Kevin Kiley: “Today I am calling on the House of Representatives to act with urgency to reauthorize Secure Rural Schools. The program…”

“Today I am calling on the House of Representatives to act with urgency to reauthorize Secure Rural Schools. The program, unfortunately, because of the House's lack of action, has been allowed to expire. Even though the Senate did pass it last year, the House failed to do so. Secure Rural Schools provides critical funding for a number of counties in my district and across the country. It was enacted in the year 2000, and it compensates counties with large amounts of national forest land for lost revenue due to declining Federal timber sales. The funds support local schools, roads, and essential public services. Congress reauthorized the program through fiscal year 2023, but, as I mentioned, the authorization expired in September 30, 2023, and final payments were paid in April of 2024. Congress must reauthorize this to avoid critical funding shortfalls. For example, in some of the counties of my district: Plumas County relies on Secure Rural Schools for $3.7 million, Sierra County for $942,000, Yuba County for $122,000, Nevada County for $393,000, Placer County for $839,000, El Dorado County for $2.1 million, and Alpine County for $493,000. Many of those counties are small counties. This provides critical funding that they need because they have a large amount of Federal land and don't have a large tax base.…”