I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8859 
To amend title VI of the Social Security Act to improve the Local Assistance 
and Tribal Consistency Fund, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 15, 2022 
Mr. NEGUSE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Oversight and Reform 
A BILL 
To amend title VI of the Social Security Act to improve 
the Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Secure Rural and Trib-
al Lands Act’’. 
SEC. 2. LOCAL ASSISTANCE AND TRIBAL CONSISTENCY 
FUND. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 605 of the Social Security 
Act (42 U.S.C. 805) is amended— 
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(1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘with amounts 
to be obligated’’ and all that follows through the pe-
riod and inserting ‘‘for making payments under this 
section to eligible revenue sharing recipients, eligible 
Tribal governments, and territories, with amounts to 
be allocated and paid in accordance with subsection 
(b) not later than December 31, 2022.’’; and 
(2) by striking subsections (b) through (f) and 
inserting the following: 
‘‘(b) AUTHORITY TO MAKE PAYMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) ALLOCATIONS AND PAYMENTS TO ELIGI-
BLE REVENUE SHARING RECIPIENTS.— 
‘‘(A) REVENUE SHARING COUNTIES.— 
‘‘(i) ALLOCATIONS.—The Secretary 
shall reserve $1,485,000,000 of the total 
amount appropriated under subsection (a) 
to allocate to each revenue sharing county 
an amount determined by the Secretary, 
taking into account— 
‘‘(I) the amount of entitlement 
land and Federal land in each revenue 
sharing county; and 
‘‘(II) the economic conditions of 
each revenue sharing county, using 
such measurements of poverty, house-
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hold income, and unemployment over 
the most recent 20-year period as of 
September 30, 2021, to the extent 
data are available, as well as other 
economic indicators as the Secretary 
determines appropriate. 
‘‘(ii) PAYMENTS.—Subject to subpara-
graph (B)(ii), the Secretary shall pay each 
revenue sharing county that is an eligible 
revenue sharing county the amount deter-
mined for the county under clause (i). 
‘‘(B) SPECIAL RULES.— 
‘‘(i) REVENUE
SHARING
COUNTIES 
WITH
LIMITED
GOVERNMENT
FUNC-
TIONS.—In the case of an amount allo-
cated to a revenue sharing county under 
subparagraph (A) that is a county with 
limited government functions, the Sec-
retary shall, from such amount, allocate 
and pay to each eligible revenue sharing 
local government within such county an 
amount determined by the Secretary, tak-
ing into account the amount of entitlement 
land and Federal land in the eligible rev-
enue sharing local government and the 
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population of the eligible revenue sharing 
local government relative to the total popu-
lation of such county with limited govern-
ment functions. 
‘‘(ii) ELIGIBLE
REVENUE
SHARING 
COUNTY IN ALASKA.—In the case of the el-
igible revenue sharing county described in 
subsection (f)(3)(C), the Secretary shall 
pay the amount allocated to such eligible 
revenue sharing county under subpara-
graph (A) to the State of Alaska and the 
State of Alaska shall distribute from such 
payment, payments to home rule cities and 
general law cities (as such cities are de-
fined by the State) located within the 
boundaries of the eligible revenue sharing 
county described in subsection (f)(3)(C). 
‘‘(C) PRO
RATA
ADJUSTMENT
AUTHOR-
ITY.—The amounts otherwise determined for al-
location and payment under subparagraphs (A) 
and (B) may be adjusted by the Secretary on 
a pro rata basis to the extent necessary to en-
sure that all available funds are allocated and 
paid to eligible revenue sharing recipients in ac-
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cordance with the requirements specified in 
each such subparagraph. 
‘‘(2) ALLOCATIONS AND PAYMENTS TO ELIGI-
BLE
TRIBAL
GOVERNMENTS.—The Secretary shall 
reserve $500,000,000 of the total amount appro-
priated under subsection (a) to allocate and pay to 
eligible Tribal governments amounts that are deter-
mined by the Secretary taking into account economic 
conditions of each eligible Tribe. 
‘‘(3) ALLOCATIONS AND PAYMENTS TO TERRI-
TORIES.—The Secretary shall reserve $15,000,000 
of the total amount appropriated under subsection 
(a) to allocate and pay to each territory an amount 
which bears the same proportion to the amount re-
served under this paragraph as the population of the 
territory bears to the total population of all the ter-
ritories. 
‘‘(c) USE OF PAYMENTS.—An eligible revenue shar-
ing recipient, an eligible Tribal government, or a territory 
may use funds provided under a payment made under this 
section for any governmental purpose other than a lob-
bying activity. 
‘‘(d) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Each eligible rev-
enue sharing recipient and each territory that receives a 
payment under this section shall submit to the Secretary 
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periodic reports providing a detailed accounting of the use 
of funds by the eligible revenue sharing recipient or terri-
tory, as applicable, and such other information as the Sec-
retary may require for the administration of this section. 
