Pennsylvania HB 1686: An Act amending the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.343, No.176), known as The Fiscal Code, in oil and gas wells, further providing for definitions and for Oil and Gas Lease Fund and providing for Public Natural Resources Trust Fund.

Bill Text

PRINTER'S NO. 2071
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 1686
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY O'MARA, GIRAL, HILL-EVANS, CIRESI, SCHLOSSBERG,
KHAN, ISAACSON, OTTEN AND GREEN, JULY 1, 2025
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE
PROTECTION, JULY 1, 2025
AN ACT
Amending the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.343, No.176), entitled
"An act relating to the finances of the State government;
providing for cancer control, prevention and research, for
ambulatory surgical center data collection, for the Joint
Underwriting Association, for entertainment business
financial management firms, for private dam financial
assurance and for reinstatement of item vetoes; providing for
the settlement, assessment, collection, and lien of taxes,
bonus, and all other accounts due the Commonwealth, the
collection and recovery of fees and other money or property
due or belonging to the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof,
including escheated property and the proceeds of its sale,
the custody and disbursement or other disposition of funds
and securities belonging to or in the possession of the
Commonwealth, and the settlement of claims against the
Commonwealth, the resettlement of accounts and appeals to the
courts, refunds of moneys erroneously paid to the
Commonwealth, auditing the accounts of the Commonwealth and
all agencies thereof, of all public officers collecting
moneys payable to the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof,
and all receipts of appropriations from the Commonwealth,
authorizing the Commonwealth to issue tax anticipation notes
to defray current expenses, implementing the provisions of
section 7(a) of Article VIII of the Constitution of
Pennsylvania authorizing and restricting the incurring of
certain debt and imposing penalties; affecting every
department, board, commission, and officer of the State
government, every political subdivision of the State, and
certain officers of such subdivisions, every person,
association, and corporation required to pay, assess, or
collect taxes, or to make returns or reports under the laws
imposing taxes for State purposes, or to pay license fees or
other moneys to the Commonwealth, or any agency thereof,
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every State depository and every debtor or creditor of the
Commonwealth," in oil and gas wells, further providing for
definitions and for Oil and Gas Lease Fund and providing for
Public Natural Resources Trust Fund.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 1601-E of the act of April 9, 1929
(P.L.343, No.176), known as The Fiscal Code, is amended by
adding a definition to read:
Section 1601-E. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this article
shall have the meanings given to them in this subarticle unless
the context clearly indicates otherwise:
* * *
"Trust fund." The Public Natural Resources Trust Fund
established in section 1601.3-E.
Section 2. Section 1601.2-E(e) of the act, amended July 11,
2024 (P.L.550, No.54), is amended to read:
Section 1601.2-E. Oil and Gas Lease Fund.
* * *
(e) Annual transfers.--The following apply:
(1) (i) [Except as provided under subparagraph (ii),
for] For the [2017-2018] 2025-2026 fiscal year and each
fiscal year thereafter, [$20,000,000] $35,000,000 shall
be transferred from the fund to the Marcellus Legacy Fund
for distribution to the Environmental Stewardship Fund.
[(ii) No amount shall be transferred from the fund
to the Marcellus Legacy Fund for distribution to the
Environmental Stewardship Fund for the 2019-2020, 2020-
2021, 2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024 and 2024-2025
fiscal year.]
(2) For the 2017-2018 fiscal year and each fiscal year
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thereafter, $15,000,000 shall be transferred from the fund to
the Marcellus Legacy Fund for distribution to the Hazardous
Sites Cleanup Fund.
(3) For the 2025-2026 fiscal year and each fiscal year
thereafter, money shall be transferred from the fund as
provided in section 1601.3-E.
(4) In the fiscal year following the fiscal year in
which the principal of the trust fund exceeds the amount
specified under section 1601.3-E(d)(2) and each fiscal year
thereafter, all money in the fund shall be appropriated to
the department as authorized under this section.
Section 3. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 1601.3-E. Public Natural Resources Trust Fund.
(a) Establishment.--The Public Natural Resources Trust Fund
is established in the State Treasury.
(b) Revenue sources.--In addition to the transfers
authorized in paragraph (1), the trust fund shall include money
appropriated by the General Assembly, money received from the
Federal Government and grants or donations from other sources.
Interest and any other earnings shall remain in the trust fund.
Gifts and donations of marketable securities ma