Hearing of Subcomittee on Public Lands and Forests - The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determiniatin Act of 2000

Hearing of Subcomittee on Public Lands and Forests - The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determiniatin Act of 2000

Prepared Statement of Hon. Maria Cantwell, U.S. Senator From Washington

Thank you, Chairman Craig.

Thank you for holding this hearing, and thank you for continuing to support and champion the Secure Rural Schools and Self-Determination Act. I appreciate this oversight hearing and look forward to working with you and Senators Wyden and Feinstein to reauthorize this law.

As you know, this vital program continues a nearly one hundred year old policy of providing fair and equitable compensation to the citizens of forest counties for their coexistence with federal lands. Simply put, without the support provided by laws like the Secure Rural Schools and Self-Determination Act, many rural communities in Washington would struggle to meet their basic needs such as adequate roads and good schools.

Skamania County in Southwest Washington is a good example. Almost eighty percent of Skamania is in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, making it non-taxable by the county. Other large portions of land are owned by the state or timber companies, leaving only two percent of the county eligible to be taxed at full valuation. However, by leveraging funds from the County Payments program, places like Skamania are able to still provide critical public services like education, emergency response, and road maintenance.

And funds provided by this program not only meet the basic needs of rural communities, they also support a diverse array of important programs. Like athletic and music classes which help students in rural school districts compete with students in urban schools for college acceptance.

In addition, title two of this law has increased local community involvement and empowered local citizens through the Resource Advisory Committees. These committees have helped cultivate a sense of ownership, promoting involvement in important projects such as improving wildlife habitat and water quality and reducing the threat of forest fires through fuels reduction efforts.

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate this oversight hearing because I believe it gives us an opportunity to consider whether we can improve this program even further. I would like to consider ways we can allow counties more flexibility in how they use these funds, whether these payments should be independent of state education funding allocations, and how this program interacts with other compensation programs like the federal program that makes payment in lieu of taxes (PILT) for lands in federal ownership.

For these reasons, Mr. Chairman, I look forward to working with you as we review the merits of this legislation and look forward to a swift reauthorization. While the bill does not expire until 2006, without this vital safety-net rural counties in Washington will lose more than $40 million dollars in irreplaceable funding for a variety of critical programs. The time is now for a comprehensive review of the law and its implementation, so we can move forward promptly.

Thank you.

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_senate_hearings&docid=20304.wais