YourVoice.Now Summary
Average Household ImpactMinnesota counties with federally acquired wilderness land would be paid on the highest appraised value on record.
Average Household Impact
- Payments to affected counties — Based on the highest appraised value, including historical values
The details
Counties holding federally acquired wilderness land in northern Minnesota would see larger annual payments. The 1948 Thye-Blatnik Act lets the government buy private land inside the Superior National Forest area. Because that land leaves the local tax rolls, the law pays affected counties a share of its appraised value each year. Today that payment is figured from the land's fair appraised value. The bill would switch to the highest fair appraised value on record. Historical appraised values would count toward that calculation. The Secretary of Agriculture would make the determination. Where land values have fallen since acquisition, the change would raise the yearly payment.
Congressional Summary
This bill prevents decreases in annual payments provided to Cook, Lake, and Saint Louis Counties in Minnesota for national forest lands in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Specifically, the bill modifies the formula created under the Thye-Blatnik Act that the Department of the Treasury uses to determine the amount of the payments. Treasury must base the payments on the highest fair appraised value, including historical fair appraised values, rather than on the fair appraised value of the land.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Reported to Senate
- Action Date
- 2025-10-27
- Date Added
- 2026-07-23
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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