ID SJM101

Urges Congress to pass the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Reauthorization Act of 2012 to extend federal payments through fiscal year 2021 at fiscal year 2008 funding levels, funded through mandatory continuing appropriations.

Identifies Idaho as having 34 counties and 115 school districts affected by federal forest land ownership totaling more than 20,458,276 acres.

States that Idaho will lose more than $30,086,006 million annually in rural school and county payments, plus $4,080,943 million annually for conservation projects, totaling over $34,166,949 per biennium if reauthorization fails.

Notes that federal timber sales used as the revenue source have been sharply curtailed, causing the decline in shared revenues that previously funded schools, road maintenance, and public services.

Requests Congress develop an alternative funding mechanism if a ten-year reauthorization cannot be passed, to provide payments for county roads and schools to mitigate loss of property tax revenues on federal forest land.