WASHINGTON – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) introduced an amendment to the Fix Our Forests Act during a U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee (Ag) business meeting. His amendment consists of the bill text of the Disaster Reforestation Act, which would help landowners recover from the loss of timber after natural disasters. Currently, forest landowners do not have financial assistance eligible to them after a hurricane, tornado, pest, or disease outbreak strikes. By making improvements to the casualty loss of uncut timber in the tax code, forest owners could deduct the value of their timber prior to the loss caused by a natural disaster. Sen. Tuberville introduced this legislation earlier this year.
During his remarks to members of the Ag Committee, Sen. Tuberville asked for their support in getting the amendment passed through the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, the committee of jurisdiction on this legislation, to deliver urgent help to foresters. Sen. Tuberville then withdrew the amendment from the Ag markup.
Read Sen. Tuberville’s remarks below or watch on YouTube or Rumble.
“My amendment is [to] the Disaster Reforestation Act. Our foresters are struggling. We must do something to help them, or we’re going to be importing all of our lumber and wood products, despite having ample Southern Yellow Pine across Alabama and Georgia. I filed this amendment […] for the purpose of raising awareness of the large gap in relief efforts available to private forest landowners when a natural disaster strikes.
Our forest landowners grow a crop that takes decades to mature but when a hurricane, tornado, pest, or disease outbreak strikes, they do not have crop insurance or standing disaster programs available to them. Our amendment would adjust the tax code [and] allow landowners to deduct the appraised value of their uncut timber prior to it being destroyed if they commit to replacing [their timber] within five years. This will not make them whole, but it allows them to reinvest, keep forests healthy, and sustain rural jobs.
With sawmill closures and lost residual markets for pulp and paper, many landowners cannot weather future storms. This is the simplest and easiest way to give them a helping hand to continue their best forest management practices, reestablish economic prosperity and rural America, and advance the Trump Administration’s goal of boosting the domestic timber supply.
I recognize this amendment falls under the Finance Committee’s jurisdiction, so I will withdraw the amendment today. But I ask for your commitment to work together to ensure these landowners get the help they need.”
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.
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