Sponsors (4)
The bill centralizes mineral leasing fees into a dedicated Fund to improve predictability and transparency, but it risks reducing automatic transfers and increasing federal discretion, which could delay or shrink funding for state/local programs and create uncertainty for mineral-related operations.
State and local governments would receive mineral leasing receipts consolidated into a dedicated Fund, which may make their revenue flows more predictable compared with multiple ad hoc transfers.
Taxpayers and government officials would see more centralized tracking and management of mineral leasing receipts, improving transparency compared with scattered, ad hoc transfers.
State and local governments (and the services they fund) may receive less or delayed funding because the bill removes prior automatic statutory transfers to those recipients.
Consolidating receipts into a Fund could give federal officials greater discretion over distributions, reducing predictability for recipients and increasing political or administrative uncertainty.
If the Fund's governance or permitted uses are not clearly defined, mineral-related programs (including BLM operations) and related infrastructure could face funding uncertainty.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Alters the Mineral Leasing Act by replacing key paragraphs and redirecting fee receipts to a designated Fund instead of the prior statutory transfer scheme.
Amends the Mineral Leasing Act to change how receipts and fees under that law are handled by replacing several existing paragraph provisions and directing certain fee receipts to a designated “Fund.” The bill removes a previously detailed transfer/allocation mechanism tied to fees and narrows or alters where and how fee revenues are allocated, which will change federal revenue flows tied to mineral leasing (including oil and gas) on federal lands.
Official title: License to Drill Act
Introduced March 5, 2026 by Mike Kennedy · Last progress June 3, 2026