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Report Lauds
Significant Successes of County Payments Law
Original law co-authors Wyden and Craig
are working to renew the legislation
February 28, 2006
WASHINGTON, DC -- Landmark, bipartisan
“county payments” legislation authored by U.S Senators
Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was lauded in a new
report released today by the Sierra Institute for Community and
Environment. The report also recommended that the Wyden-Craig
legislation be renewed before it expires later this year.
“Today’s report by the
Sierra Institute highlights the significant community development
that’s occurred nationwide because of this law,” said
Wyden. “Counties, timber interests and environmentalists
have all come together on a range of environmental issues to ensure
funding for rural communities. We’ve seen that this collaborative
approach works, which is why the law should be renewed.”
“I greatly appreciate the
time and effort that went into this study. Clearly, the Secure
Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act has been doing
what it was designed to do - supply our communities with the resources
they need to broaden their economies and provide their children
with a high-quality education,” said Craig. “While
the program is not intended to be permanent, more time is needed
for it to reach the full potential."
The report, funded by the United
States Forest Service (USFS), examines the impact of Resource
Advisory Committees (RAC), groups designed to ensure expanded
economic activity and forest restoration in the communities that
take part in this program. The RACs are made up of local officials,
environmentalists and timber interests.
While these are groups that may
not always agree, the report found that in areas where they developed
projects by consensus and were approved by the RACs, the relationship
between the various factions in the communities improved. The
report’s Executive Summary also notes no RAC project has
been appealed to an agency or challenged in a court of law.
In 2005, Wyden and Craig introduced
S. 267, the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination
Act, to reauthorize the county payments law for another seven
years. Their bill would reauthorize the initial law, enacted in
2000, which established a six year payment formula for counties
that receive revenue sharing payments for the USFS and Bureau
of Land Management (BLM) lands. Based on historical timber receipts,
the formula established a stable source of revenue to be used
for education, roads and various other county services in rural
areas.
Click
here to read report summary.
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