more than 3 representatives to a review 
        board for purposes of paragraph (1), at least one of whom shall 
        be a member of the State and Tribal Resources Board.
            (3) Deadline.--
                    (A) In general.--The Secretary shall complete the 
                programmatic review referred to in paragraph (1) not 
                later than January 15, 2019.
                    (B) Failure to meet deadline.--If the programmatic 
                review is not completed by the deadline described in 
                subparagraph (A), the programmatic review shall be 
                considered to be complete as of that deadline.
    (b) Termination of Other Programmatic Review.--No Federal funds may 
be used to carry out the programmatic review of coal leasing on Federal 
land described in subsection (a)(1) after January 15, 2019.
    (c) No Implementation Requirement.--Nothing in this section 
requires the Secretary to conduct or complete the programmatic review 
of coal leasing on Federal land described in subsection (a)(1) after 
January 20, 2017.
    (d) Termination of Moratorium.--Effective January 16, 2019--
            (1) the pause or moratorium on the issuance of new Federal 
        coal leases under the Secretarial order referred to in 
        subsection (a)(1) is terminated; and
            (2) that Secretarial order shall have no force or effect.

SEC. 5. GRANDFATHERING OF COAL LEASES ON APPLICATION AND COAL LEASE 
              MODIFICATIONS.

    Nothing in the order of the Secretary of the Interior entitled 
``Discretionary Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement to 
Modernize the Federal Coal Program'', numbered 3338 and dated January 
15, 2016, shall be considered to prohibit or restrict any issuance of a 
coal lease on application or coal lease modification, pursuant to 
section 3432 of title 43, Code of Federal Regulations, for which the 
Bureau of Land Management has begun its review under section 102 of the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332) as of 
January 15, 2016.

SEC. 6. DEADLINE FOR COAL LEASE SALES AND MODIFICATIONS.

    Not later than 1 year after the date on which the Secretary 
completes the analysis required under section 102 of the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332) for an application 
for a coal lease, or an application for a modification to a coal lease 
pursuant to subpart 3432 of part 3430 of title 43, Code of Federal 
Regulations (or successor regulations), accepted by the Secretary, the 
Secretary shall conduct the lease sale and issue the lease, or approve 
the modification, unless the applicant indicates in writing that the 
applicant no longer seeks the lease or modification to the lease.
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