[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1608 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







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 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.

    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 cited as the ``Secure Rural Schools and Community 
Self-Determination Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
            (1) the National Forest System, managed by the Forest 
        Service, was established in 1907 and has grown to include 192 
        million acres of Federal Lands;
            (2) the revested Oregon and California Railroad and 
        reconveyed Coos Bay Wagon Road grant lands, managed 
        predominantly by the Bureau of Land Management, were returned 
        to Federal ownership in 1916 and 1919, and added to thereafter, 
        and comprise approximately 2.6 million acres of Federal Lands;
            (3) Congress recognized that, by its decision to secure 
        these lands in Federal ownership, counties in which the lands 
        are situated are denied revenues they would otherwise receive 
        if the lands were sold or transferred into, or the revested and 
        reconveyed grant lands had remained in, private ownership;
            (4) counties expend public funds to provide education, road 
        construction and maintenance, search and rescue, law 
        enforcement, solid waste, fire protection, and other services 
        based upon an artificially reduced tax base;
            (5) to provide compensation to the affected counties for 
        their loss of tax revenues used for the critical services they 
        provide to both county citizens and visitors to Federal Lands, 
        Congress determined that the Federal Government should share 
        with those jurisdictions the revenues received from the Federal 
        Lands;
            (6) Congress enacted in 1908, and subsequently amended, a 
        law that requires 25 percent of the revenues from National 
        Forest lands be paid to States for use by the counties in which 
        those lands are situated for the benefit of public schools and 
        roads;
            (7) Congress enacted in 1937, and subsequently amended, a 
        law that requires 50 percent of the revenues from the revested 
        and reconveyed grant lands be paid to the counties in which 
        those lands are situated to be used in the same manner as are 
        other county funds;
            (8) in recent years, as the volume of timber sold annually 
        from most of the Federal Lands has decreased precipitously, so 
        too have the revenues shared with the affected counties;
            (9) this decline in shared revenues has severely curtailed 
        the quality of education in the affected counties, as well as 
        other county services;
            (10) Congress recognized this trend as it related to 
        protection of the Northern Spotted Owl and moved to ameliorate 
        its adverse consequences when, in 1993, it enacted a law--soon 
        to expire--that provided an alternative annual ``safety net'' 
        payment to 72 counties in Oregon, Washington, and northern 
        California in which Federal timber sales had been restricted or 
        prohibited by administrative and judicial decisions;
            (11) no comparable authority has ever been granted for 
        alternative payments to counties elsewhere that have suffered 
        similar shared revenue losses resulting from the general 
        decreases in timber harvests on Federal Lands;
            (12) changes in Federal Land management, in addition to 
        having curtailed timber sales, have altered the historic, 
        cooperative relationship between counties and the Forest 
        Service and the Bureau of Land Management;
            (13) both the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land 
        Management face significant backlogs in infrastructure 
        maintenance and ecosystem restoration which are not likely to 
        be addressed through annual appropriations; and
            (14) new relationships between Federal Lands counties and 
        Federal Land managers need to be formed to benefit our natural 
        resources and our rural communities as we enter the 21st 
        century.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to assist local governments dependent on Federal Lands 
        to restore funding for education and other public services that 
        the counties must provide to their citizens;
            (2) to provide this funding in a form that is 
        environmentally sound and consistent with applicable resource 
        management plans;
            (3) to facilitate the development, by the Federal 
        Government and the counties which benefit from the shared 
        revenues from the Federal Lands, of a new cooperative 
        relationship in Federal Land management;
            (4) to help develop local consensus in implementing 
        applicable plans for the Federal Lands;
            (5) to identify and implement projects on the Federal Lands 
        that enjoy broad-based local support; and
            (6) to make additional investments in infrastructure 
        maintenance and ecosystem restoration on the Federal Lands.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act--
    (a) The term ``Federal Lands'' means--
            (1) lands within the National Forest System, as defined in 
        section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resource 
        Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)) and managed by the 
        Forest Service, Department of Agriculture; and
            (2) revested Oregon and California Railroad and reconveyed 
        Coos Bay Wagon Road grant lands, managed in part by the Bureau 
        of Land Management, Department of the Interior, and in part by 
        the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture.
    (b) The term ``eligible States'' means each State that received one 
or more 25 percent payments as defined in, and during the period 
described in, subsection (d).
    (c) The term ``eligible counties'' means each county that received 
one or more 50 percent payments as defined in, and during the period 
described in, subsection (e).
    (d) The term ``25 percent payments'' means the payments to States 
authorized by the sixth paragraph under the heading of ``FOREST 
SERVICE'' of the Act of May 23, 1908, as amended, or section 13 of the 
Act of March 1, 1911, as amended (35 Stat. 260, 36 Stat. 963, as 
amended; 16 U.S.C. 500).
    (e) The term ``50 percent payments'' means the payments that are 
the sum of the 50 percent share otherwise paid to a county pursuant to 
title II of the Act of August 28, 1937 (50 Stat. 875, chapter 876; 43 
U.S.C. 1181f), and the payment made to a county pursuant to the Act of 
May 24, 1939 (53 Stat. 753, chapter 144; 43 U.S.C. 1181f-1, et seq.).
    (f) The term ``full payment amount'' means the amount determined by 
calculating the average of the three highest 25 percent payments, 50 
percent payments, or payments pursuant to section 13982 of the Omnibus 
Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (16 U.S.C. 500 note) made to the 
eligible State or eligible county during the period beginning on 
October 1, 1985, and concluding on September 30 of the last full fiscal 
year prior to the date of enactment of this Act, adjusted each fiscal 
year in which payments are required pursuant to subsection 4(a) and 
subsection 5(a) to reflect changes in the consumer price index for 
rural areas (as published in the Bureau of Labor Statistics) that occur 
after publication of that index for the fiscal year prior to the full 
fiscal year after the date of enactment of this Act.
    (g) The term ``resource management plans'' means land use plans 
prepared by the Bureau of Land Management for units of the Federal 
Lands described in subsection (a)(2) of this section pursuant to 
section 202 of the Federal Land Policy Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 
Sec. 1712); and land and resource management plans prepared by the 
Forest Service for units of the lands described in subsection (a)(1) of 
this section pursuant to section 6 of the Forest and Rangeland 
Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1604).
    (h) The term ``Secretaries'' or ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
of the Interior with respect to the Federal Lands described in 
subsection (a)(2) and/or the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to 
Federal Lands described in subsection (a)(1).
    (i) The term ``eligible projects'' means any project or projects 
conducted on Federal Lands paid for, in whole or in part, by an 
eligible county which meets the requirements of subsection 6(b).
    (j) The term ``associated environmental analysis'' means any 
evaluation required by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 
(42 U.S.C. Sec. 4321, et seq.) accompanying an eligible project, or any 
biological opinion for a project required by the Endangered Species Act 
of 1973 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531, et seq.).
    (k) The term ``infrastructure maintenance'' means any road or 
facility maintenance, reconstruction, or stabilization activity 
approved by the appropriate Secretary and consistent with the 
applicable resource management plan.
    (l) The term ``ecosystem restoration'' means any watershed 
restoration, wildlife habitat improvement or restoration, or forest 
health treatment activity approved by the appropriate Secretary and 
consistent with the applicable resource management plan.
    (m) The term ``Committee'' means an Investment Project Advisory 
Committee established pursuant to section 7.
    (n) The term ``best value stewardship contracting'' means using 
contracts which secure, for the best price, the best quality service as 
determined by the Secretary based upon: the technical demands and 
complexity of the work to be done; the ecological sensitivity of the 
resources being treated; past experience by the contractor with the 
type of work being done, using the type of equipment proposed for the 
project, and meeting or exceeding desired ecological conditions; 
utilization of low value species and byproducts; commitment to hiring 
highly qualified workers; and commitment to hiring local people.

