Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 84 Part 2.djvu/426

 1756

PUBLIC LAW 91-606-DEC. 31, 1970

[84 STAT.

COMMUNITY DISASTER GRANTS

SEC. 241. The President is authorized to make grants to any local government which, as the result of a major disaster, has suffered a substantial loss of property tax revenue (both real and personal). Grants made under this section may be made for the tax year in which the disaster occurred and for each of the following two tax years. The grant for any tax year shall not exceed the difference between the annual average of all property tax revenues received by the local government during the three-tax-year period immediately preceding the tax year in which the major disaster occurred and the actual property tax revenue received by the local government for the tax year in which the disaster occurred and for each of the two tax years following the major disaster but only if there has been no reduction in the tax rates and the tax assessment valuation factors of the local government. If there has been a reduction in the tax rates or the tax assessment valuation factors then, for the purpose of determining the amount of a grant under this section for the year or years when such reduction is in effect, the President shall use the tax rates and tax assessment valuation factors of the local government in effect at the time of the disaster without reduction, in order to determine the property tax revenues which would have been received by the local government but for such reduction. TIMBER SkLE

3j3o^stau^35; 66 Stat.* 95-'

CONTRACTS

SEC. 242. (a) Where an existing timber sale contract between the Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior and a timber purchaser does not provide relief from major physical change not due to negligence of the purchaser prior to approval of construction of any section of specified road or of any other specified development facility and, as a result of a major disaster, a major physical change results in additional construction work in connection with such road or facility by such purchaser with an estimated cost, as determined by the appropriate Secretary, (1) of more than $1,000 for sales under one million board feet, (2) of more than $1 per thousand board feet for sales of one of three million board feet, or (3) of more than $3,000 for sales over three million board feet, such increased construction cost shall be borne by the United States. (b) If the Secretary determines that damages are so great that restoration, reconstruction, or construction is not practical under the cost-sharing arrangement authorized by subsection (a) of this section, the Secretary may allow cancellation of the contract notwithstanding contrary provisions therein. (c) The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to reduce to seven days the minimum period of advance public notice required by the first section of the Act of June 4, 1897 (16 U.S.C. 476), in connection with the salc of timber from national forests, whenever the Secretary determines that (1) the sale of such timber will assist in the construction of any area of a State damaged by a major disaster, (2) the sale of such timber will assist in sustaining the economy of such area, or (3) the sale of such timber is necessary to salvage the value of timber damaged in such major disaster or to protect undamaged timber. (d) The President, when he determines it to be in the public interest, and acting through the Director of Emergency Preparedness, is authorized to make grants to any State or local government for the purpose of removing from privately owned lands timber damaged as a result of a major disaster, and such State or local government is

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