[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2492 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2492

 To ensure that all timber-dependent communities qualify for loans and 
           grants from the Rural Development Administration.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

            October 3 (legislative day, September 12), 1994

  Mrs. Murray introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To ensure that all timber-dependent communities qualify for loans and 
           grants from the Rural Development Administration.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) timber-dependent communities including those in the 
        Pacific Northwest have contributed significantly to the 
        economic needs of the United States, and have helped ensure an 
        adequate national supply of timber and timber products;
            (2) a significant portion of the timber traditionally 
        harvested in the United States, including the Pacific 
        Northwest, derived from Federal forest lands, and these forests 
        have played an important role in sustaining local economies;
            (3) a number of traditionally timber-dependent communities 
        are experiencing significant economic difficulties, 
        particularly those located in proximity to the range of the 
        northern Spotted Owl; and
            (4) timber-dependent communities need economic assistance 
        to help them diversify, including support from water and waste 
        facility loans and grants and community facilities loans and 
        grants funded through the Rural Development Administration.

SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY OF TIMBER-DEPENDENT COMMUNITIES FOR CERTAIN RURAL 
              DEVELOPMENT GRANTS.

    Section 306(a)(7) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development 
Act (7 U.S.C. 1926(a)(7)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(7)(A) As used in this title, the terms `rural' and `rural area' 
shall not include any area in any city or town which has a population 
in excess of 10,000 inhabitants, except as otherwise provided in this 
paragraph.
    ``(B) For purposes of loans for essential community facilities 
under subsection (a)(1), the terms `rural' and `rural area' may include 
any area in any city or town that has a population not in excess of 
20,000 inhabitants.
    ``(C) For purposes of loans and grants for private business 
enterprises under sections 304(b) and 310B, and subsections (b), (c), 
and (d) of section 312, the terms `rural' and `rural area' may include 
all territory of a State that is not within the outer boundary of any 
city having a population of 50,000 or more inhabitants and its 
immediately adjacent urbanized and urbanizing areas with a population 
density of more than 100 inhabitants per square mile, as determined by 
the Secretary of Agriculture according to the latest decennial census 
of the United States, and special consideration for such loans and 
grants shall be given to areas other than cities having a population of 
more than 25,000 inhabitants.
    ``(D) As used in this title, the terms `rural' and rural area' 
shall include any town, city, or municipality--
            ``(i) part or all of which lies within 100 miles of the 
        boundary of a national forest;
            ``(ii) that is located in a county in which at least 15 
        percent of the total primary and secondary labor and proprietor 
        income is derived from forestry, wood products, or forest-
        related industries such as recreation and tourism; and
            ``(iii) that has a population of not more than 25,000 
        inhabitants.''.
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