Oil Severance Tax
AB 656 (Torrico) California Endowment Corporation: oil and governance tax, which would have imposed 12.5% oil and gas severance tax upon producers. The bill introduced during the 2009-10 legislative session, was amended numerous times due to opposition, finally changed to become a “study bill”; then, ultimately the bill was dropped by the author due to widespread opposition.
AB 1326 (Furatani) California Endowment Corporation: oil and governance tax, which also would have imposed a 12.5% tax on oil and gas upon producers. This bill, introduced during the 2011-12 legislative session and, nearly a replica of the Torrico bill, made it through its first committee, Assembly Higher Education, but was ultimately held in the Revenue and Taxation Committee.
It’s very likely that another version of this bill will be introduced for the 2013-14 legislative session, especially with over 40 new legislators taking office in January.