2. Oil industry pushing bill to slash penalties on overdue royalty payments to North Dakota
Rep. Jason Dockter, R-Bismarck, presents a bill to the House Finance and Taxation Committee on Wednesday, Jan. 6. Jeremy Turley / Forum News Service
The powerful North Dakota oil lobby has thrown its weight behind a bill in the House of Representatives that would cut down on the maximum interest and penalties the state can charge oil and gas companies for overdue royalty payments.
Companies agree to pay royalties and any late fees to the state for the right to extract publicly owned minerals, but bill sponsor Rep. Jason Dockter, R-Bismarck, said his legislation would fix an outdated system of imposing excessive charges on firms when they fall behind on the payments. The House Finance and Taxation Committee held its first hearing on House Bill 1080 on Wednesday, Jan. 6.
In my October and December columns, I shared statistics regarding statewide COVID-19 deaths and made predictions about deaths to come. In today’s column, I’ll revisit COVID death trends with some