Ark. Code Ann. § 26-58-124 (2020)

History. Acts 1947, No. 136, § 12; 1953, No. 42, § 9; 1955, No. 100, § 2; 1981, No. 938, § 13; A.S.A. 1947, § 84-2112; Acts 1993, No. 1156, § 2; 1999, No. 736, § 5; 2007, No. 1245, § 13; 2008 (1st Ex. Sess.), No. 4, §§ 8, 9; 2008 (1st Ex. Sess.), No. 5, §§ 8, 9; 2015, No. 536, § 4; 2017, No. 1019, § 3; 2019, No. 910, §§ 4258-4260.

A.C.R.C. Notes. Acts 2008 (1st Ex. Sess.), Nos. 4 and 5, § 1, provided: “Legislative findings and intent.

“(a) The General Assembly has determined that the severance tax rate on natural gas should be increased and that there should be different rates of tax for different categories of natural gas.

“(b) Amendment 19 of the Arkansas Constitution required this act to be passed by at least three-fourths of the members of the Senate and at least three-fourths of the members of the House of Representatives.

“(c) In order to implement the increase in the severance tax rate, the General Assembly has identified the following four categories of natural gas, each as defined in Arkansas Code § 26-58-101:

“(1) High-cost gas;

“(2) Marginal gas;

“(3) New discovery gas; and

“(4) All natural gas that is not defined as high-cost gas, marginal gas, or new discovery gas.

“(d) To increase the severance tax rate, the General Assembly used the method of levying a specific tax rate on each category so that any future legislative enactment that would have the effect of increasing the rate of severance tax on any of those categories of natural gas as defined by § 26-58-101 will also be subject to the three-fourths vote requirement of Amendment 19 of the Arkansas Constitution.”

Amendments. The 2007 amendment substituted “shall transfer” for “may transfer” in (b)(2)(A)(ii)( b

The 2008 (1st Ex. Sess.) amendment by identical acts Nos. 4 and 5, effective January 1, 2009, inserted “except for the taxes, penalties, and costs collected on natural gas” in (a); and added (c).

The 2015 amendment, in (c)(1), added “In accordance with the Severance Tax Agreement of 2008”, substituted “as follows” for “as general revenues”, and added (c)(1)(A) and (B).

The 2017 amendment deleted the former introductory language of (c)(1); redesignated former (c)(1)(A) as (c)(1) and former (c)(1)(B) as (c)(2); substituted “Five percent (5%) of the” for “The” in (c)(2)(A); substituted “(c)(2)(A)” for “(c)(1)(B)(i)” in (c)(2)(B); redesignated former (c)(2) as (c)(3); and substituted “remainder” for “funds” in (c)(3).

The 2019 amendment substituted “Secretary” for “Director” in (a) and “secretary” for “director” throughout the section.