LA HB518

Amends Louisiana severance tax rates and administration for natural resources including oil (12.5% of value), natural gas (base rate of 7-10 cents per thousand cubic feet with annual adjustments), timber (2.25% of stumpage value), pulpwood (5% of stumpage value), and various minerals like sulphur ($1.03/long ton) and coal (10 cents/ton)

Provides reduced severance tax rates for incapable oil wells (half rate for wells producing ≤25 barrels/day with 50%+ salt water), stripper wells (quarter rate for wells producing ≤10 barrels/day), and wells in stripper fields using mining and horizontal drilling projects

Exempts stripper well crude oil from severance tax when oil prices fall below $20/barrel, and provides sliding-scale exemptions for horizontal wells based on commodity prices (100% exemption at oil ≤$70/barrel or gas ≤$4.50/million BTU, decreasing to 0% at oil >$110/barrel or gas >$7/million BTU)

Establishes reduced severance tax rates for inactive wells (25-50% of standard rate depending on timing) and orphan wells (12.5-25% of standard rate) that resume production, with certification required through the Department of Energy and Natural Resources by June 30, 2028

Allocates severance tax revenues to parishes where extraction occurs: one-third of sulphur and lignite taxes, one-fifth of other natural resource taxes (except timber), and three-fourths of timber taxes, subject to constitutional limits