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House BillIntroduced

HB 522: Regards federal mineral royalty payments

Ohio · House · 136th General Assembly (2025–2026) · last verified February 18, 2026

What HB 522 does, verified February 18, 2026

This bill establishes a new fund to receive federal mineral royalty payments from oil, gas, and other mineral production on federal lands within the state. The state treasurer will deposit these payments into the federal mineral royalty clearing fund, which will be used to distribute funds to counties where the mineral production is located. The counties will receive 7% of the federal mineral royalty payments, which must be used for planning, public facilities, and public services. The state will also distribute money received from the sale of national forest timber and other products to the applicable county or counties in which the national forest is situated. This money will be used to maintain county roads and bridges, and to benefit public schools. Any federal mineral royalty payments received by the state will be deposited into the federal mineral royalty clearing fund. This bill…

Bill journey

1IntroducedCurrent

2In CommitteePending

3First Chamber FloorPending

4Second ChamberPending

5GovernorPending

6ChapteredPending

Last action: Referred to committee: Natural Resources (2025-10-22)Alert me

Author and sponsors

Rep. Kevin RitterAuthor · Ohio House of Representatives

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Recent actions2 total · showing 2

Oct. 22, 2025	Referred to committee: Natural Resources
Oct. 15, 2025	Introduced

Latest bill textIntroduced version, October 15, 2025 · 501 words

As Introduced

136th General Assembly

Regular Session

H. B. No. 522

2025-2026

Representatives Ritter, Bird

To amend section 1503.35 and to enact section 1
131.52 of the Revised Code regarding federal
2 mineral royalty payments.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

Section 1. That section 1503.35 be amended and section 4
131.52 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 131.52. (A) As used in this section:

(1) "Federal mineral royalty" means the state of Ohio's

7 share of payments received under 30 U.S.C. 191 from oil, gas, or

8 other mineral production on federal lands within this state,

9 including national forest system lands.

(2) "County of origin" means the county where a wellhead

11 or mine is located to which a federal mineral royalty is

12 attributable.

(B) The treasurer of state shall deposit all federal

14 mineral royalties received from the United States department of

15 the interior's office of natural resources revenue into the

16 federal mineral royalty clearing fund, which is hereby

17 established and shall be in the custody of the treasurer of

18 state but shall not be part of the state treasury. Within thirty

19 days after each deposit, the director of the office of budget

20 and management shall transfer from the fund to each county of .....

21origin an amount equal to the royalty payments attributable to

22 that county.

24 section may be appropriated by the board of county commissioners .....

25 solely for one of the following purposes:

(1) Planning;

(2) Construction and maintenance of public facilities;

(3) Provision of public services.

Sec. 1503.35. The-(A) Except as provided in division (B)

30 of this section, the director of natural resources shall

31 distribute money received by the state pursuant to 16 U.S.C. 500

32 from the sale of national forest timber and other national

33 forest products to the applicable county or counties in which

34 the national forest is situated. Money received by a county

35 under this section shall be used by a county as follows:

(A) (1) Fifty per cent shall be used to maintain county

37 roads and bridges;

(B) (2) Fifty per cent shall be used for the benefit of

39 public schools.

(B) A federal mineral royalty, as defined in section

41 131.52 of the Revised Code, is not a forest product subject to

42 distribution under this section. Any federal mineral royalty

43 received by the state shall be deposited in accordance with that

44 section.

Section 2. That existing section 1503.35 of the Revised

Code is hereby repealed.

Text of HB 522 as introduced, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions