IB 
Union Calendar No. 654 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5259 
[Report No. 114–833] 
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to reestablish the Royalty Policy 
Committee in order to further a more consultative process with key 
Federal, State, tribal, environmental, and energy stakeholders, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 17, 2016 
Mr. ZINKE (for himself, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. TIPTON, Mr. 
GOSAR, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. WESTERMAN, and Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Nat-
ural Resources 
NOVEMBER 22, 2016 
Additional sponsors: Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. SMITH of Missouri, Mr. 
LAMALFA, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. OLSON, and Mr. PEARCE 
NOVEMBER 22, 2016 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 17, 2016] 
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A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to reestablish the 
Royalty Policy Committee in order to further a more 
consultative process with key Federal, State, tribal, envi-
ronmental, and energy stakeholders, and for other pur-
poses. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Certainty for States and 
Tribes Act’’. 
SEC. 2. RECONSTITUTION OF THE ROYALTY POLICY COM-
MITTEE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior shall, 
by not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, reconstitute the Royalty Policy Committee as 
last chartered on March 26, 2010, except as otherwise pro-
vided in this Act. 
(b) CORRECTIONS AND UPDATES.—In reconstituting 
the Committee, the Secretary shall make appropriate tech-
nical corrections and updates to the charter of the Com-
mittee, including the following: 
(1) Revision of all references to the Minerals 
Management Service or Minerals Revenue Manage-
ment so as to refer to the Office of Natural Resources 
Revenue. 
(2) Revision of the estimated number and fre-
quency of meetings of the Committee to not less than 
once each year. 
(3) Revision of the non-Federal members of the 
Committee to include— 
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(A) not fewer than 5 members representing 
Governors of States that each receive more than 
$10,000,000 annually in royalty revenues from 
Federal leases; and 
(B) not more than 5 members representing 
Indian tribes that are mineral-producing Indian 
tribes under— 
(i) the Act of May 11, 1938 (commonly 
known as the ‘‘Indian Mineral Leasing Act 
of 1938’’) (25 U.S.C. 396a et seq.); 
(ii) title XXVI of the Energy Policy 
Act of 1992 (25 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.); 
(iii) the Indian Mineral Development 
Act of 1982 (25 U.S.C. 2101 et seq.); or 
(iv) any other law relating to mineral 
development that is specific to one or more 
Indian tribes. 
(4) Creation of a subcommittee of the Committee 
to be known as the State and Tribal Resources Board, 
comprised of designees of States’ Governors and tribes 
participating as non-Federal members of the reconsti-
tuted Committee. 
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SEC. 3. REVIEW OF REGULATIONS AND POLICIES THE ROY-
ALTY POLICY COMMITTEE ADVISORY ACTIVI-
TIES SHOULD INCLUDE. 
(a) CONSULTATION AND REPORT.—Not later than 180 
days after the date of the issuance by the Department of 
the Interior of any proposed regulation or policy related 
to mineral leasing policy for Federal or Indian land for 
exploration, development, or production of oil, gas, or coal 
(including valuation methodologies and royalty and lease 
rates for oil, gas, or coal), and not later than 180 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act with respect to any 
proposed regulation of such Department relating to such 
policy that is pending as of the date of the enactment of 
this Act, the Committee shall— 
(1) assess the proposed regulation or policy; and 
(2) issue a report that describes the potential im-
pact of the proposed regulation or policy, including 
any State and tribal economic impacts described in 
subsection (b). 
(b) STATE AND TRIBAL IMPACT DETERMINATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Before the date on which any 
proposed regulation related to mineral leasing policy 
on Federal or Indian land (including valuation meth-
odologies and royalty and lease rates for oil, gas, or 
coal) may be issued as a final rule, the State and 
Tribal Resources Board shall publish a determination 
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of the impact of the regulation on school funding, 
public safety, and other essential State or Indian 
tribal government services. 
(2) DELAY REQUEST.—If the State and Tribal 
Resources Board determines that a regulation de-
scribed in paragraph (1) will have a negative State 
or tribal budgetary impact, the Secretary shall, upon 
request by the Board, grant a delay of 180 days in 
the finalization of the regulation for the purposes of 
further— 
(A) stakeholder consultation; 
(B) budgetary review; and 
(C) development of a proposal to mitigate 
the negative economic impact. 
(c) REVISION OF PROPOSED REGULATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Before the date on which any 
proposed regulation related to mineral leasing policy 
on Federal or Indian land (including valuation meth-
odologies and royalty and lease rates for oil, gas, or 
coal) is issued as a final rule, the Secretary shall pub-
lish in the Federal Register, in the same docket as 
such proposed regulation, a description of the impacts 
determined by the Board in the report issued under 
subsection (a)(2), the recommendations made by the 
Board (if any) for mitigation of negative impacts de-
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termined by the Board under subsection (b)(2), and 
a clear explanation of why such recommendations of 
the Board were or were not incorporated in the final 
regulation. 
(2) FINAL RULE.—Any final regulation subject 
to paragraph (1) must include— 
(A) a summary of the report required under 
subsection (a)(2); and 
(B) a clear explanation of why the rec-
ommendations of that report (including the State 
and tribal determination) were or were not taken 
into account in the finalization of the regulation. 
SEC. 4. SPECIAL REVIEW OF PROGRAMMATIC ENVIRON-
MENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT. 
(a) PARTICIPANTS IN PROGRAMMATIC REVIEW.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—In carrying out the pro-
grammatic review of coal leasing as described in sec-
tion 4 of the order of the Secretary of the Interior en-
titled ‘‘Discretionary Programmatic Environmental 
Impact Statement to Modernize the Federal Coal Pro-
gram’’, numbered 3338 and dated January 15, 2016, 
the Secretary shall confer with, and take into consid-
eration the views of, representatives appointed to the 
review board described in paragraph (2). 
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