This week, the House passed the $32.1 billion FY 17 Interior Department and EPA spending bill (H.R. 5538). The House debated 131 amendments proposed to the measure before a vote on final passage. The White House has threatened to veto the bill in objection to various “policy riders” targeting the Obama administration’s regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, federal lands management, oil and gas production, and Waters of the United States. Among the riders, the bill would prevent the President from naming national monuments using the Antiquities Act of 1906.
One of the key provisions contained in the bill is funding for the Federal Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program, at roughly $480 million. Federal PILT provides federal payments to local governments in order to help offset losses in property taxes due to nontaxable federal lands within local governments' boundaries. California’s counties receive approximately $40 million in Federal PILT to fund various activities, including firefighting and policy protection, and search and rescue operations. Additionally, H.R. 5538 fully-funds fire-fighting account for the U.S. Forest Service. However, unlike provisions contained in the spending bill last year, there are no additional funds to address the issue of “fire-borrowing.”
Debate on the measure began Tuesday with a series of amendments offered by Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA) that would have removed language to address California's ongoing drought by increasing water deliveries through targeting the management of fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and tributaries. The language contained in the final bill is a modified version of the House California GOP-backed water bill sponsored by Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) (H.R. 2898). H.R. 5538 is the third bill that the House has taken up that has contain portions of the Valadao measure. The McNerney amendments failed on mostly a party line vote.