The bill amends existing laws related to oil and gas production and conservation, specifically focusing on the information that operators must provide to royalty owners regarding deductions from their payments. It specifies that operators must itemize each deduction and its associated amount, detailing the nature, purpose, and amount of each deduction from the payment to the royalty owner. This change replaces the previous requirement of providing "any and all deductions" with a more detailed and transparent approach.

Additionally, the bill revises the sanctions imposed by the Oil and Gas Commission for noncompliance with information requests from royalty owners. It raises the maximum civil penalty for noncompliance from five hundred dollars to the maximum penalty amount allowed for a delinquency as described in another section of the law. The commission is also granted the authority to suspend the imposition of any sanctions for up to sixty days, allowing noncompliant parties time to demonstrate compliance with commission orders.

Statutes affected:
HB 1900: 15-72-305(a)