Mr. Speaker, I was absent from the floor and missed the roll call votes. Had I been present, I would have voted: YEA on Roll Call No. 315 on the Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass S. 356—The Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025, and YEA on Roll Call No. 316 on the Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. 1676—The Make SWAPs Efficient Act of 2025. PERSONAL EXPLANATION
S. 356: Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025
Introduced Feb 3, 202528 cosponsors
Sponsor
Mike Crapo
Republican · ID
Bill Progress
IntroducedFeb 3
Committee
Pass SenateJun 18
Pass HouseDec 9
SignedDec 18
LawDec 18
Latest Action · Dec 18, 2025
1/4
Became Public Law No: 119-58.
Treasury has 45 days to send rural counties back pay
4 min readLast updated May 21, 2026
Why it matters
Treasury must send Secure Rural Schools payments owed for fiscal years 2024 and 2025 to states and counties within 45 days of enactment. The program that props up schools, roads, and sheriff's offices in counties surrounded by federal land was previously stuck at fiscal year 2023 and now runs through 2026.
The Secure Rural Schools program — usually called SRS — exists because counties full of national forest can't tax federal land the way they tax private property. The program was created in 2000 to replace the share of federal timber-sale revenue rural counties used to receive when logging was a bigger industry. When the authorization lapsed at the end of fiscal year 2023, school districts, road departments, and county budgets in heavily forested areas started bracing for a funding cliff.
S. 356 reauthorizes the program through fiscal year 2026 and back-pays the two missing years. Counties that have not been paid for 2024 or 2025 will now get those checks, with one twist: any timber-receipt payments a county already received under the older 25-percent or 50-percent formulas are subtracted from the new check. No county gets paid twice for the same year.
Treasury has 45 days from enactment to issue the 2024 and 2025 payments. Counties don't have to file new paperwork to qualify — whatever payment election they made for fiscal year 2023 automatically carries forward.
The bill also extends the side machinery that makes SRS work on the ground. Resource Advisory Committees, the local panels that approve forest-restoration, road, and wildfire-mitigation projects, are extended through 2026. The authority for counties and federal land managers to launch new projects with SRS dollars runs through 2028, and the deadline for counties to spend those dollars stretches to 2029.
Congress did not redesign SRS or change the underlying payment formula. The reauthorization is a stability bill: keep the payments flowing, clear the backlog, and give rural communities a few more years of predictability before the next renewal fight.
S. 356 Bill Summary
What S. 356 actually does.
1
Back pay for 2024 and 2025 with a 45-day deadline
Treasury must send all Secure Rural Schools payments owed for fiscal years 2024 and 2025 within 45 days of the law taking effect.
2
Payments extended through fiscal year 2026
The Secure Rural Schools program, which had been stuck at fiscal year 2023, is reauthorized for fiscal years 2024, 2025, and 2026.
3
No double payments for the same year
Counties that already received older 25-percent or 50-percent timber-receipt payments for 2024 or 2025 see those amounts subtracted from their new Secure Rural Schools check.
4
No new paperwork for counties
Payment elections that counties filed for fiscal year 2023 carry forward automatically to 2024 and 2025, so counties do not have to repeat the application process.
5
Project authority extended through 2028
The authority for counties and federal land managers to launch new forest, road, and watershed projects with SRS dollars runs through fiscal year 2028. The deadline for counties to spend those dollars stretches to fiscal year 2029.
6
Resource Advisory Committees survive
The local committees that approve forest-restoration, road, and wildfire-mitigation projects on federal land are extended through fiscal year 2026. The law also makes technical corrections to the underlying statute.
Who benefits from S. 356?
Rural counties with large amounts of federal land
These counties cannot collect property taxes on federal land. Secure Rural Schools payments replace what counties used to receive from federal timber sales when logging was a larger industry.
Rural school districts
Counties that receive SRS money typically pass a chunk through to local schools, especially in places where federal land swallows the property tax base that funds education elsewhere.
County road crews and sheriff's deputies
SRS dollars often pay to maintain county roads through national forest land and to staff sheriff's patrols in remote, sparsely populated areas.
Communities working on wildfire risk
Resource Advisory Committees can keep funding fuel-reduction, watershed-restoration, and road-repair projects that local stakeholders have prioritized in fire-prone areas.
Who is affected by S. 356?
The U.S. Treasury
Treasury is on a 45-day clock to issue the 2024 and 2025 payments to states and counties participating in the program — a tight administrative window.
Counties that received partial timber payments
These counties will see their Secure Rural Schools check reduced by whatever they already received under the older 25-percent or 50-percent timber-receipt formulas for the same fiscal year.
State governments
States that pass SRS payments through to counties have to reconcile the new payment timeline and account for any partial payments already distributed before the law took effect.
The Forest Service and BLM
Federal land managers continue working with Resource Advisory Committees and county governments on local project approvals through fiscal year 2028.
On the Record
What Congress Said
S. 356 was signed into law on Jan 5, 2026.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 356, the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025, which is a lifeline for rural school districts that have experienced severe budget impacts since 2023 when the program was not reauthorized. This bill is vital to restoring critical funding, preventing further school closures, and ensuring rural students have access to quality education that can compete with urban communities. However, this is not just an education issue. This is about investing in the future of rural America and supporting communities surrounded by Federal forests.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 356, the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025. Mr. Speaker, in 1990, the spotted owl was listed under the Endangered Species Act as a threatened species. Almost immediately, timber production from Federal forests in the Western United States plummeted by 80 percent. The economic and societal costs of timber-dependent States and their timber-reliant counties was appalling. Demand for SNAP and Medicaid shot up. Alcoholism and meth addictions became routine. County tax revenues were decimated.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of S. 356, the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025. This bill would reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and Self- Determination Program (SRS) through Fiscal Year 2026 and provide lapsed payments for 2024 and 2025. Administered by the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management, SRS funding goes to counties to help maintain schools, infrastructure, and other essential community services for many rural counties that contain federal lands exempt from federal property taxes.
