The Texas State Senate is considering a bill that the Texas oil and natural gas industry has worked closely on for the past six years.
House Bill 2730, which passed on the third reading in the Texas House earlier this month, was authored by Land and Resource Management Committee Chairman Joe Deshotel and co-authored by, among others, longtime eminent domain reform champion Rep. DeWayne Burns.
Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association, the oldest and largest oil and gas trade association in Texas, said in a statement that he applauded the Texas House of Representatives for passing HB 2730, an eminent domain reform bill which makes significant improvements to the process for property owners while also ensuring the building of critical infrastructure:
“The Texas oil and natural gas industry believes that in Texas, private property rights are paramount, said Staples. "For decades, landowners and public use entities have negotiated to guarantee that private property rights are respected and preserved throughout the eminent domain process while ensuring that essential infrastructure, such as energy pipelines, can be built."
Staples added that HB 2730 represents agreed-to legislation that both protects and improves private property owners’ rights and ensures that essential and critical infrastructure such as roads, electric lines, high-speed internet lines and pipelines can be built in order to make certain the needs of a growing, thriving Texas are met. "We hope the Texas Senate will send this important legislation to Governor Abbott’s desk," said Staples.
The bill making it to the Senate also represents a victory for Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) as reported in the Texas Agriculture Daily earlier this month.
“We’ve been trying to move the ball on this issue for several years now. We feel like this is a good first step on trying to make the eminent domain process just a little bit more of an even playing field for landowners,” TFB Associate Legislative Director Joy Davis said. “We’re not fully there yet, but this is a good start.”
Davis said this bill requires the landowner to receive an initial offer that is clear as to whether damages to the remainder are included in the offer.
It requires the landowner to receive an easement agreement with standard terms that protect property rights, as well as improves the landowner bill of rights landowners receive with or before the initial offer. The legislation also creates a penalty for land agents that act unethically and make lowball offers to landowners.
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