U.S. Senator Steve Daines highlighted two key bills aimed at strengthening Montana’s rural counties during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing this week.
Daines discussed his Small County PILT Parity Act, designed to ensure that counties with populations under 5,000 receive fair compensation through the federal Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program. Currently, these counties are capped under the existing formula, limiting funding for essential services such as emergency response, public safety, and road maintenance.
“The Small County PILT Parity Act would expand the PILT calculation table to include population tiers down to 1,000 people or fewer, without reducing payments for larger counties,” Daines said. “In Montana, we have large counties in terms of land area but small populations, and these communities cover a lot of ground despite limited resources. This bill ensures parity for those counties.”
Daines thanked Ranking Member Catherine Cortez Masto for co-leading the bill and emphasized its strong bipartisan backing. He also questioned Jon Raby, State Director of the Nevada BLM, on the potential impact of the legislation. Raby confirmed that expanding the PILT formula would help support counties with high federal land ownership but low populations and that the bill does not reduce payments for larger counties.
Daines also highlighted his Restoring State Mineral Revenues Act, which seeks to eliminate a 2 percent administrative fee charged by the federal government on states’ and counties’ share of oil and gas revenues under the Mineral Leasing Act. The legislation would restore a true 50/50 revenue split for communities hosting federal energy development.
“This bill is simple: it ensures states and counties receive their fair share of the revenues generated within their borders,” Daines said. Raby affirmed that states and counties impacted by federal oil and gas development should indeed receive equitable revenue.
Both bills have previously passed the committee with bipartisan support and enjoy backing from local governments in Montana and other western states. Daines emphasized that timely passage of the legislation would provide critical funding to rural counties, helping maintain services and strengthen local communities.