Amended in Assembly March 4, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 9

Introduced by Assembly Member Dahle

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bigelow begin insert , Chesbro, end insert and Logue)

(Coauthors: Senators Berryhill and Gaines)

January 31, 2013

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 9—Relative to the federal Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AJR 9, as amended, Dahle. Federal Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000: extension.

This measure would urge the 113th 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 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 7101
et seq.), 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, which has been extended several
times, most recently by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st
Century Act (MAP-21) (Public Law 112-141), expired on
September 30, 2012, 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
a quality 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 reauthorize the
Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of
2000; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California
respectfully urges the 113th Congress to reauthorize and begin delete fully end delete 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, 2013, to avoid any interruption
in county services and school operations; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly 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.