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Letter to the House Committee on Natural Resources - PILT Funding

Letter

Date: Jan. 16, 2014
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Taxes

Congresswoman Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-Chino) was joined by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, strongly urging the authorizing committee, the House Committee on Natural Resources, to ensure that the Payment in Lieu of Taxes Program (PILT) continues to receive mandatory funding in Fiscal Year 2014.

PILT reimburses local governments for losses in tax revenues due to the presence of large expanses of nontaxable federal lands, ensuring vital funding for infrastructure, law enforcement, education and other essential operations. In total, California's counties received a total of $41,445,228, with just over $4.2 million going to the geographically largest county in the state, San Bernardino County, and Los Angeles County.

The letter reads… "Failure to expedite PILT funding will leave local governments with added financial hardships in already struggling local coffers. The lack of funding certainty hurts a local government's ability to most efficiently provide for the health and safety of constituents."

The full letter can be found below.

January 14, 2014

The Honorable John Boehner The Honorable Nancy Pelosi

Speaker Minority Leader

U.S. House of Representatives U.S. House of Representatives

H-232, U.S. Capitol H-204, U.S. Capitol

Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Doc Hastings The Honorable Peter DeFazio

Chairman Ranking Member

House Committee on Natural Resources House Committee on Natural Resources

1324, Longworth HOB 2134, Rayburn HOB

Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Speaker Boehner, Leader Pelosi, Chairman Hastings and Ranking Member DeFazio:

We are writing to share our concern that the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program was not included in the Fiscal Year 2014 Omnibus spending bill released by House and Senate Appropriators. In light of this omission, we strongly urge the authorizing committee, the House Committee on Natural Resources, to ensure the PILT program continues to receive mandatory funding in Fiscal Year 2014. If the authorizing committee of jurisdiction is not able to move swiftly, we encourage House leadership to find other legislative vehicles to protect this vital program.

For over thirty years, the PILT program has provided vital funding to counties and other local governments to offset losses in tax revenues due to the presence of substantial acreage of federal land in their jurisdictions. Since federal lands are not subject to taxation by local governments, local governments heavily rely on the PILT program payments to help offset the costs incurred by counties for providing essential services to residents such as education, solid waste disposal, law enforcement, search and rescue and other vital services.

Failure to expedite PILT funding will leave local governments with added financial hardships in already struggling local coffers. The lack of funding certainty hurts a local government's ability to most efficiently provide for the health and safety of constituents. It is imperative for our local governments to best serve our constituents in an efficient and pragmatic manner, providing funding certainty is the first step.

Respectfully,

Congresswoman Gloria Negrete McLeod (CA-35)
Congressman Paul Cook (CA-8)
Congressman Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Congresswoman Julia Brownley (CA-26)
Congresswoman Lois Capps (CA-24)
Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (CA-46)
Congressman Mark Takano (CA-41)
Congressman Juan Vargas (CA-51)
Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-1)
Congressman Jared Polis (CO-2)
Congressman Bill Enyart (IL-12)
Congressman Derek Kilmer (WA-6)
Congressman Joe Garcia (FL-26)
Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-1)


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