II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1608

To provide annual payments to the States and counties from National Forest

System lands managed by the Forest Service, and the revested Oregon

and California Railroad and reconveyed Coos Bay Wagon Road grant

lands managed predominantly by the Bureau of Land Management,

for use by the counties in which the lands are situated for the benefit

of public schools, roads, emergency, and other public purposes; to encourage and provide new mechanisms for cooperation between counties and

the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to make necessary investments in Federal lands, and reaffirm the positive connection

between Federal Lands counties and Federal Lands; and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 21, 1999

Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. CRAIG, and Mr. SMITH of Oregon) introduced

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee

on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

To provide annual payments to the States and counties from

National Forest System lands managed by the Forest

Service, and the revested Oregon and California Railroad

and reconveyed Coos Bay Wagon Road grant lands managed predominantly by the Bureau of Land Management,

for use by the counties in which the lands are situated

for the benefit of public schools, roads, emergency, and

other public purposes; to encourage and provide new

mechanisms for cooperation between counties and the
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Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management

to make necessary investments in Federal lands, and

reaffirm the positive connection between Federal Lands

counties and Federal Lands; and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Secure Rural Schools

5 and Community Self-Determination Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

8 (1) the National Forest System, managed by

9 the Forest Service, was established in 1907 and has

10 grown to include 192 million acres of Federal

11 Lands;

12 (2) the revested Oregon and California Railroad

13 and reconveyed Coos Bay Wagon Road grant lands,

14 managed predominantly by the Bureau of Land

15 Management, were returned to Federal ownership in

16 1916 and 1919, and added to thereafter, and com17 prise approximately 2.6 million acres of Federal

18 Lands;

19 (3) Congress recognized that, by its decision to

20 secure these lands in Federal ownership, counties in

21 which the lands are situated are denied revenues

22 they would otherwise receive if the lands were sold
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1 or transferred into, or the revested and reconveyed

2 grant lands had remained in, private ownership;

3 (4) counties expend public funds to provide edu4 cation, road construction and maintenance, search

5 and rescue, law enforcement, solid waste, fire protec6 tion, and other services based upon an artificially re7 duced tax base;

8 (5) to provide compensation to the affected

9 counties for their loss of tax revenues used for the

10 critical services they provide to both county citizens

11 and visitors to Federal Lands, Congress determined

12 that the Federal Government should share with

13 those jurisdictions the revenues received from the

14 Federal Lands;

15 (6) Congress enacted in 1908, and subsequently

16 amended, a law that requires 25 percent of the reve17 nues from National Forest lands be paid to States

18 for use by the counties in which those lands are situ19 ated for the benefit of public schools and roads;

20 (7) Congress enacted in 1937, and subsequently

21 amended, a law that requires 50 percent of the reve22 nues from the revested and reconveyed grant lands

23 be paid to the counties in which those lands are situ24 ated to be used in the same manner as are other

25 county funds;
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1 (8) in recent years, as the volume of timber sold

2 annually from most of the Federal Lands has de3 creased precipitously, so too have the revenues

4 shared with the affected counties;

5 (9) this decline in shared revenues has severely

6 curtailed the quality of education in the affected

7 counties, as well as other county services;

8 (10) Congress recognized this trend as it re9 lated to protection of the Northern Spotted Owl and

10 moved to ameliorate its adverse consequences when,

11 in 1993, it enacted a law—soon to expire—that pro12 vided an alternative annual ‘‘safety net’’ payment to

13 72 counties in Oregon, Washington, and northern

14 California in which Federal timber sales had been

15 restricted or prohibited by administrative and judi16 cial decisions;

17 (11) no comparable authority has ever been

18 granted for alternative payments to counties else19 where that have suffered similar shared revenue

20 losses resulting from the general decreases in timber

21 harvests on Federal Lands;

22 (12) changes in Federal Land management, in

23 addition to having curtailed timber sales, have al24 tered the historic, cooperative relationship between
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1 counties and the Forest Service and the Bureau of

2 Land Management;

3 (13) both the Forest Service and the Bureau of

4 Land Management face significant backlogs in infra5 structure maintenance and ecosystem restoration

6 which are not likely to be addressed through annual

7 appropriations; and

8 (14) new relationships between Federal Lands

9 counties and Federal Land managers need to be

10 formed to benefit our natural resources and our

11 rural communities as we enter the 21st century.

