# 119-hr-5638: Geothermal Royalty Reform Act

119-hr-5638, Geothermal Royalty Reform Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Kennedy, Mike [R-UT-3] (R-UT); status in_committee; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-02).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5638
- As of: 2026-10-02
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-5638
- Congress: 119
- Title: Geothermal Royalty Reform Act
- Status: in_committee
- Introduced: 2025-09-30
- Sponsor: Rep. Kennedy, Mike [R-UT-3] (R-UT)
- Cosponsors: 1
- Policy area: Energy
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-10-02

## Summary

**Ties geothermal royalty timing to each facility's in-service date.** It changes how the 10-year royalty period is measured and treats each geothermal electric generating facility as its own unit for royalty calculations unless two facilities share a turbine. - Operators of geothermal electric generating facilities: Royalties for a facility are measured from that facility's defined "in-service date," creating a separate 10-year royalty period for each facility. - Multi‑facility projects and lessees: Each qualifying generating facility is treated separately for royalty purposes, except when facilities share a turbine, which keeps them linked for calculations.

## Cosponsors (1)

- Rep. Begich, Nicholas J. [R-AK-At Large] (R-AK), 2025-12-16T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- New royalty rules for geothermal plants: benefit, low. This bill would add definitions for a "geothermal electric generating facility" and an "in-service date" (the day a plant begins operating). It would measure royalties for electricity on a per-plant basis, using production "by the geothermal electric generating facility." The 10-year lower-royalty…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-471: Fix Our Forests Act
- 119-hr-7613: ALERT Act
- 119-hr-5351: NSF AI Education Act of 2025
- 119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025
- 119-hr-3518: To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prohibit graduate medical schools from receiving Federal financial assistance if such schools adopt certain polici…
- 119-hr-1181: Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-5638 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5638)

## Related
- [119-hr-471: Fix Our Forests Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-471)
- [119-hr-7613: ALERT Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7613)
- [119-hr-5351: NSF AI Education Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5351)
- [119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4669)
- [119-hr-3518: To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prohibit graduate medical schools…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3518)
- [119-hr-1181: Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1181)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5638 (as of 2026-10-02).