S. 356 also appeared in 1 more House floor reference, 1 more Senate floor reference, and 8 routine cosponsor filings.
S356 Legislative Journey
Signed into Law
Dec 18, 2025
Became Public Law No: 119-58.
+3 more actions this day
Action Taken
Dec 15, 2025
Presented to President.
House: Vote: 399-5
Dec 9, 2025
On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 399 - 5 (Roll no. 315). (text: CR H5066-5067)
House: Action Taken
Jun 23, 2025
Held at the desk.
Passed 3459-3460
Jun 18, 2025
Passed Senate without amendment by Voice Vote. (text: CR S3459-3460)
+3 more actions this day
Committee Action
Feb 3, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
About the Sponsor
Mike Crapo
Republican, ID · 33 years in Congress
Committees: Finance, Joint Committee on Taxation, Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
View full profile →
Cosponsors at time of passage (28)
This bill has 28 cosponsors: 16 Democrats, 11 Republicans, 1 Independent, reflecting bipartisan support. Cosponsors represent 18 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, and 15 more.
16Democrats11Republicans1Independent·18 statesBipartisan
Ron Wyden
Democrat · OR
James Risch
Republican · ID
Jeff Merkley
Democrat · OR
Dan Sullivan
Republican · AK
Jacklyn Rosen
Democrat · NV
Shelley Capito
Republican · WV
Jeanne Shaheen
Democrat · NH
Steve Daines
Republican · MT
Mark Kelly
Democrat · AZ
Josh Hawley
Republican · MO
Maggie Hassan
Democrat · NH
John Curtis
Republican · UT
Committee Sponsors
Energy and Natural Resources Committee
8D11R1I
|10 signed10 others10 of 20 committee members cosponsored at the time
S. 356 Quick Facts
Cosponsors
28
- Committee
- Energy and Natural Resources
- Chamber
- Senate
- Policy
- Public Lands and Natural Resources
- Introduced
- Feb 3, 2025
Became Public Law No: 119-58.
Dec 18, 2025
Official Sources
S. 356 on Congress.gov
Official bill text, status, sponsor, and vote history for the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025.
Public Law 119-58 on GovInfo
Statute compilation page for the enacted law that reauthorized Secure Rural Schools through fiscal year 2026.
USDA Forest Service — Secure Rural Schools Program
Program homepage covering payments to more than 700 counties whose tax base is limited by national forest land.
Forest Service — SRS Payments
County-level payment reports, allocation formulas, and the 1908 Act 25-percent payment data the new SRS check is offset against.
Forest Service — The Secure Rural Schools Act
Legislative history of every SRS reauthorization since 2000, including the 2025 extension through fiscal year 2026.
Forest Service — Resource Advisory Committees (Title II)
Charter, membership rules, and project guidelines for the local RACs the bill extended through fiscal year 2026.
Forest Service announces $182M in retroactive SRS payments
February 20, 2026 announcement that reconciled fiscal year 2024 payments after the Forest Service had initially paid counties under the older 1908 revenue-sharing formula.
16 U.S. Code Chapter 90 — Secure Rural Schools statute
Underlying statute (16 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.) that S. 356 amends — including the sections governing State payments, county elections, and Resource Advisory Committees.
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S. 356 Common Questions
When will counties actually get the 2024 and 2025 back payments?
Treasury has 45 days from when the law took effect on December 18, 2025 to send all Secure Rural Schools payments for fiscal years 2024 and 2025. That sets a hard deadline of roughly the end of January 2026.
What is the Secure Rural Schools program?
It is a federal payment to counties that contain large amounts of national forest or other federal land. The payments help offset the fact that counties cannot collect property taxes on federal land, replacing the older share of federal timber-sale revenue rural counties used to receive.
Why did Secure Rural Schools payments stop in the first place?
The program's authorization ran out at the end of fiscal year 2023. Congress did not renew it before the deadline, so counties did not receive Secure Rural Schools payments for 2024 or 2025 until this reauthorization passed in December 2025.
What if a county already got a timber-receipt payment for those years?
The new Secure Rural Schools check is reduced by whatever the county already received under the older 25-percent or 50-percent timber-receipt formulas for the same fiscal year. The rule prevents counties from being paid twice for one year.
Do counties need to file new paperwork to get paid?
No. The payment elections counties filed for fiscal year 2023 automatically carry over to 2024 and 2025, so counties do not have to repeat the application process.
How long are the payments extended under S. 356?
Through fiscal year 2026. The program was previously stuck at fiscal year 2023, so the reauthorization adds three full years of authority: 2024, 2025, and 2026.
What is a Resource Advisory Committee, and what happened to it?
Resource Advisory Committees are local panels that approve forest-restoration, road, and wildfire-mitigation projects on national forest land. The pilot program that governs them is extended through fiscal year 2026 under this law.
Did S. 356 pass with bipartisan support?
Yes. The Senate passed it by voice vote in June 2025, and the House passed it 399 to 5 in December. It became Public Law 119-58 when the President signed it on December 18, 2025.
Based on S. 356 bill text
S. 356 Bill Text
“To extend the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000.”
Source: U.S. Government Publishing Office
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