12 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

13 (1) to assist local governments dependent on

14 Federal Lands to restore funding for education and

15 other public services that the counties must provide

16 to their citizens;

17 (2) to provide this funding in a form that is en18 vironmentally sound and consistent with applicable

19 resource management plans;

20 (3) to facilitate the development, by the Federal

21 Government and the counties which benefit from the

22 shared revenues from the Federal Lands, of a new

23 cooperative relationship in Federal Land manage24 ment;
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1 (4) to help develop local consensus in imple2 menting applicable plans for the Federal Lands;

3 (5) to identify and implement projects on the

4 Federal Lands that enjoy broad-based local support;

5 and

6 (6) to make additional investments in infra7 structure maintenance and ecosystem restoration on

8 the Federal Lands.

9 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

10 As used in this Act—

11 (a) The term ‘‘Federal Lands’’ means—

12 (1) lands within the National Forest System, as

13 defined in section 11(a) of the Forest and Range14 land Renewable Resource Planning Act of 1974 (16

15 U.S.C. 1609(a)) and managed by the Forest Service,

16 Department of Agriculture; and

17 (2) revested Oregon and California Railroad

18 and reconveyed Coos Bay Wagon Road grant lands,

19 managed in part by the Bureau of Land Manage20 ment, Department of the Interior, and in part by the

21 Forest Service, Department of Agriculture.

22 (b) The term ‘‘eligible States’’ means each State that

23 received one or more 25 percent payments as defined in,

24 and during the period described in, subsection (d).
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1 (c) The term ‘‘eligible counties’’ means each county

2 that received one or more 50 percent payments as defined

3 in, and during the period described in, subsection (e).

4 (d) The term ‘‘25 percent payments’’ means the pay5 ments to States authorized by the sixth paragraph under

6 the heading of ‘‘FOREST SERVICE’’ of the Act of May

7 23, 1908, as amended, or section 13 of the Act of March

8 1, 1911, as amended (35 Stat. 260, 36 Stat. 963, as

9 amended; 16 U.S.C. 500).

10 (e) The term ‘‘50 percent payments’’ means the pay11 ments that are the sum of the 50 percent share otherwise

12 paid to a county pursuant to title II of the Act of August

13 28, 1937 (50 Stat. 875, chapter 876; 43 U.S.C. 1181f),

14 and the payment made to a county pursuant to the Act

15 of May 24, 1939 (53 Stat. 753, chapter 144; 43 U.S.C.

16 1181f–1, et seq.).

17 (f) The term ‘‘full payment amount’’ means the

18 amount determined by calculating the average of the three

19 highest 25 percent payments, 50 percent payments, or

20 payments pursuant to section 13982 of the Omnibus

21 Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (16 U.S.C. 500 note)

22 made to the eligible State or eligible county during the

23 period beginning on October 1, 1985, and concluding on

24 September 30 of the last full fiscal year prior to the date

25 of enactment of this Act, adjusted each fiscal year in
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1 which payments are required pursuant to subsection 4(a)

2 and subsection 5(a) to reflect changes in the consumer

3 price index for rural areas (as published in the Bureau

4 of Labor Statistics) that occur after publication of that

5 index for the fiscal year prior to the full fiscal year after

6 the date of enactment of this Act.

7 (g) The term ‘‘resource management plans’’ means

8 land use plans prepared by the Bureau of Land Manage9 ment for units of the Federal Lands described in sub10 section (a)(2) of this section pursuant to section 202 of

11 the Federal Land Policy Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. § 1712);

12 and land and resource management plans prepared by the

13 Forest Service for units of the lands described in sub14 section (a)(1) of this section pursuant to section 6 of the

15 Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act

16 of 1974 (16 U.S.C. § 1604).

17 (h) The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ or ‘‘Secretary’’ means the

18 Secretary of the Interior with respect to the Federal

19 Lands described in subsection (a)(2) and/or the Secretary

20 of Agriculture with respect to Federal Lands described in

21 subsection (a)(1).

22 (i) The term ‘‘eligible projects’’ means any project or

23 projects conducted on Federal Lands paid for, in whole

24 or in part, by an eligible county which meets the require25 ments of subsection 6(b).
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1 (j) The term ‘‘associated environmental analysis’’

2 means any evaluation required by the National Environ3 mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. § 4321, et seq.) ac4 companying an eligible project, or any biological opinion

5 for a project required by the Endangered Species Act of

6 1973 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531, et seq.).

7 (k) The term ‘‘infrastructure maintenance’’ means

8 any road or facility maintenance, reconstruction, or sta9 bilization activity approved by the appropriate Secretary

10 and consistent with the applicable resource management

11 plan.