SEC. 4. PAYMENTS TO STATES FROM FOREST SERVICE LANDS FOR AFFECTED 
              COUNTIES TO USE FOR THE BENEFIT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION AND 
              TRANSPORTATION.

    (a) Requirement for Payments to Eligible States.--The Secretary of 
the Treasury shall make payments in accordance with subsection (b) as 
early as practicable in each fiscal year from the first full fiscal 
year after the date of enactment of this Act to eligible States as 
defined in subsection 3(b).
    (b) Payment Amounts.--Each payment to a State pursuant to 
subsection (a) shall include the amount of the 25 percent payments as 
defined in subsection 3(d) that is applicable to that State and, if 
such amount is less than the full payment amount for that State as 
defined in, and calculated pursuant to, subsection 3(f), such 
additional funds as are necessary to provide a total payment equal to 
the full payment amount as provided in subsection (d).
    (c) Expenditure of Payments.--(1) Seventy-five percent of the funds 
paid to the States pursuant to subsection (a) shall be distributed and 
expended in the same manner in which the 25 percent payments are 
required to be distributed and expended.
    (2) Twenty-five percent of the funds paid to the States pursuant to 
subsection (a) shall be distributed in the same manner in which the 25 
percent payments are required to be distributed and expended in 
accordance with section 6.
    (d) Source of Special Payments.--Any funds paid to the States in 
addition to the 25 percent payments pursuant to this section and 
section 6 shall be derived first from any revenues, fees, penalties, or 
miscellaneous receipts, exclusive of deposits to any relevant trust 
fund, received by the Federal Government from activities by the Forest 
Service on the Federal Lands described in subsection 3(a)(1) and/or 
secondly, as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, from any 
funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

SEC. 5. PAYMENTS TO COUNTIES FROM BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT LANDS TO 
              USE FOR THE BENEFIT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, LAW ENFORCEMENT, 
              EDUCATION AND OTHER PUBLIC PURPOSES.

