IB
Union Calendar No. 751
118THCONGRESS
2
DSESSION H. R. 215
[Report No. 118–919]
To provide long-term water supply and regulatory reliability to drought-
stricken California, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY9, 2023
Mr. V
ALADAO(for himself, Mr. MCCARTHY, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. DUARTE, Mr.
M
IKEGARCIAof California, Mr. ISSA, Mr. KILEY, Mrs. KIMof Cali-
fornia, Mr. L
AMALFA, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. OBERNOLTE, and Mrs.
S
TEEL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Natural Resources
D
ECEMBER18, 2024
Additional sponsor: Mr. F
ONG
D
ECEMBER18, 2024
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 9, 2023]
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A BILL
To provide long-term water supply and regulatory reliability
to drought-stricken California, and for other purposes.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Working to Advance 4
Tangible and Effective Reforms for California Act’’ or the 5
‘‘WATER for California Act’’. 6
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 7
The table of contents for this Act is as follows: 8
Sec. 1. Short title.
Sec. 2. Table of contents.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
TITLE I—CVP AND SWP OPERATIONS
Sec. 101. Operation of the CVP and SWP.
Sec. 102. Operations and reviews.
Sec. 103. Application of State laws.
Sec. 104. Reconsultation of NOAA biological opinion and FWS biological opin-
ion.
Sec. 105. Sunset.
Sec. 106. Consultation on coordinated operations.
TITLE II—ALLOCATIONS FOR SACRAMENTO VALLEY CONTRACTORS
Sec. 201. Definitions.
Sec. 202. Allocations of water.
Sec. 203. Protection of refuge, municipal and industrial, and other contractors.
Sec. 204. Other contractors.
TITLE III—INFRASTRUCTURE
Sec. 301. Shasta reservoir enlargement project.
Sec. 302. Water supply plan; projects.
Sec. 303. Conservation fish hatcheries.
Sec. 304. Storage; duration.
Sec. 305. Shasta dam enlargement.
TITLE IV—CVPIA ACTIONS
Sec. 401. CVPIA restoration actions.
TITLE V—WATER SUPPLY PERMITTING COORDINATION ACT
Sec. 501. Short title.
Sec. 502. Definitions.
Sec. 503. Establishment of lead agency and cooperating agencies.
Sec. 504. Bureau responsibilities.
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Sec. 505. Cooperating agency responsibilities.
Sec. 506. Funding to process permits.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
1
In this Act, the following definitions apply: 2
(1) C
VP.—The term ‘‘CVP’’ means the Central 3
Valley Project. 4
(2) C
VP CONTRACTOR.—The term ‘‘CVP con-5
tractor’’ means any public water agency, water user 6
organization, or person that has entered into a con-7
tract with the United States for water service from 8
the CVP, whether in the form of a water service con-9
tract, repayment contract, water rights settlement 10
contract, exchange contract, or refuge contract. 11
(3) F
WS BIOLOGICAL OPINION.—The term ‘‘FWS 12
Biological Opinion’’ means the United States Fish 13
and Wildlife Service ‘‘Biological Opinion for the Re-14
initiation of Consultation on the Coordinated Oper-15
ations of the Central Valley Project and State Water 16
Project’’ (Service File No. 08FBTD00–2019–F–0164) 17
signed on October 21, 2019. 18
(4) N
OAA BIOLOGICAL OPINION .—The term 19
‘‘NOAA Biological Opinion’’ means the National Oce-20
anic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries ‘‘Bio-21
logical Opinion on the Long-term Operation of the 22
Central Valley Project and the State Water Project’’ 23
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(Consultation Tracking Number: WCRO–2016–00069) 1
signed on October 21, 2019. 2
(5) P
REFERRED ALTERNATIVE .—The term ‘‘Pre-3
ferred Alternative’’ means the Alternative 1 (Preferred 4
Alternative), as described in the Final Environmental 5
Impact Statement on the Reinitiation of Consultation 6
on the Coordinated Long-Term Operation of the Cen-7
tral Valley Project and the State Water Project, 8
issued by the Bureau of Reclamation, and dated De-9
cember 2019. 10
(6) S
WP.—The term ‘‘SWP’’ means the Cali-11
fornia State Water Project. 12
(7) S
WP CONTRACTOR.—The term ‘‘SWP con-13
tractor’’ means a public agency that has entered into 14
a long-term water supply contract with the California 15
Department of Water Resources for water service from 16
the SWP. 17
TITLE I—CVP AND SWP 18
OPERATIONS 19
SEC. 101. OPERATION OF THE CVP AND SWP. 20
(a) C
ONGRESSIONALDIRECTIONREGARDINGCVP AND 21
S
WPOPERATIONS.—The CVP and the SWP shall be oper-22
ated, and reporting shall be done, in accordance with the 23
Preferred Alternative and FWS Biological Opinion and 24
NOAA Biological Opinion. 25
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(b) EXCEPTIONS.—Operation of the CVP and SWP 1
shall proceed pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, ex-2
cept: 3
(1) to the extent changes to operations are under-4
taken pursuant to one or more agreements, which are 5
voluntarily entered into, approved, and implemented 6
by CVP contractors, for operations of the CVP, and 7
SWP contractors, for operations of the SWP, with all 8
applicable Federal departments and the State of Cali-9
fornia, including any agency or board of the State of 10
California; or 11
(2) to the extent changes in operations of the 12
CVP, SWP, or both can be made while improving the 13
supply of water available to CVP contractors, SWP 14
contractors, or both. 15
(c) C
