[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 27 (Monday, March 5, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1823-S1824]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BINGAMAN:
  S. 454. A bill to provide permanent funding for the Bureau of Land 
Management Payment in Lieu of Taxes Program and for other purposes; to 
the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, the bill I am introducing today, the 
PILT and Refuge Revenue Sharing Permanent Funding Act, deals with an 
issue that I believe must be addressed in this Congress. The bill is a 
measure to make permanent funding for two important programs managed by 
the Department of the Interior: the Payment in Lieu of Taxes Program, 
or PILT, in the Bureau of Land Management and the Refuge Revenue 
Sharing Program in the Fish and Wildlife Service. Those programs 
provide support to local governments in areas in which these two 
agencies hold land. Under the authorizations for these programs, the 
funds are to be provided as an offset to the local property tax base 
lost by virtue of the Federal ownership of these lands.
  Federal ownership of lands in the American West, in states like New 
Mexico, does not come without its share of burdens for local 
governments. If there is a fire or other emergency, they must help 
respond. If there is increased traffic to and from the site, they must 
maintain the public roads that provide the necessary access to the 
public. In enacting the original authorizing legislation, Congress 
decided that, as a matter of policy, it was appropriate for the Federal 
government

[[Page S1824]]

to bear a fair share in paying for these costs, in lieu of the taxes 
that would be levied on any private landowner in these localities.
  But in setting up these programs, Congress decided to make them 
subject to annual appropriations, either partially, in the case of 
Refuge Revenue Sharing, or completely, in the case of PILT. In 
retrospect, this was a mistake. The annual appropriations process has 
never come even close to providing the funds agreed upon by the 
underlying authorizing law. Moreover, the amount made available has 
changed significantly from one year to the next, frustrating the 
ability of localities to plan effectively for the use of these funds. 
Many of the burdens they face as a result of Federal land ownership 
require expenditures and commitments that are long-term. If you want to 
have a reasonable system of county roads, you need to have a consistent 
multi-year plan. If you want adequate fire protection, you can't be 
hiring a dozen new firefighters in one year and firing them the next, 
as appropriation levels gyrate up and down.
  The Federal government needs to be a better neighbor and a more 
reliable partner to local governments in the rural West. Since the 
system of meeting our obligations to these localities through the 
annual appropriations process has not worked, I am proposing that we 
start treating our payments in lieu of taxes in the same way that we 
account for incoming tax revenues to the Federal government--on the 
mandatory side of the Federal ledger. By making the funding for these 
crucial programs full and permanent, we will be keeping the commitments 
to rural communities throughout the West made in the original PILT and 
Refuge Revenue Sharing authorizing legislation. It's a matter of simple 
justice to rural communities. I hope that enacting legislation along 
the lines of what I am proposing today will receive high priority in 
the next Congress.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of this bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 454

       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 ``PILT and Refuge Revenue 
     Sharing Permanent Funding Act''.

     SEC. 2. PERMANENT FUNDING FOR PILT AND REFUGE REVENUE 
                   SHARING.

       (a) Payments in Lieu of Taxes.--Section 6906 of title 31, 
     United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
       ``There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as may 
     be necessary to the Secretary of the Interior to carry out 
     this chapter. Beginning in fiscal year 2002 and each year 
     thereafter, amounts authorized under this chapter shall be 
     made available to the Secretary of the Interior, out of any 
     other funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated and 
     without further appropriation, for obligation or expenditure 
     in accordance with this chapter.''.
       (b) Refuge Revenue Sharing.--Section 401(d) of the Act of 
     June 15, 1935, as amended (16 U.S.C. 715s(d)) (relating to 
     refuge revenue sharing), is amended by adding at the end 
     thereof:
       ``Beginning in fiscal year 2002 and each year thereafter, 
     such amount shall be made available to the Secretary, out of 
     any other funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated 
     and without further appropriation, for obligation or 
     expenditure in accordance with this section.''.
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