Section 3263.

(a)  The division shall establish the following fees, up to a maximum of one million dollars ($1,000,000) annually, and payable to the division, for the sole purpose of carrying out the activities described in Section 3261:

(1) There shall be imposed annually upon the person operating each oil and gas well in this state, or owning royalty or other interests in respect to the production from the well, a charge that shall be payable to the division and that shall be computed at a uniform rate per barrel of oil and at a uniform rate per 10,000 cubic feet of natural gas produced from the well for the preceding calendar year, other than gas that is used for recycling or otherwise in oil-producing operations, not to exceed an aggregate total of up to five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) annually from all operating wells in the state. The fees to be paid shall be apportioned among all of those persons in fractional amounts proportionate to their respective fractional interests in respect to the production of the well, but the whole of the discharge shall be payable by the operator, who shall withhold their respective proportionate shares of the charge from the amounts otherwise payable or deliverable to the owners of royalty or other interests.

(2) There shall be imposed annually upon the person operating each idle well in this state, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 3008, a charge that shall be payable to the division. The maximum aggregate charge to be collected by the division shall not exceed five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) annually. The amount of the charge to be assessed shall be determined by equally dividing the maximum aggregate annual charge to be collected by the total number of idle wells as of December 31 of the preceding year.

(b) The fee collections shall commence on March 1, 2006, based on production and idle well statistics as of December 31, 2005. The fee collections for 2007 shall be calculated based on production and idle well statistics as of December 31, 2006.

(c) Unless authorized by the Legislature, on or after January 1, 2008, the division shall not collect the fees established pursuant to subdivision (a).

(Added by Stats. 2005, Ch. 336, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2006.)