Senate bailout bill would restore timber funding for rural schools
An Associated Press story in the Seattle Times reports that a financial rescue plan approved by the Senate includes a plan to extend a program that pays rural counties hurt by federal logging cutbacks. Senators inserted the timber provision as one of several sweeteners to attract more votes for the bailout bill, which was defeated Monday in the House. In the West, the timber provision was a welcome addition. Lawmakers have long been seeking a way to renew the program, which provides hundreds of millions of dollars to Oregon, Idaho and other states, mostly in the West, that once depended on federal timber sales to pay for schools, libraries and other services in rural areas. The law, officially titled the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act but commonly known as "county payments," helps pay for schools and services in 700 counties in 39 states.
Seattle Times, 10/1/08, By Matthew Daly (AP)
[Editor’s Note: Information on last week’s rejection of the program by the House of Representatives is below. NSBA’s Office of Advocacy reports at the second link that the Senate earlier this week also had voted to reauthorize the program in the “Renewable Energy and Job Creation Tax Act of 2008.”]
NSBA School Law pages on House vote
NSBA Legislative Highlights, 9/30/08