State Land Office cites record lease revenue and asks for targeted staff to support energy, royalties and housing deals

The State Land Office told the committee that nonroyalty receipts surged following competitive oil‑and‑gas lease sales and asked for targeted staffing to handle the higher workload and to accelerate revenue collection and land development projects.

Deputy Commissioner Sunilay Stewart summarized a sharp increase in one‑time receipts from lease sales and the strategic need to invest in staff that both protect and expand revenue. "We made 2.5 billion dollars last year... we're asking for the executive recommendation for salary/benefits and an additional $394,500 for oil and gas positions," Stewart said, citing multiple large lease sale bids in the Permian Basin.

Why it matters: Large lease sale payments generate revenue for state beneficiaries and create near‑term workload for permitting, royalty auditing and conservation reviews. The State Land Office argued that a small, targeted increase in staff would produce outsized returns through improved royalty compliance, new subsurface agreements and expanded geothermal and commingling reviews.

Positions requested and justification: The office asked to add six targeted roles: a second forester to support forest‑health work across 9 million acres of trust land; an economic‑development manager to oversee affordable‑housing and major project leases (the office cited a Las Cruces development that will include 40% affordable housing); and three petroleum‑specialist positions (for commingling/subsurface agreements and geothermal) plus a royalty compliance auditor to speed revenue capture.

Committee action: Lawmakers asked analysts to examine the revised request and directed staff to return with fiscal and distributional analyses; the committee adopted the LFC operating recommendation while asking analysts to consider the revised position package and any impacts on distributions to beneficiaries.

What’s next: Analysts will evaluate the revised position set for incorporation into the committee’s staffing and fiscal recommendations and will quantify downstream distribution impacts to the land‑grant permanent fund and other beneficiaries.