In 2015 Texas oil and gas law continued to evolve. The 84th Legislature passed House Bill 40, curtailing the power of local authorities to regulate oil and gas development, so state law and agency regulations now typically preempt local control. As a result, cities can only adopt an ordinance affecting exploration and production activities if the ordinance regulates “aboveground activity … including … fire and emergency response, traffic, lights, or noise, or imposing notice or reasonable setback requirements,” is “commercially reasonable” (as that term is defined), and “does not effectively prohibit an oil and gas operation conducted by a reasonably prudent operator.” Older local regulations may still apply, however.

HB 2207 deals with the priority of a mortgage over a subsequently executed and recorded oil and gas lease. Now, the lease remains in effect after a foreclosure with the purchaser of the foreclosed property acquiring the rights to royalty and other payments. If real property comprised of hydrocarbons and the surface is subject to both a mortgage and a subsequent lease and the mortgage is foreclosed, the foreclosure sale terminates any rights granted under the lease for the lessee to use the surface to the extent that the foreclosed mortgage had priority over the rights of the lessee under the lease. Before this law, upon foreclosure, a lease typically terminated.

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