There shall be paid to each county in which lands acquired for state forest purposes are situated, out of funds hereafter made available for such purpose, an amount equivalent to taxes levied by the county on similar land similarly situated in the county in the same manner as provided in the Revenue and Taxation Code for secured property tax payments as long as the state continues to own the land. Such payments shall be based only upon the value of the forest lands used for purposes of continuous commercial forest production and not upon value of such forest land used for any other purposes, including any improvements on such lands. Determination of what constitutes similar land similarly situated shall be made by a committee consisting of the county assessor of the county in which the land is located, a representative of the State Board of Equalization and a representative of the department.

The money received by any county pursuant to this section may be expended by it for any proper state purpose not prohibited by the State Constitution.

(Amended by Stats. 1976, Ch. 1300.)