Secure Rural Schools
 

Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act

Updated: February 4, 2011

Reauthorization for Fiscal Years 2008-2011

On October 3, 2008, the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 was reauthorized as part of Public Law 110-343.  The new Secure Rural Schools Act has some significant changes.  To implement the new law, the Forest Service requested states and counties to elect either to receive a share of the 25-percent rolling average payment or to receive a share of the Secure Rural Schools State (formula) payment.  A county electing to receive a share of the State payment that is greater than $100,000 annually is required to allocate 15 to 20-percent of its share for one or more of the following purposes: projects under Title II of the Act; projects under Title III; or return the funds to the Treasury of the United States.

Sec. 601(a): Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 amended and reauthorized

Compared to the earlier version of the Act, the structure and significant elements of title I have been amended, but titles II and III remain mostly intact with a few important changes.  The following summarizes the reauthorized Act.

Title I-Secure Payments for State and Counties Containing Federal Land

  • As with the 2000 authorization, counties must elect the kind of payment they will receive.
  • P.L. 110-343 establishes a new formula for calculation of State payments based on several factors, including acreage of Federal land, previous payments, and per capita personal income.
  • Each year’s State payments are calculated based upon a "full funding amount" that will ramp down each succeeding year through 2011.  The full funding amount is used to calculate the State payments.
  • In lieu of a share of a State payment, an eligible county in California, Louisiana, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington will receive a share of a transition payment that ramps down from fiscal years 2008 through 2010.

Title II-Special Projects on Federal Land

  • The reauthorized Act allows resource advisory committees (RACs), including charters and membership appointments, established under P.L. 106-393 to be deemed by the Secretary as RACs under the new Act and their members appointed for a new 4 year term.
  • RAC duties have been expanded to include monitoring of project progress and making recommendations for appropriate changes to projects being monitored.
  • The authority to initiate Title II projects terminates on September 30, 2011.  Funds not obligated by September 30, 2012 must be transferred to the Treasury.

Title III-County Funds

  • Some previously authorized uses of Title III funds have been eliminated and others refined.
  • Title III funds may be used to carry out activities under the Firewise Communities program, to reimburse the county for search and rescue and other emergency services, and to develop community wildfire protection plans.
  • Counties allocating funds for Title III projects must annually submit a certification that the funds were used in accordance with Title III.
    The authority to initiate Title III projects terminates on September 30, 2011.  Funds not obligated by September 30, 2012 must be returned to the Treasury.

Title IV-Miscellaneous Provisions

The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Interior shall issue regulations to implement the Act.

All revenues generated from title II projects shall be deposited in the U.S. Treasury.

Sec. 601(b)

The authority for the 25-percent payments (16 U.S.C. 500) has been amended to calculate the 25-percent payment on a 7-year rolling average.

Sec. 601(c)

Payments in Lieu of Taxes,  6906 USC 31, are fully funded for fiscal years 2008 through 2012