Title: Soda Ash Funding for Education Act of 2020
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources

Summary:
Soda Ash Funding for Education Act of 2020
This bill requires the payment to the Treasury of royalties collected on the quantity or gross value of the output of sodium compounds and related products from federal land.
Of the funds deposited in the Treasury, the Department of the Treasury shall (1) disburse 50% to the state within which such leased federal land is located, and (2) deposit 50% in the Soda Ash Education Equalization Fund established by this bill.
The fund shall be administered by the Department of Education (ED) to provide resources to local educational agencies impacted by changes in sodium royalty rates or changes in soda ash production levels.
ED shall use amounts available in the fund to provide grants to local school districts that meet specified conditions.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8728 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8728

    To require that royalties derived from the production of sodium 
  compounds and related products are disbursed to the State in which 
 production occurred and to the Secretary of Education for educational 
                    grants, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 5, 2020

   Mr. Cook introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
  Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on 
Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To require that royalties derived from the production of sodium 
  compounds and related products are disbursed to the State in which 
 production occurred and to the Secretary of Education for educational 
                    grants, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be referred to as the ``Soda Ash Funding for Education 
Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. DISPOSITION OF REVENUES.

    (a) Deposit of Funds From Royalties on Sodium Compounds.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, royalties collected on the 
quantity or gross value of the output of sodium compounds and related 
products (as such term is used in the Soda Ash Royalty Reduction Act of 
2006 (30 U.S.C. 262 note)) from Federal land shall be paid into the 
Treasury of the United States.
    (b) Use of Funds.--Of funds deposited in the Treasury under 
subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury shall--
            (1) disburse 50 percent to the State within which such 
        leased land is located; and
            (2) deposit 50 percent in the Fund.
    (c) Soda Ash Educational Equalization Fund.--
            (1) Establishment.--There is established in the Treasury a 
        fund, to be known as the ``Soda Ash Education Equalization 
        Fund'', to be administered by the Secretary of Education to 
        provide resources to local educational agencies (as such term 
        is defined in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary 
        Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801)) impacted by changes in 
        sodium royalty rates or changes in soda ash production levels.
            (2) Selection criteria.--The Secretary of Education shall 
        use funds available in the Fund to provide grants to local 
        school districts that meet the following conditions:
                    (A) The Secretary determines such school has 
                received not less than 50 percent of its annual budget 
                from payments attributable to sodium royalty payments 
                for at least 2 of the previous 5 fiscal years.
                    (B) The Secretary determines that funding for the 
                school for the current fiscal year attributable to 
                royalties on sodium compounds and related products has 
                fallen below the average payment for the past 5 years, 
                determined by dropping the highest and lowest year from 
                the average.
            (3) Maximum grant amount.--The Secretary of Education may 
        not issue a grant to a school for an amount in excess of the 
        average calculated in paragraph (2)(B).
            (4) Investment of fund.--The Secretary of the Treasury 
        shall invest such portion of the Fund as such Secretary 
        determines appropriate in interest-bearing obligations of the 
        United States. The interest on, and the proceeds from the sale 
        or redemption of, any obligation held in the Fund shall be 
        credited to and form a part of the Fund.
            (5) Fund.--In this section, the term ``Fund'' means the 
        Soda Ash Education Equalization Fund established in paragraph 
        (1).
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