FISCAL NOTE

House Bill 219 as amended and reported by the Committee on Ways and Means General Fund extends the $0.135 per ton coal severance tax, which will allow the Alabama State Docks Bulk Handling Facility Trust Fund to continue receiving the tax revenue until October 1, 2031, and alters the distribution of the proceeds by providing that (1) the distribution to the Walker County Economic and Industrial Development Authority shall not be less than $100,000; (2) a portion of the proceeds will be distributed beginning in Fiscal Year 2022, by a new formula based on revenue from coal severed in a county that is at least 10% greater than the average of coal severed in that county for the fiscal years 2018 through 2020 to the county of severance, except if any coal attributed to this new distribution was loaded for shipping in another county, then 75% of this new distribution shall go to the county of severance and 25% shall go to the county where the coal was loaded; and (3) any remaining distribution currently transferred annually to the State General Fund would now go to a fund in the State Treasury that is continuously appropriated for the operation of the Surface Mining Commission.

The provisions of this bill would reduce receipts to the State General Fund, and correspondingly increase receipts the Surface Mining Commission, by approximately $66,000 annually, based on the average transfer to the State General Fund from the most recent three fiscal years.

The total collections for the $0.135 per ton coal severance tax for the previous five fiscal years are listed below:

Fiscal Year	Collections
2020	1,511,567
2019	1,930,399
2018	1,728,228
2017	1,621,863
2016	1,269,110