S. 356 — Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025

This section extends Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 (SRS) payments—made in lieu of declining timber receipts from federal lands to support schools, roads, and projects in affected rural counties—through FY2026 (from FY2023) for states (by USDA) and counties (by DOI), extends related payment distributions through FY2026 (from FY2023), and adds special rules for FY2024 and FY2025 payments that (1) reduce state or county SRS payments by any prior 25-percent or 50-percent payments already received for those years and (2) require the Secretary of the Treasury to make all such payments within 45 days of enactment. The section further provides that SRS payment elections made or deemed made by counties in FY2023 remain effective for FY2024 and FY2025 without requiring new elections. Finally, the section (1) extends SRS resource advisory committee composition waiver authority through 2026 (from 2023); (2) extends authority to conduct special projects on federal land through 2028 (from 2025), with related reporting through 2029 (from 2026); and (3) extends authority for counties to expend SRS funds through 2028 (from 2025), with related assessments through 2029 (from 2026).

This section extends the resource advisory committee pilot program through 2026 (from 2023) and strikes paragraph (6) of section 205(g). (Resource advisory committees review and recommend projects for funding under Title III of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act to improve collaborative relationships among stakeholders on federal lands.)

This section makes technical and clerical corrections to the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000, including (1) in provisions on resource advisory committees (16 U.S.C. 7125), removing extraneous commas after "Secretary concerned," adding "the" to "to the extent," and specifying October 3, 2008, as a reference date (from "the date of the enactment of this Act"); and (2) in provisions on the use of project funds (16 U.S.C. 7126(b)(2)), removing an extraneous comma after "Secretary concerned."