    (a) Requirement for Payments to Eligible Counties.--The Secretary 
of the Treasury shall make payments in accordance with subsection (b) 
as early as practicable in each fiscal year from the first full fiscal 
year after the date of enactment of this Act to eligible counties as 
defined in subsection 3(c).
    (b) Payment Amounts.--Each payment to a county pursuant to 
subsection (a) shall include the amount of the 50 percent payments as 
defined in subsection 3(e) that is applicable to that county and, if 
such amount is less than the full payment amount for that county as 
defined in, and calculated pursuant to, subsection 3(f), such 
additional funds as are necessary to provide a total payment equal to 
the full payment amount as provided in subsection (d).
    (c) Expenditure of Payments.--(1) Seventy-five percent of the funds 
paid to the counties pursuant to subsection (a) shall be distributed 
and expended in the same manner in which the 50 percent payments are 
required to be distributed and expended.
    (2) Twenty-five percent of the funds paid to the counties pursuant 
to subsection (a) shall be distributed in the same manner in which the 
50 percent payments are required to be distributed, and expended in 
accordance with section 6.
    (d) Source of Special Payments.--Any funds paid to the counties in 
addition to the 50 percent payments pursuant to this section and 
section 6 shall be derived first from any revenues, fees, penalties, or 
miscellaneous receipts, exclusive of deposits to any relevant trust 
funds, received by the Federal Government from activities by the Bureau 
of Land Management on the Federal Lands described in subsection 3(a)(2) 
and/or secondly, as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, from 
any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

SEC. 6. PAYMENTS TO STATES AND COUNTIES FROM FOREST SERVICE AND BUREAU 
              OF LAND MANAGEMENT LANDS FOR COMMUNITY SELF-
              DETERMINATION, RESOURCE INVESTMENT, AND AGENCY 
              ACCOUNTABILITY.

    (a) Payments to States and Counties for Resource Investments.--(1) 
To promote investments in resource management and restoration, and an 
ongoing relationship between eligible states and eligible counties and 
the Federal Lands, eligible states and counties shall be provided 
twenty-five percent of the funds paid pursuant to subsection 4(a) and 
subsection 5(a) to support investments in resource management and 
restoration on Federal Lands.
    (2) Investments referred to in paragraph (1) may support eligible 
projects or groups of eligible projects meeting the requirements of 
subsection (b), including both commercial and noncommercial activities, 
involving resource management, stewardship, restoration, or 
development.
    (b) Eligible Projects.--To be an eligible project or projects for 
the purposes of receipt of funds under subsection (a)(1), the project 
or group of projects must--
            (1) be nominated and paid for, in whole or in part, by the 
        eligible county;
            (2) be in compliance with the applicable resource 
        management plan, or with any watershed or subsequent plan 
        developed pursuant to the resource management plan and approved 
        by the appropriate Secretary;
            (3) be recommended by the appropriate investment project 
        advisory committee formed pursuant to section 7;
            (4) be in compliance with all applicable environmental 
        laws;
            (5) be approved by the appropriate Secretary with whom the 
        final project authority lies;
            (6) assure that the sale of any commodity, asset, lease, or 
        right to use the Federal Lands shall be on a competitive bid 
        basis to receive at least fair market value. For any eligible 
        project not subject to competitive bidding or involving 
        ecosystem restoration, infrastructure maintenance, or other 
        resource stewardship work, the appropriate Secretary shall, to 
        the maximum extent feasible, use best value stewardship 
        contracting; and
            (7) be governed by a Memorandum of Understanding between 
        the eligible county and the appropriate Secretary which 
        specifies--
                    (A) a schedule with deadlines for completion;
                    (B) an agreed-upon level of overhead to be assessed 
                against each eligible project or group of eligible 
                projects by the appropriate Secretary; and
                    (C) (i) the circumstances in which the appropriate 
                Secretary shall, at the eligible county's request, 
                reimburse the county the full amount paid by the county 
                pursuant to subsection (c) with interest if the 
                Secretary fails to carry out an approved project within 
                the time frame established pursuant to subparagraph 
                (A).
                    (ii) Any reimbursement pursuant to clause (i) shall 
                not include repayment of any funds already expended for 
                projects enjoined or prohibited by action of a Federal 
                court.
    (c) Funding of Projects.--Upon approval by the appropriate 
Secretary of an eligible project or group of eligible projects that 
meet the requirements of subsection (b), the eligible county will 
convey the necessary funding to the appropriate Secretary to undertake 
single-year or multi-year projects or groups of projects.
    (d) Return of Unused Funds.--(1) If an eligible county and the 
Secretary fail to agree on a sufficient number of eligible projects to 
fully obligate the funds provided under subsection (a)(1) by the end of 
the fiscal year in which the funds were provided, any remaining funds 
shall be returned to the Secretary of the Treasury and redistributed in 
the following fiscal year to those eligible states and counties that 
did fully expend such funds available to them pursuant to subsection 
(a)(1) in the same proportion as, and in addition to, funds distributed 
annually to eligible states and counties under this section.
    (2) Any funds returned to an eligible county by the Secretary under 
subsection (b)(7)(B) shall be used by that county to fund eligible 
projects meeting the requirements of subsection (b) within one year 
from the date of reimbursement by the Secretary.
    (e) Funds Generated by Eligible Projects.--
            (1) Division of funds.--Any fees, receipts, or payments 
        resulting from any revenue-generating project receiving funds 
        pursuant to subsection (a)(1) shall be, after deposits to any 
        relevant trust funds, divided equally between the eligible 
        county and the Secretary.
            (2) Use of funds.--
                    (A) The portion of the funds referred to in 
                paragraph (1) that is paid to the eligible county shall 
                be used by the county for the same purposes as provided 
                in subsection 4(c)(1) and subsection 5(c)(1) of this 
                Act.
                    (B) The portion of funds referred to in paragraph 
                (1) that is received by the Secretary shall be used by 
                the National Forest or Bureau of Land Management 
                District from which the funds originated for 
                infrastructure maintenance or ecosystem restoration.
    (f) Relation of Funds to Annual Appropriations.--Any funds provided 
to the Secretaries under this section shall be in addition to the 
annual appropriations for the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land 
Management.

