(a) The commission, with the approval of the governor, establishes a minimum royalty of $0.20 ton for sedimentary materials. The permittee shall pay the minimum royalty or a percent royalty of 8.0% on the average selling price per ton sold calculated on a monthly basis, whichever is higher. (1) Where the permittee uses a floating dredge and barge or does not have access to a scale, measurement of materials sold may be made in cubic yards and converted into tons according to industry standard prior to payment.(2) Payment for materials dredged solely for personal use may be based on the minimum royalty.(3) Penalties and interest on delinquencies. (A) Penalties. Any royalty not paid when due, or any required affidavit, report, or document not submitted when due, is delinquent and penalties as provided in this paragraph shall be assessed. The penalties prescribed by this paragraph shall be assessed beginning on the 31st day following the due date. Payments remitted before the 31st day are not subject to the provisions of this paragraph. (i) For royalties due after the effective date of this section, the department shall add a penalty of 10% of the delinquent amount or $100, whichever is greater, to any royalty which is more than 30 days delinquent. An additional penalty of 10% of the amount owed shall be assessed for each 30-day period that the royalty payment or portion of the royalty payment is outstanding.(ii) For each report, affidavit, or document that is delinquent or incorrect, a penalty of $100 shall be assessed. An additional penalty of $100 per affidavit, report, or document that is delinquent or incorrect shall be assessed for each 30-day period that each affidavit, report, or document remains delinquent or is not corrected.(B) Interest. Any royalty not paid is delinquent and shall accrue interest as provided in this subparagraph.(i) Interest shall accrue on all delinquent royalties at the rate of 12% per year (simple interest).(ii) Interest shall begin to accrue 31 days after the due date.(b) The commission, with approval of the governor, establishes a price of $1.25 per cubic yard on all grades of shell removed from state-owned submerged tidelands. The price of shell will hereafter be adjusted semiannually, starting October 1, 1981, to reflect any increase or decrease (percent of change) in the Consumer Price Index of retail sales as prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor (using the National Consumer Price Index, all urban consumers, 1967 equals 100) except that any adjustment for the six-month period starting October 1, 1981, will be based upon the Consumer Price Index statistics compiled for the six months ending June 30, 1981, and each succeeding six-month period will be adjusted in the same manner in order to provide permittees advanced notice of price adjustments, and except that the price of shell per cubic yard will be rounded off to the nearest whole cent and will not be adjusted in any six-month period to less than the base price of $1.25 per cubic yard as established in this section.(c) In addition, 5.0% of all shell dredged from state-owned submerged tidelands will be delivered to points designated by the department in Texas bays and spread at permittee's expense for reef enhancement. Except that when permittee is required to deliver and spread shell at a point greater than 50 statute miles (computed using the nearest water route through public navigational channels) from the dredge site, the director is authorized to adjust the amount of shell permittee is required to deliver and spread to a quantity less than 5.0% in order to offset permittee's increased delivery cost for the distance over 50 miles. Permittee will not be required to pay for the shell used for reef enhancement.(d) The department's actual cost of monitoring the dredging operations from state-owned submerged tidelands, not to exceed $50,000 per year, will be assessed against each permittee in proportion to the quantity (percentage of the total) shell removed by each permittee; provided however the maximum monitoring cost of $50,000 will be adjusted each fiscal year using the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) for the preceding 12-month period except that in no event will the maximum monitoring cost be adjusted below $50,000. The director is authorized to determine the methods and terms for payment of the monitoring cost.31 Tex. Admin. Code § 69.121
The provisions of this §69.121 adopted to be effective February 4, 1997, 22 TexReg 958; amended to be effective April 23, 2001, 26 TexReg 3026; amended to be effective May 9, 2013, 38 TexReg 2768; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 42, Number 26, June 30, 2017, TexReg 3406, eff. 7/2/2017