American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2015 - 172

ConventionCoverage: Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners
TIPRO says. It requires an organization
contesting a case to identify its affected
party representative at the time of filing,
rather than months into the process. It
also mandates that only a person or group
that has openly participated in the TCEQ
permitting process may trigger a contested
case hearing, TIPRO adds.

TIPRO Chairman Raymond
Welder III (right) introduces
Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan
Patrick, who delivered the
keynote address at the Chairman's Dinner during the association's annual meeting, March
3 in Austin.

March 3, Texas Lieutenant Governor
Dan Patrick said the legislature had not
funded transportation in a serious way
over the past eight years, but he said the
sector could get a shot in the arm from
diverting automobile sales taxes to transportation projects and dedicating all Fund
6 revenue. "The Texas Senate's base
budget ends the gasoline tax diversion,
which should put another $600 million a
year into transportation," Patrick observed.
"On top of that, the Senate has put another
$1.2 billion in transportation."
He predicted quick Senate passage of
SB 5, which he labeled a priority bill.
(Editor's Note: Both SB 5 and SJR 5
passed the Senate on March 4.) Patrick
said he and Governor Greg Abbott both
pushed for passage during their respective
campaigns.
Revenue from half of the sales tax on
new and used cars and trucks adds to $2
billion in additional funding, he calculated.
Altogether, bills under consideration
should place an extra $4 billion into
transportation for the biennium, bringing
total funding to $5 billion.

mits in six months, while it could take
up to two years in Texas.
TIPRO said the contested case reform
bill did not abolish, repeal, or otherwise
eliminate the contested case process, adding
the bill preserved public participation opportunities at the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality, which it noted had
been codified by court decisions that affirmed
TCEQ's discretion to determine who was
an affected party in a contested case.
According to TIPRO, under SB 709
and HB 1865, a contested case hearing
would commence under a presumption
that a draft permit issued by TCEQ met all
legal and technical requirements, and protected public health and the environment.
The bill also delivers certainty to investors by establishing a six-month time
frame for the contested case hearing
process, and addresses abuses of the process
that delay or obstruct economic investments,

Contested Case Reform
TIPRO also is lending support for SB
709 and HB 1865, which offer contested
case reform, association members told
lawmakers during call-up meetings. The
state's contested case process puts Texas
at a competitive disadvantage to other
Gulf Coast states for major economic investments, according to TIPRO, because
of the time it can take to get an environmental permit for any major project, if
there is a contested case hearing. The association argues that companies in competing states could obtain necessary per-

172 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

Budget Wrangling
During his remarks, Patrick told TIPRO
members he would endorse policies calling
for state vehicles to run on natural gas.
With Texas lawmakers eyeing a budget
surplus, Patrick insisted it was time for a
major tax cut, pointing to $4.7 billion in
proposed relief that included increasing
the state's homestead exemption from
$15,000 to about $33,600. Tax cut proposals also address the franchise tax and
eliminating taxes on all businesses that
generate less than $4 million in revenue,
which he said would remove 52 percent
of businesses from the tax role.
But Darby insisted the state also needed
to be mindful of other continuing needs,
such as a growing number of state buildings in disrepair, and that numerous
parties wanted a share of the surplus.
"The more slop there is in the trough, the
more hogs tend to show up," he commented.
Darby said lawmakers would grapple
with additional transportation funding,
employee and teacher retirement, and
public schools. "We have $1 billion in
deferred maintenance in our own buildings," he mentioned. "If third parties
owned them, they would be condemned.
It is irresponsible that we neglect the
basic needs of this state, but talk about
giving back (the budget surplus)."
Ì

TIPRO President Edward Longanecker (left) and Chairman
Raymond Welder III (right)
present the association's Hats
Off Award to Texas state Senator Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo,
during the association's annual meeting in March. Welder
told members gathered in
Austin, Tx., that Seliger's support for the industry and his
dedication to his legislative
tasks warranted the tribute.

American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2015

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