RCRC recently joined with the National Association of Counties (NACo) to heighten public awareness of the need for permanent funding of the federal Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program and the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program. With the assistance of NACo and RCRC, several opinion pieces by RCRC Board Members were published by local media outlets in recent days, expressing why this funding is so critical for the survival and economic recovery of rural counties. The primary message of each opinion piece is to urge Congress to enact two separate pieces of legislation to permanently fund PILT and SRS.

There is already bi-partisan legislation designed to provide funding for PILT and SRS. In the U.S. House of Representatives, the Permanently Authorizing PILT Act (H.R. 3043) would make PILT a permanent, fully funded program moving forward. In the Senate, the Forest Management for Rural Stability Act (S. 1643) would create a permanent endowment to support SRS with permanent payments made directly to forested counties.

Click on the links provided to read op-eds written from the unique perspective of these RCRC Board Members: Humboldt County, Supervisor Rex Bohn; Shasta County, Supervisor Les Baugh; and Tuolumne County, Supervisor Sherri Brennan.

Read RCRC’s support letters for these two efforts in Congress here: SRS and PILT.