Idaho Examiner: SENATE REAUTHORIZES SECURE RURAL SCHOOLS LAW"Common Sense News"

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Education

SENATE REAUTHORIZES SECURE RURAL SCHOOLS LAW

Posted on: March 28, 2007

Includes compromise in the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Senate adopted a measure to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 today on a vote of 75-22. The reauthorization was adopted as an amendment to the FY2007 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill. Yesterday, Senator Larry E. Craig, R-Idaho, announced that a bipartisan group of Senators reached an agreement on reform of the program and an extension of the reauthorization. Details of the proposal are available at Craig’s website. Craig addressed his colleagues before the vote, “The original law became a life-line for our timber-dependent communities. In fact, it directly improves the lives of people in 700 counties, 4,400 school districts, and 8 million kids. It helps maintain 15,000 miles of road. Letting the law die is not an option. “The compromise incorporates many of the principles I have espoused – a more equitable formula and a gradual phase-down of the program. Moving to a more sustainable local economy is what is best for our local communities. “I could not be happier that the Senate voted overwhelmingly to include this language in the Supplemental. If this bill is vetoed, today’s action by the Senate lays the groundwork for inclusion in a bill that will be signed.” Additionally, the language fully funds the Payment-In-Lieu-of-Taxes (PILT) program with mandatory funds. The PILT program is similar the Twenty-Five Percent Fund in that it is designed to help compensate local communities for the decreased property tax base. It covers different federal lands, mostly those managed by the Bureau of Land Management.