You asked (1) whether Indian reservations are eligible for federal payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT); (2) if reservations are not covered, what would be needed to expand the federal program to include reservations; and (3) what types of property are eligible for the payments.

Indian reservation lands are not eligible for federal PILOT payments. Extending payments to reservations would require Congress to amend the federal law governing PILOT payments (31 U. S. C §§ 6902, 6904, & 6905).

Current federal law requires federal PILOT payments to states or counties for the following lands:

1. National Park System and National Forest System land;

2. land administered by the Bureau of Land Management;

3. land dedicated to federal water projects;

4. dredge areas maintained by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers;

5. National Wildlife Refuge areas withdrawn from the public domain;

6. land near the Purgatory River Canyon and Piñon Canyon, Colorado acquired after December 31, 1981 to expand the Fort Carson military reservation;

7. inactive and semi-active Army installations used for mobilization and reserve training;

8. certain donated land;

9. certain land in Nevada acquired by the U. S. Agriculture Department;

10. land in Utah eligible for PILOT payments from Utah before the federal government acquired it; and

11. land in Redwood National Park or in the Lake Tahoe Basin near Lake Tahoe acquired under a 1980 federal act.

For your further information, we attach a state-by-state list of federal PILOT payments for the last five years. That list shows that Connecticut received less than $ 30,000 in payments for FY 2004.

JSL: tjo