BILL NUMBER: SJR 23	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Aanestad

                        FEBRUARY 6, 2008

   Relative to the federal Secure Rural Schools and Community
Self-Determination Act of 2000.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SJR 23, as introduced, Aanestad. Federal Secure Rural Schools and
Community Self-Determination Act of 2000: extension.
   This measure would urge the 110th Congress to reauthorize and fund
the federal Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination
Act of 2000.
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, From 1908 to 2000, counties in the United States received
25 percent of the revenues generated on national forest lands in
lieu of lost tax revenues that could have been generated had these
lands remained in private hands; and
   WHEREAS, In the 1990s, the volume and value of timber harvested on
national forest lands was dramatically reduced, which led Congress
to enact the federal Secure Rural Schools and Community
Self-Determination Act of 2000, which provided a six-year guarantee
payment option that was independent of the revenue generated on the
national forest lands; and
   WHEREAS, The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination
Act of 2000, as extended by the United States Troop Readiness,
Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability
Appropriations Act, 2007 (Public Law 110-28), expired on September
30, 2007, and creates a lapse in funding to critical programs in
schools and counties across the United States, including California,
in the coming years; and
   WHEREAS, Rural schools are dependent on federal revenue-sharing
programs, including federal forest payments, for maintaining vital
educational services and programs, and to ensure an equitable
education for all students; and
   WHEREAS, Many of California's county public works programs will be
crippled without stable, predictable, long-term funding from the
act, causing the local road network to suffer long-term degradation
and putting communities at risk for public safety emergencies due to
cuts in staffing and operational activities; and
   WHEREAS, A number of efforts have been made and are continuing to
be made in both the United States House of Representatives and the
United States Senate to fully reauthorize the act through 2011, and
the Legislature strongly supports these efforts; now, therefore, be
it
   Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California
respectfully urges the 110th Congress to reauthorize and fund the
federal Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of
2000 to provide a long-term, stable source of funding for schools and
counties to maintain vital programs prior to September 30, 2008, to
avoid any interruption in county services and school operations; and
be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and Representative
from California in the Congress of the United States.