Skip to main content
GWGovwatch
CongressBillsCommitteesPresidentMoneyPulseMisconductElectionsMap
Donate

Weekly accountability digest

One email a week with new votes, moving bills, and misconduct updates. No spam.

GW

Govwatch. Public data about Congress, in one place, in plain English.

Built with public data. Not affiliated with the U.S. government.

Explore

  • Officials
  • Legislation
  • Committees
  • Congress Pulse
  • Trending Topics
  • Bipartisan Leaderboard
  • Weekly Digest
  • Misconduct
  • Predictions

Learn

  • How Congress Works
  • How a Bill Becomes Law
  • Campaign Finance 101
  • Glossary

Tools

  • My Representatives
  • Compare Members
  • Bill Watchlist
  • Search
  • District Map
  • Follow the Money
  • Watch Live

Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Corrections
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service

Data Sources

Congress.gov API v3
Bills, members, votes
GovInfo API
Floor speeches, reports, bill text
Federal Election Commission (FEC)
Campaign finance
VoteView (UCLA)
Ideology scores (DW-NOMINATE)
GovTrack.us
Misconduct data (CC0)
U.S. Census Bureau
District demographics
Support This Project

This site is free. Donations help cover hosting, API fees, and keeping the data fresh.

All data is sourced from official government APIs and public records. This site is for informational purposes only.

© 2026 Govwatch

HR5638Referred to Committee

Geothermal Royalty Reform Act

Share:
Introduced
In Committee
3
Passed One Chamber
4
Passed Both
5
Signed into Law
119th
Congress
2025-09-30
Introduced
1
Cosponsors
HR
ⓘ
Type

Sponsor

Mike Kennedy
Mike Kennedy
Republican · UT · Representative
Votes with party: 94.1% (542 recorded votes)

Full profile: /officials/K000403

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

Cosponsors (1)

Members who have signed on to support this bill since introduction. Source: Congress.gov.

  • Nicholas J. Begich III (R-AK)· 2025-12-16

Latest Action

The most recent step in the bill's legislative path. Committee Activity below shows referrals and reports; the full action-by-action history including floor proceedings lives at Congress.gov →

Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 575.

2026-05-20

Source: Congress.gov

Committee Activity

Currently in

  • House Committee on Natural ResourcesReported By · 2026-05-20

Previously

  • House Committee on Natural ResourcesMarkup By · 2026-03-05
  • House Committee on Natural ResourcesReferred To · 2025-09-30

Plain-English Summary

This bill would change how companies pay the government for the right to develop geothermal energy on public lands, likely increasing royalty rates and updating payment terms that haven't been significantly changed in decades. The changes would affect energy companies developing geothermal projects and could increase federal revenue from these renewable energy operations. The bill has been amended and is moving through the legislative process with support from committee members.

AI-assisted summary generated from the official bill metadata (title, subjects, actions) sourced from Congress.gov. Cached and reviewed. Always verify against the official text linked below.

Subjects

Energy

Full Bill Text

Verbatim text published on Congress.gov via GovInfo. Use Cmd+F / Ctrl+F to search within this excerpt.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 5638 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 5638 To amend the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to require royalties on production from leased geothermal resources to be based on production from each electric generating facility, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES September 30, 2025 Mr. Kennedy of Utah introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to require royalties on production from leased geothermal resources to be based on production from each electric generating facility, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Geothermal Royalty Reform Act''. SEC. 2. GEOTHERMAL ROYALTIES. Section 5(a)(1) of the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1004(a)(1)) is amended-- (1) in subparagraph (A)-- (A) by inserting ``with respect to each electric generating facility producing electricity from such resources,'' before ``not less than''; and (B) by inserting ``by such facility'' after ``produced''; and (2) in subparagraph (B)-- (A) by inserting ``with respect to each electric generating facility producing electricity from such resources,'' before ``not less than''; and (B) by inserting ``by such facility'' after ``produced''. <all>
Open clean-text viewRead on Congress.gov →

Related legislation

Bills by the same sponsor or covering overlapping subjects.

  • HR7831License to Drill Act
    Passed House · 2026-06-02
  • HR8658To amend the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to modify the notification requirement for emergency contract health services for certain beneficiaries, and for other purposes.
    Referred to Committee · 2026-05-21
  • HR4684Star-Spangled Summit Act of 2026
    Passed House · 2026-05-20
  • HR8335PROTECT Act of 2026
    Referred to Committee · 2026-04-16