Crapo Bill to Restore Funding for Rural Idaho Counties to Become Law

Washington, D.C.--U.S. Senator for Idaho Mike Crapo celebrated passage of his legislation, S. 356, the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) Reauthorization Act, in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill, which will restore funding to rural counties that steward tracts of untaxed federal lands, now heads to the President’s desk for signature.

“The SRS program is vital to maintaining schools, roads and emergency response services in rural, forested counties,” said Crapo. “We have a responsibility to these communities who house large swaths of untaxable federal land. The passage of this legislation will provide retroactive pay to counties that faced deep cuts since the program’s expiration at the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 and restore funding levels for FY 2026. I continue to press for a long-term solution to provide Idaho’s county governments with more certainty.”

Passage of the bill comes on the heels of a bipartisan letter signed by 89 lawmakers led by Crapo, along with his colleagues U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and U.S. Representatives Doug LaMalfa (R-California) and Joe Neguse (D-Colorado), to U.S. House of Representatives leadership. The Senators and Representatives underscored the devastating impacts on rural counties absent funding from the SRS program and called for passage of the bill before the end of the year. The bill previously passed the U.S. Senate unanimously in June 2025.

The legislation reauthorizes the program through FY 2026 and provides lapsed payments for FYs 2024 and 2025. U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) are original co-sponsors.

Background on the SRS program

• Congress first authorized the first SRS program in 2000 with enactment of the SRS and Community Self-Determination Act.

• This legislation specifically assists counties containing tracts of federally owned forest land that are tax-exempt.

• The program provides payments to county governments in areas where those forests are located because counties do not receive tax revenue from federal land; the payments come through timber receipts and other revenue generating activities within U.S. national forests.

• In Idaho, $22.8 million was distributed across 34 counties to help pay for educational programs, emergency response systems and other services in Fiscal Year 2023.

• Since the program was not reauthorized in 2023, county payments reverted to 1908 timber sharing law, which represents about an 80 percent cut for some counties.

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