Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 10/3/19

A bipartisan group of 31 senators, mostly from Western states, is asking Senate leaders to include in any year-end legislation a two-year reauthorization for the Payment in Lieu of Taxes program and the so-called Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act.

How it works: The programs were created to bolster counties with large areas of federally owned lands like forests and rangelands. Because the federal government doesn't pay local property taxes, those rural counties can miss out on significant revenue.

Nearly 1,900 counties since 1976 have leaned on the PILT program to fund services like law enforcement, jails and libraries, the group wrote in a letter led by Oregon and Idaho's senators. SRS was passed in 2000 to compensate for declining timber sales from federal forests, which Washington typically shared with county governments.

Here's the issue: PILT was set to expire at the end of fiscal 2019, while SRS lapsed at the end of fiscal 2018, according to the senators. Now they're seeking a two-year extension while lawmakers work on a longer term overhaul.

"As history has proved, without the certainty of these two critical programs, schools, libraries and jails will close," they wrote.