Extends through 2037 the requirement that the Interior Secretary collect a processing fee for each new oil and gas drilling permit application, and sends those fees to a fund for permit processing improvements.

Official title: License to Drill Act

Next stop Senate floor: awaiting a vote

Timeline each lane is a chamber; dates pull from congress.gov actions

Senate

Introduced 21-JUL-2026

Referred 21-JUL-2026

Approved by committee 29-JUL-2026

Reported 17-SEP-2026

On the calendar 17-SEP-2026

Key points

Changes the end date for the Interior Secretary's permit processing fee requirement under the Mineral Leasing Act from 2026 to 2037.
Directs all fees collected for fiscal years 2027 through 2037 to the BLM Permit Processing Improvement Fund.
Replaces the existing split-and-transfer language for these fees with a single transfer requirement.
Is titled the License to Drill Act.

AI-generated from the Reported to Senate text of 17-SEP-2026 · verify · report an error

Official CRS summary

Covers an older version. The newest CRS summary describes the bill as of "Introduced in Senate" (21-JUL-2026); the text has changed since (Reported to Senate, 17-SEP-2026).

CRS is the Library of Congress's nonpartisan research office. Read it on congress.gov

Committee referrals (1)

Energy and Natural Resources Committee (Senate)

Policy area

Energy

Sponsor Mike Lee (R-UT) Cosponsors · 0

No cosponsors.

congress.gov page Reported to Senate (17-SEP-2026) Introduced in Senate (21-JUL-2026)