Advocacy Fact Sheet — SB 1172, SB 604

AAPL Scores Big Wins for Members with Passage of our Sponsored Texas Landman Bills

Overview: AAPL recently secured back-to-back wins for members with the passage of two separate bills in the Texas legislature that expanded protections and exemptions for landmen working across all energy sources in the state. With passage of the following legislation, AAPL has now ensured that landmen are protected for work they perform not only in oil and gas but also across all energy sources. As AAPL members have expanded their work into new energy sources, such as renewable energy, it was imperative that AAPL ensure that the protections, exemptions, and benefits our members already enjoyed for landwork in traditional energy, 
such as oil and gas, also extended to these new areas in which they work. 

Texas SB 1172 – Exempting AAPL members from Texas Real Estate Commission licensing requirements for landwork across all energy sources

In May 2025, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed AAPL-sponsored landman bill, SB 1172, into law. The bill amends the existing state code to eliminate any licensing requirements by the Texas Real Estate Commission for landwork in renewables and other energy sources. 

For years, landmen have enjoyed these protections for work in oil and gas development and production, but in June 2024, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a surprising legal opinion holding that “a person negotiating a lease for property of a wind power project on behalf of another, for compensation, is required to hold a license issued by the Commission.” The opinion, which provided an unexpected interpretation of the long-standing licensing exemption for minerals in Texas, also called into question whether a TREC license would be required for landwork not just for wind leasing, but also for other unspecified renewable energy sources not explicitly exempted in the state code. 

The Attorney General’s new interpretation of Texas law upended a long-held state policy that a TREC license was not required for landwork in any energy source. This left AAPL members confused and uncertain about the landwork they perform and whether they might be operating in violation of TREC licensing requirements. It was critical that AAPL protect its members, so we immediately sprang into action to fix this issue by ensuring landmen were exempt from any TREC licensing requirement. With our sponsored bill, AAPL found broad support from Texas House and Senate lawmakers who agreed with our position to update the law to protect landmen. 

Specifically, the new definition that AAPL successfully added to the state Occupations Code includes a non-exhaustive list of energy sectors that would have otherwise required licensing had AAPL not acted. Those new codified areas include, but are not limited to, geothermal, nuclear, solar, and wind energy – and even yet unknown sources of energy in which AAPL members may engage in the near future.

With the success of SB 1172, AAPL members can now rest easy that landman services performed in not just oil and gas but in renewables and all other energy sources will not require any TREC real estate license. 

What’s more, in the interim period prior to bill passage, AAPL capitalized on our strong working relationship with TREC leadership to receive assurances that no licensing actions would be imposed on AAPL members while the bill worked its way through the Texas legislature and ultimately to the governor’s desk. This additional advocacy work on behalf of AAPL members provided certainty and peace of mind for landmen throughout the legislative process.

Texas SB 604 – Updates state code to adopt AAPL’s expanded landman and land services definitions to protect members working across all energy sources 

In May 2023, Gov. Greg Abbott signed AAPL-sponsored landman bill, SB 604, into law. In response to ongoing changes within the energy industry, AAPL secured amendments to the statutory language in the Occupations Code and Tax Code concerning the definition of “land services.” The original language in these statutes only pertained to landmen who provided services within the traditional oil, gas, and mineral extraction industries. As such, landmen who provided services related to alternative or renewable sources of energy did not enjoy the protections afforded to traditional landmen.

The bill amended the existing state code to integrate AAPL’s definitions and descriptions of landman, landwork and land professional within the state code to better reflect the full breadth, scope and types of work performed by landmen in Texas. For background, in 2021, AAPL updated its bylaws to better reflect the full scope and breadth of work performed by landmen and their role in the state of Texas. These definition amendments ensure that the most accurate descriptions of landman, landwork, and land professional are harmonized with the state code. 

Building on the existing protections for AAPL members working in oil and gas, these amendments ensure the same employment treatment, tax benefits and unauthorized practice of law protections for work performed in renewables and other energy sources. 

Specifically, SB 604 provides benefits and protections for AAPL members performing landwork in Texas by adopting those AAPL definitions and expanding the types of energy sources in which our members may work to include the broadly defined “other energy sources” that applies to renewables, geothermal, hydrogen and even currently unknown sources.

SB 604 covers three key areas: 

• Unauthorized practice of law protection: In Texas, landmen were already protected from unauthorized practice of law penalties, but our bill extends those protections to the full scope and breadth of work performed by landmen in the expanded definitions. 
• Independent contractor status: In Texas, landmen who meet specified criteria may be recognized as independent contractors, which includes the full protections the law affords. Our bill also expands those protections and ensures they apply to the full range of services performed in all energy sources.
• Landman carve out for the franchise/margin tax: In Texas, landmen are provided with a franchise/margin tax exemption. Our bill ensures the exemption now applies to the full scope of work performed provided in the expanded definitions.

Successful passage of both SB 1172 and SB 604 could only have been achieved for members through the hard work and dedication of not only AAPL governmental affairs staff, but also our experienced committee members, AAPL executive and board leadership – both past and present – and our lobbying team on the ground in Austin – all working together with one mission – to protect your right to work and provide an environment where you can prosper and grow in your profession.  

For perspective, the successful enactment of both bills is an even more impressive win for AAPL members since statistically only a small number of Texas bills introduced are ever signed into law. For example, in the most recent Texas legislative sessions fewer than 14% of all bills introduced by lawmakers were enacted — so this is a huge victory for AAPL and members like you!

Finally, we would also like members to know that AAPL continues the process of reviewing relevant statutes in other states and developing strategies to revise similar issues as needed. Our goal is to replicate the successes we’ve had in Texas by extending the protections, exemptions, and benefits enjoyed by oil and gas landmen to our members who are working on projects involving all other energy sources.