12 (l) The term ‘‘ecosystem restoration’’ means any wa13 tershed restoration, wildlife habitat improvement or res14 toration, or forest health treatment activity approved by

15 the appropriate Secretary and consistent with the applica16 ble resource management plan.

17 (m) The term ‘‘Committee’’ means an Investment

18 Project Advisory Committee established pursuant to sec19 tion 7.

20 (n) The term ‘‘best value stewardship contracting’’

21 means using contracts which secure, for the best price,

22 the best quality service as determined by the Secretary

23 based upon: the technical demands and complexity of the

24 work to be done; the ecological sensitivity of the resources

25 being treated; past experience by the contractor with the
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1 type of work being done, using the type of equipment pro2 posed for the project, and meeting or exceeding desired

3 ecological conditions; utilization of low value species and

4 byproducts; commitment to hiring highly qualified work5 ers; and commitment to hiring local people.

6 SEC. 4. PAYMENTS TO STATES FROM FOREST SERVICE

7 LANDS FOR AFFECTED COUNTIES TO USE

8 FOR THE BENEFIT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION

9 AND TRANSPORTATION.

10 (a) REQUIREMENT FOR PAYMENTS TO ELIGIBLE

11 STATES.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall make pay12 ments in accordance with subsection (b) as early as prac13 ticable in each fiscal year from the first full fiscal year

14 after the date of enactment of this Act to eligible States

15 as defined in subsection 3(b).

16 (b) PAYMENT AMOUNTS.—Each payment to a State

17 pursuant to subsection (a) shall include the amount of the

18 25 percent payments as defined in subsection 3(d) that

19 is applicable to that State and, if such amount is less than

20 the full payment amount for that State as defined in, and

21 calculated pursuant to, subsection 3(f), such additional

22 funds as are necessary to provide a total payment equal

23 to the full payment amount as provided in subsection (d).

24 (c) EXPENDITURE OF PAYMENTS.—(1) Seventy-five

25 percent of the funds paid to the States pursuant to sub-
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1 section (a) shall be distributed and expended in the same

2 manner in which the 25 percent payments are required

3 to be distributed and expended.

4 (2) Twenty-five percent of the funds paid to the

5 States pursuant to subsection (a) shall be distributed in

6 the same manner in which the 25 percent payments are

7 required to be distributed and expended in accordance

8 with section 6.

9 (d) SOURCE OF SPECIAL PAYMENTS.—Any funds

10 paid to the States in addition to the 25 percent payments

11 pursuant to this section and section 6 shall be derived first

12 from any revenues, fees, penalties, or miscellaneous re13 ceipts, exclusive of deposits to any relevant trust fund, re14 ceived by the Federal Government from activities by the

15 Forest Service on the Federal Lands described in sub16 section 3(a)(1) and/or secondly, as determined by the Sec17 retary of the Treasury, from any funds in the Treasury

18 not otherwise appropriated.

19 SEC. 5. PAYMENTS TO COUNTIES FROM BUREAU OF LAND

20 MANAGEMENT LANDS TO USE FOR THE BEN21 EFIT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, LAW ENFORCE22 MENT, EDUCATION AND OTHER PUBLIC PUR23 POSES.

24 (a) REQUIREMENT FOR PAYMENTS TO ELIGIBLE

25 COUNTIES.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall make
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1 payments in accordance with subsection (b) as early as

2 practicable in each fiscal year from the first full fiscal year

3 after the date of enactment of this Act to eligible counties

4 as defined in subsection 3(c).

5 (b) PAYMENT AMOUNTS.—Each payment to a county

6 pursuant to subsection (a) shall include the amount of the

7 50 percent payments as defined in subsection 3(e) that

8 is applicable to that county and, if such amount is less

9 than the full payment amount for that county as defined

10 in, and calculated pursuant to, subsection 3(f), such addi11 tional funds as are necessary to provide a total payment

12 equal to the full payment amount as provided in sub13 section (d).

14 (c) EXPENDITURE OF PAYMENTS.—(1) Seventy-five

15 percent of the funds paid to the counties pursuant to sub16 section (a) shall be distributed and expended in the same

17 manner in which the 50 percent payments are required

18 to be distributed and expended.

19 (2) Twenty-five percent of the funds paid to the coun20 ties pursuant to subsection (a) shall be distributed in the

21 same manner in which the 50 percent payments are re22 quired to be distributed, and expended in accordance with

23 section 6.

