On Thursday, by a vote of 300 to 119, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3979, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2015. (California Congressional Delegation Roll Call Vote can be accessed here.) The primary purpose of the measure is to set national defense policy for the country as negotiated between the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee. Attached to this measure is a federal lands package which includes a $70 million appropriation for the federal Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program, as well addressing other natural resources issues such as energy and mineral production, land use issues, and land conveyances. The $70 million was acquired from savings found in the federal lands package. It should be noted that federal PILT has been a $450 million program annually. As such, this $70 million appropriation will serve as a ‘down payment’ towards reaching the $450 million level for FY 2015 ($70 million only represents approximately 16% of the total FY 2015 estimate).
NDAA is expected to be considered in the U.S. Senate in the coming days as the 113th Congress comes to a conclusion. However, because the federal lands component of the bill is controversial, and H.R. 3979 can be subjected to amendments, the measure’s fate remains unclear. To date, it is also unclear how the measure will be viewed by the Obama Administration.
While there appears to be progress on PILT, efforts to provide funding for the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act (SRS) in the final days of the 113th Congress appear to be allusive. The NDAA does not contain any funding for SRS. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and a key member in the SRS discussion, has been working to find a vehicle for a FY 2014 SRS reauthorization claiming that a one-year reauthorization can be paid for from other “offsets” in federal spending. At the time of publication, those efforts have not been successful. It should be noted that assuming an SRS reauthorization for 2014 is not finalized in the coming weeks/months, adjustments to counties’ PILT payments will need to be made.
While many had wanted to see full, multi-year reauthorization for PILT and at least a 2014 reauthorization for SRS occur in the 113th Congress, in a matter of weeks the 114th Congress will convene and work may be undertaken to address these very important programs for California’s rural counties. However, at this point in time, the fate of this and other programs is in flux, and subject to change. RCRC ‘s federal advocacy team will be working to secure funding for these programs and will be joining our partners in this effort.