SEC. 7. INVESTMENT PROJECT ADVISORY COMMITTEES.

    (a) Establishment and Purpose of Investment Project Advisory 
Committees.--(1) For each National Forest and Bureau of Land Management 
District managing Federal Lands, the appropriate Secretary shall 
establish and maintain an Investment Project Advisory Committee to 
recommend eligible projects or groups of eligible projects pursuant to 
subsection 6(b)(3) for funds provided pursuant to subsection 6(a)(1).
    (2) No eligible project or groups of eligible projects may be 
funded under subsection 6(a)(1) without the recommendation of the 
appropriate Committee.
    (3) For the purposes of establishing Committees pursuant to this 
section, the appropriate Secretary may, at his sole discretion, combine 
or divide National Forests or Bureau of Land Management Districts.
    (b) Committee Members.--
            (1) Appointment.--Each Committee shall be comprised of 15 
        members broadly representative of local resource users, 
        environmental interests, forest workers and organized labor 
        representatives, county elected officials, school 
        administrators, teachers, and other local interests as 
        determined by the Secretary.
            (2) Chair.--The Chair of each Committee shall be selected 
        by a majority of the members.
            (3) Vacancies.--
                    (A) A vacancy in the membership of any Committee 
                shall be filled by the Secretary in a fashion which 
                maintains the breadth of interests on the Committee.
                    (B) A vacancy in the membership of any Committee 
                shall not impair the right of the remaining members to 
                fulfill the purposes of the Committee provided in 
                subsection (a).
            (4) Term.--Each Committee member shall serve a term of two 
        years from appointment. A Committee member shall be eligible 
        for reappointment at the sole discretion of the Secretary.
    (c) Committee Staff.--At the request of a Committee Chair, the 
appropriate Secretary may assign Federal employees to assist a 
Committee in fulfilling the purposes pursuant to subsection (a).
    (d) Committee Rules.--Each Committee is authorized to establish 
such procedural and administrative rules as are necessary to achieve 
the purpose of the Committee pursuant to subsection (a).
    (e) Committee Meetings.--
            (1) Each Secretary shall develop procedures for the 
        publication, public attendance, and development of a record for 
        the meetings of the Committees.
            (2) All Committee meetings shall be announced one week in 
        advance of the meeting in a local newspaper of record, and 
        shall be open to the public.
    (f) Federal Advisory Committee Act Requirements.--Except as may be 
provided by this section, the provisions of the Federal Advisory 
Committee Act (86 Stat. 770; 5 U.S.C. App. 1) shall not apply to the 
Committees.

SEC. 8. APPROPRIATIONS AUTHORIZATION.

    There are hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums as are 
necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 9. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Section 13982 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 
(16 U.S.C. 500 note) is repealed. Sections 13982 and 13983 of the 
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (Public Law 103-66; 16 U.S.C. 
500 note; 43 U.S.C. 1181f note) is repealed.
    (b) Section 6903(a)(1) of title 31, United States Code, is amended 
by--
            (1) re-designating subparagraphs (D) through (J) as (E) 
        through (K), respectively; and
            (2) inserting after subparagraph (C) the following new 
        subparagraph:
                    ``(D) the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-
                Determination Act of 1999;''.
                                 <all>