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“Payment
Coupling” Bill Passes Ag Committee On September 23,
the U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee passed
a bill sponsored by Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Georgia) and Rep. Allen
Boyd (D-Florida) which would guarantee federal timber-dependent
counties’ school and road funds a 25% share of federal timber
revenues based on historical timber sale receipt levels from the early
1980s. The bill also
stipulates that such payments be drawn from the Forest Service’s own
appropriated revenues. Thus,
total county payments would be $449 million annually (adjusted for
inflation), and congress (and Forest Service managers) would have
continuing incentives to minimize the agency deficit by maximizing
timber sale revenues. In
this way, the proposal preserves the principle of “coupling”
federal payments to counties to sustainable federal timber programs,
without holding counties hostage to the government’s failure to sell
enough timber. The
proposal has the endorsement of the National Education Association,
although there is some question of how deep NEA’s support goes.
The Administration, furthermore, has already threatened a veto. The
Greens have named this bill “Clearcutting For Kids” and are
pushing Rep. Peter DeFazio’s (D-Oregon) alternative,
which would provide the same revenue but draw it from the general
fund—“decoupling” it from the timber sale program.
Rep. DeFazio is expected to offer his proposal as an amendment
to the Deal-Boyd bill when it comes to the floor.
Industry views the DeFazio bill as dangerous, not only to
timber supply and sustainable management, but to the long-term
political viability of payments to counties. Return to Public Policy Archive Forest Resources Association
Inc. (FRA) |
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