The House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee Monday approved an amendment to House Bill 113 (Harper-R-Montgomery) to change the name of the existing Act 13 drilling impact fee to “severance tax” and then delete all provisions in the bill enacting a real natural gas severance tax.

The amendment was offered by Rep. John Maher (R-Allegheny), the Majority Chair of the Committee, and was approved in a party-line vote Republicans supporting.

The bill was then held in Committee to give members more time to prepare additional amendments.

The other amendments ready for Monday’s meeting were--

-- Rep. Carroll/A03054: Fix for the definition of stripper well definition as a result of a Commonwealth Court decision in March to prevent loss of revenue to Act 13 impact fee;

-- Rep. Tallman/A03250: Reducing the severance tax from 3.5 percent to 1.75 percent; and

-- A03296: Eliminate Act 13 impact fee, replace with 5 percent severance tax with the same distribution.

In reaction to the Committee’s action, prime sponsor of the bill Rep. Kate Harper (R-Montgomery) said, “I am very disappointed that the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee essentially voted to remove the severance tax from House Bill 113. With that bill, I had hoped to help solve our current budget impasse.

“I had designed a bill with a reasonable severance tax rate and with the proceeds going to the communities affected by the shale drilling; environmental programs statewide; the Pennsylvania State Police, which provides local police services to many of the communities in the shale region; and the underfunded teachers’ pension program, which is causing property taxes to rise across the state.

“The General Fund, currently short by $2 billion, needs the revenues to pay for essential government services, and before we tax cable, telephone and natural gas customers, we should enact a reasonable severance tax here in Pennsylvania.

“I am not hostile to the natural gas industry – truly I believe Pennsylvania can be the ‘Saudi Arabia’ of natural gas – but every other gas-producing state has a severance tax. These big industry giants are, in fact, paying this tax already to other states, and the price of natural gas to the customer, whether in Pennsylvania or Oklahoma, is set by an international market which has already factored in a reasonable severance tax because every other state has one.

“I will be filing an amendment to the current bill as amended by the committee to levy a 5 percent severance tax and direct the revenues it produces to the communities affected by the drilling, to the state police that protect those communities, to teacher pensions that were earned and must be paid, and to environmental programs statewide both to regulate the drilling and production of natural gas and to provide funds for mitigating its effects.

“I am hopeful that such an amendment – with a severance tax overwhelmingly supported by Pennsylvanians statewide – will break the budget logjam and get the job done.”

A discharge resolution requesting committee consideration of the bill was filed on July 11.

Rep. John Maher (R-Allegheny) serves as Majority Chair of the House Environmental Committee and can be contacted by sending email to: jmaher@pahousegop.com.  Rep. Mike Carroll serves as Minority Chair and can be contacted by sending email to: mcarroll@pahouse.net.

NewsClips:

Legere: PA Could Finally Have A Severance Tax, In Name Only

Cusick: House Panel Rebrands Impact Fee Calling It Severance Tax

Rep. Christiana: Severance Tax Would Be Horrendous Public Policy

Editorial: System Rigged For Gas Drillers

Requests For Luzerne County Impact Fee Recreation Funding Exceed Available Amount

Related Stories:

PEC: House Approves Largest Cut To Environmental, Energy Programs In PA History

House Republicans Pass Budget That Cripples Community-Based Environmental Protection, Recreation Efforts

Analysis: Why Everyone Else Says There Are No Unused Environmental Funds, Except Some House Republicans

Gov. Wolf Delays Over $1.7 Billion In Payments Due To Failure To Pass Revenue Package

[Posted: Sept. 11, 2017]

9/18/2017