24 (d) SOURCE OF SPECIAL PAYMENTS.—Any funds

25 paid to the counties in addition to the 50 percent pay-
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1 ments pursuant to this section and section 6 shall be de2 rived first from any revenues, fees, penalties, or miscella3 neous receipts, exclusive of deposits to any relevant trust

4 funds, received by the Federal Government from activities

5 by the Bureau of Land Management on the Federal Lands

6 described in subsection 3(a)(2) and/or secondly, as deter7 mined by the Secretary of the Treasury, from any funds

8 in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

9 SEC. 6. PAYMENTS TO STATES AND COUNTIES FROM FOR10 EST SERVICE AND BUREAU OF LAND MAN11 AGEMENT LANDS FOR COMMUNITY SELF-DE12 TERMINATION, RESOURCE INVESTMENT, AND

13 AGENCY ACCOUNTABILITY.

14 (a) PAYMENTS TO STATES AND COUNTIES FOR RE15 SOURCE INVESTMENTS.—(1) To promote investments in

16 resource management and restoration, and an ongoing re17 lationship between eligible states and eligible counties and

18 the Federal Lands, eligible states and counties shall be

19 provided twenty-five percent of the funds paid pursuant

20 to subsection 4(a) and subsection 5(a) to support invest21 ments in resource management and restoration on Federal

22 Lands.

23 (2) Investments referred to in paragraph (1) may

24 support eligible projects or groups of eligible projects

25 meeting the requirements of subsection (b), including both
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1 commercial and noncommercial activities, involving re2 source management, stewardship, restoration, or develop3 ment.

4 (b) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—To be an eligible project

5 or projects for the purposes of receipt of funds under sub6 section (a)(1), the project or group of projects must—

7 (1) be nominated and paid for, in whole or in

8 part, by the eligible county;

9 (2) be in compliance with the applicable re10 source management plan, or with any watershed or

11 subsequent plan developed pursuant to the resource

12 management plan and approved by the appropriate

13 Secretary;

14 (3) be recommended by the appropriate invest15 ment project advisory committee formed pursuant to

16 section 7;

17 (4) be in compliance with all applicable environ18 mental laws;

19 (5) be approved by the appropriate Secretary

20 with whom the final project authority lies;

21 (6) assure that the sale of any commodity,

22 asset, lease, or right to use the Federal Lands shall

23 be on a competitive bid basis to receive at least fair

24 market value. For any eligible project not subject to

25 competitive bidding or involving ecosystem restora-
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1 tion, infrastructure maintenance, or other resource

2 stewardship work, the appropriate Secretary shall, to

3 the maximum extent feasible, use best value stew4 ardship contracting; and

5 (7) be governed by a Memorandum of Under6 standing between the eligible county and the appro7 priate Secretary which specifies—

8 (A) a schedule with deadlines for comple9 tion;

10 (B) an agreed-upon level of overhead to be

11 assessed against each eligible project or group

12 of eligible projects by the appropriate Secretary;

13 and

14 (C) (i) the circumstances in which the ap15 propriate Secretary shall, at the eligible coun16 ty’s request, reimburse the county the full

17 amount paid by the county pursuant to sub18 section (c) with interest if the Secretary fails to

19 carry out an approved project within the time

20 frame established pursuant to subparagraph

21 (A).

22 (ii) Any reimbursement pursuant to clause

23 (i) shall not include repayment of any funds al24 ready expended for projects enjoined or prohib25 ited by action of a Federal court.
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1 (c) FUNDING OF PROJECTS.—Upon approval by the

2 appropriate Secretary of an eligible project or group of

3 eligible projects that meet the requirements of subsection

4 (b), the eligible county will convey the necessary funding

5 to the appropriate Secretary to undertake single-year or

6 multi-year projects or groups of projects.

7 (d) RETURN OF UNUSED FUNDS.—(1) If an eligible

8 county and the Secretary fail to agree on a sufficient num9 ber of eligible projects to fully obligate the funds provided

10 under subsection (a)(1) by the end of the fiscal year in

11 which the funds were provided, any remaining funds shall

12 be returned to the Secretary of the Treasury and redistrib13 uted in the following fiscal year to those eligible states

14 and counties that did fully expend such funds available

15 to them pursuant to subsection (a)(1) in the same propor16 tion as, and in addition to, funds distributed annually to

17 eligible states and counties under this section.

18 (2) Any funds returned to an eligible county by the

19 Secretary under subsection (b)(7)(B) shall be used by that

20 county to fund eligible projects meeting the requirements

21 of subsection (b) within one year from the date of reim22 bursement by the Secretary.