‘‘(e) RECOUPMENT.—Any eligible revenue sharing re-
cipient or any territory that has failed to submit a report 
required under subsection (d) or failed to comply with sub-
section (c), shall be required to repay to the Secretary an 
amount equal to— 
‘‘(1) in the case of a failure to comply with sub-
section (c), the amount of funds used in violation of 
such subsection; and 
‘‘(2) in the case of a failure to submit a report 
required under subsection (d), such amount as the 
Secretary determines appropriate, but not to exceed 
5 percent of the amount paid to the eligible revenue 
sharing recipient or the territory under this section. 
‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) COUNTY.—The term ‘county’ means a 
county, parish, borough, or other equivalent county 
division (as defined by the Bureau of the Census) in 
1 of the 50 States. 
‘‘(2) COUNTY
WITH
LIMITED
GOVERNMENT 
FUNCTIONS.—The term ‘county with limited govern-
ment functions’ means a county in which entitlement 
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land or Federal land is located that is not an eligible 
revenue sharing county. 
‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE REVENUE SHARING COUNTY.— 
The term ‘eligible revenue sharing county’ means— 
‘‘(A) a unit of general local government (as 
defined in section 6901(2) of title 31, United 
States Code) that is— 
‘‘(i) a county in which entitlement 
land is located and which is eligible for a 
payment under section 6902(a) of title 31, 
United States Code; or 
‘‘(ii) a county that contains Federal 
land; 
‘‘(B) the District of Columbia; and 
‘‘(C) the combined area in Alaska that is 
within the boundaries of a census area used by 
the Secretary of Commerce in the decennial 
census, but that is not included within the 
boundary of a unit of general local government 
described in subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(4) ELIGIBLE REVENUE SHARING LOCAL GOV-
ERNMENT.—The term ‘eligible revenue sharing local 
government’ means a unit of general local govern-
ment (as defined in section 6901(2) of title 31, 
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United States Code) that is not a county or territory 
and— 
‘‘(A) in which entitlement land is located 
and which is eligible for a payment under sec-
tion 6902(a) of title 31, United States Code; or 
‘‘(B) in which Federal land is located. 
‘‘(5) ELIGIBLE
REVENUE
SHARING
RECIPI-
ENTS.—The term ‘eligible revenue sharing recipi-
ents’ means, collectively, eligible revenue sharing 
counties and eligible revenue sharing local govern-
ments. 
‘‘(6) ELIGIBLE
TRIBAL
GOVERNMENT.—The 
term ‘eligible Tribal government’ means the recog-
nized governing body of an eligible Tribe. 
‘‘(7) ELIGIBLE
TRIBE.—The term ‘eligible 
Tribe’ means any Indian or Alaska Native tribe, 
band, nation, pueblo, village, community, component 
band, or component reservation, individually identi-
fied (including parenthetically) in the list published 
on January 28, 2022, pursuant to section 104 of the 
Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994. 
‘‘(8) ENTITLEMENT LAND.—The term ‘entitle-
ment land’ has the meaning given such term in sec-
tion 6901(1) of title 31, United States Code. 
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‘‘(9) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘Federal land’ 
has the meaning given such term in section 3(7) of 
the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-De-
termination Act of 2000. 
‘‘(10) REVENUE SHARING COUNTY.—The term 
‘revenue sharing county’ means— 
‘‘(A) an eligible revenue sharing county; or 
‘‘(B) a county with limited government 
functions. 
‘‘(11) 
SECRETARY.—The 
term 
‘Secretary’ 
means the Secretary of the Treasury. 
‘‘(12) 
TERRITORY.—The 
term 
‘territory’ 
means— 
‘‘(A) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; 
‘‘(B) the United States Virgin Islands; 
‘‘(C) Guam; 
‘‘(D) the Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands; or 
‘‘(E) American Samoa.’’. 
(b) DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY ADMINISTRA-
TIVE EXPENSES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, the unobligated balances from 
amounts made available to the Secretary of the 
Treasury (referred to in this subsection as the ‘‘Sec-
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retary’’) for administrative expenses pursuant to the 
provisions specified in paragraph (2) shall be avail-
able to the Secretary (in addition to any other ap-
propriations provided for such purpose) for any ad-
ministrative expenses of the Department of the 
Treasury determined by the Secretary to be nec-
essary to respond to the coronavirus emergency, in-
cluding any expenses necessary to implement any 
provision of— 
(A) the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Eco-
nomic Security Act (Public Law 116–136); 
(B) division N of the Consolidated Appro-
priations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116–260); 
(C) the American Rescue Plan Act (Public 
Law 117–2); or 
(D) title VI of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 801 et seq.). 
(2) PROVISIONS
SPECIFIED.—The provisions 
specified in this paragraph are the following: 
(A) Sections 4003(f) and 4112(b) of the 
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security 
Act (Public Law 116–136). 
(B) Section 421(f)(2) of division N of the 
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public 
Law 116–260). 
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(C) 
Sections 
3201(a)(2)(B), 
3206(d)(1)(A), and 7301(b)(5) of the American 
Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117–2). 
(D) Section 602(a)(2) of the Social Secu-
rity Act (42 U.S.C. 802(a)(2)). 
Æ 
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