23 (e) FUNDS GENERATED BY ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—

24 (1) DIVISION OF FUNDS.—Any fees, receipts, or

25 payments resulting from any revenue-generating
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1 project receiving funds pursuant to subsection (a)(1)

2 shall be, after deposits to any relevant trust funds,

3 divided equally between the eligible county and the

4 Secretary.

5 (2) USE OF FUNDS.—

6 (A) The portion of the funds referred to in

7 paragraph (1) that is paid to the eligible county

8 shall be used by the county for the same pur9 poses as provided in subsection 4(c)(1) and sub10 section 5(c)(1) of this Act.

11 (B) The portion of funds referred to in

12 paragraph (1) that is received by the Secretary

13 shall be used by the National Forest or Bureau

14 of Land Management District from which the

15 funds originated for infrastructure maintenance

16 or ecosystem restoration.

17 (f) RELATION OF FUNDS TO ANNUAL APPROPRIA18 TIONS.—Any funds provided to the Secretaries under this

19 section shall be in addition to the annual appropriations

20 for the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Manage21 ment.

22 SEC. 7. INVESTMENT PROJECT ADVISORY COMMITTEES.

23 (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND PURPOSE OF INVESTMENT

24 PROJECT ADVISORY COMMITTEES.—(1) For each Na25 tional Forest and Bureau of Land Management District
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1 managing Federal Lands, the appropriate Secretary shall

2 establish and maintain an Investment Project Advisory

3 Committee to recommend eligible projects or groups of eli4 gible projects pursuant to subsection 6(b)(3) for funds

5 provided pursuant to subsection 6(a)(1).

6 (2) No eligible project or groups of eligible projects

7 may be funded under subsection 6(a)(1) without the rec8 ommendation of the appropriate Committee.

9 (3) For the purposes of establishing Committees pur10 suant to this section, the appropriate Secretary may, at

11 his sole discretion, combine or divide National Forests or

12 Bureau of Land Management Districts.

13 (b) COMMITTEE MEMBERS.—

14 (1) APPOINTMENT.—Each Committee shall be

15 comprised of 15 members broadly representative of

16 local resource users, environmental interests, forest

17 workers and organized labor representatives, county

18 elected officials, school administrators, teachers, and

19 other local interests as determined by the Secretary.

20 (2) CHAIR.—The Chair of each Committee shall

21 be selected by a majority of the members.

22 (3) VACANCIES.—

23 (A) A vacancy in the membership of any

24 Committee shall be filled by the Secretary in a
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1 fashion which maintains the breadth of inter2 ests on the Committee.

3 (B) A vacancy in the membership of any

4 Committee shall not impair the right of the re5 maining members to fulfill the purposes of the

6 Committee provided in subsection (a).

7 (4) TERM.—Each Committee member shall

8 serve a term of two years from appointment. A Com9 mittee member shall be eligible for reappointment at

10 the sole discretion of the Secretary.

11 (c) COMMITTEE STAFF.—At the request of a Com12 mittee Chair, the appropriate Secretary may assign Fed13 eral employees to assist a Committee in fulfilling the pur14 poses pursuant to subsection (a).

15 (d) COMMITTEE RULES.—Each Committee is author16 ized to establish such procedural and administrative rules

17 as are necessary to achieve the purpose of the Committee

18 pursuant to subsection (a).

19 (e) COMMITTEE MEETINGS.—

20 (1) Each Secretary shall develop procedures for

21 the publication, public attendance, and development

22 of a record for the meetings of the Committees.

23 (2) All Committee meetings shall be announced

24 one week in advance of the meeting in a local news25 paper of record, and shall be open to the public.
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1 (f) FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT REQUIRE2 MENTS.—Except as may be provided by this section, the

3 provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (86

4 Stat. 770; 5 U.S.C. App. 1) shall not apply to the Commit5 tees.

6 SEC. 8. APPROPRIATIONS AUTHORIZATION.

7 There are hereby authorized to be appropriated such

8 sums as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this

9 Act.

10 SEC. 9. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

11 (a) Section 13982 of the Omnibus Budget Reconcili12 ation Act of 1993 (16 U.S.C. 500 note) is repealed. Sec13 tions 13982 and 13983 of the Omnibus Budget Reconcili14 ation Act of 1993 (Public Law 103–66; 16 U.S.C. 500

15 note; 43 U.S.C. 1181f note) is repealed.

16 (b) Section 6903(a)(1) of title 31, United States

17 Code, is amended by—

18 (1) re-designating subparagraphs (D) through

19 (J) as (E) through (K), respectively; and

20 (2) inserting after subparagraph (C) the fol21 lowing new subparagraph:

22 ‘‘(D) the Secure Rural Schools and Com23 munity Self-Determination Act of 1999;’’.

Æ