OSTS.—No cost, including water supply, finan-16
cial, mintigation-related, or otherwise, associated with the 17
implementation of any agreement under subsection (b)(1) 18
or the implementation of any reoperation under subsection 19
(b)(2) shall be imposed by any Federal department or agen-20
cy or the State of California, including any agency or board 21
of the State of California, directly or indirectly on any CVP 22
contractor, SWP contractor, or any other person or entity, 23
unless such costs are incurred on a voluntary basis. 24
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(d) NOREDIRECTEDADVERSEIMPACTS.—The Sec-1
retary of the Interior and Secretary of Commerce shall not 2
carry out any specific action authorized under the applica-3
ble provisions of this title that would directly or through 4
State agency action indirectly result in the involuntary re-5
duction of water supply to an individual, district, or agen-6
cy that has in effect a contract for water with the SWP 7
or the CVP, including settlement, exchange, and refuge con-8
tracts, and Friant Division contracts. 9
(e) E
NDANGERED SPECIESACT.—Notwithstanding 10
subsection (b), implementation of subsection (a) shall not 11
conflict with the FWS Biological Opinion and the NOAA 12
Biological Opinion. 13
(f) N
ATIVESPECIESPROTECTION.—The State of Cali-14
fornia shall not impose any bag, catch, or size restriction 15
or limit on the take or harvest of striped bass or any species 16
of black bass, including largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, 17
and spotted bass, that occupy the Sacramento-San Joaquin 18
Rivers Delta or its tributaries. 19
SEC. 102. OPERATIONS AND REVIEWS. 20
In carrying out section 101(a), the Secretary of the 21
Interior and the Secretary of Commerce shall implement 22
their statutory authorities in a manner that improves water 23
supply reliability and enables the CVP and SWP to provide 24
the maximum quantity of water supplies practicable to 25
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CVP agricultural, municipal, and industrial contractors, 1
water service or repayment contractors, water rights settle-2
ment contractors, exchange contractors, refuge contractors, 3
and SWP contractors, in accordance with the Preferred Al-4
ternative, NOAA Biological Opinion, and FWS Biological 5
Opinion. 6
SEC. 103. APPLICATION OF STATE LAWS. 7
(a) R
EDUCEDWATERSUPPLY.—If, as a result of the 8
application of applicable State law or regulation, the State 9
of California (including any agency or board of the State 10
of California) alters operation of the SWP in a manner 11
that directly or indirectly results in reduced water supply 12
to the SWP as compared with the water supply available 13
under the Preferred Alternative, and as a result, CVP yield 14
is greater than it otherwise would have been under the Pre-15
ferred Alternative, then that additional yield shall be made 16
available to the SWP for delivery to SWP Contractors to 17
offset that reduced water supply. If it is necessary to reduce 18
water supplies for any authorized uses of the CVP or CVP 19
Contractors to make available to the SWP that additional 20
yield, such reductions shall be applied proportionately to 21
those authorized uses or CVP contractors that benefit from 22
that increased yield. 23
(b) N
ORESTRICTION OFCERTAINWATERRIGHTS.— 24
The State of California (including any agency or board of 25
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the State of California) shall not restrict the exercise of any 1
water right obtained pursuant to State law, including but 2
not limited to a pre-1914 appropriative right or riparian 3
right in order to offset any impact resulting from the imple-4
mentation of this title on any species affected by operations 5
of the CVP or the SWP. 6
(c) N
OINVOLUNTARYWATERREDUCTION.—The State 7
of California (including any agency or board of the State 8
of California), the Secretary of the Interior and Secretary 9
of Commerce shall not take any action related to operation 10
of the CVP or SWP that would directly or indirectly result 11
in the involuntary reduction of water supply to any CVP 12
agricultural, municipal and industrial contractor, water 13
service or repayment contractor, water rights settlement 14
contractor, exchange contractor, refuge contractor or any 15
SWP contractor, as compared to the water supply available 16
under the Preferred Alternative; and nothing in this section 17
is intended to modify, amend, or affect any of the rights 18
and obligations of the parties to such contracts. 19
SEC. 104. RECONSULTATION OF NOAA BIOLOGICAL OPIN-20
ION AND FWS BIOLOGICAL OPINION. 21
(a) R
EQUIREMENT FORRECONSULTATION.— 22
(1) R
EQUIREMENT.—Unless action is taken pur-23
suant to section 101(b), neither the Secretary of the 24
Interior, acting through the Commissioner of the Bu-25
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reau of Reclamation, nor the Secretary of Commerce, 1
or their designees shall commence, complete, or request 2
reinitiation of consultation on the coordinated long- 3
term operation of the Central Valley Project and the 4
State Water Project that will result in changes to or 5
the replacement of the documents listed in paragraph 6
(2) unless— 7
(A) more than 75 percent of California has 8
experienced 4 consecutive years of D3 or D4 level 9
drought, as defined by the U.S. Drought Monitor; 10
(B) the Commissioner of the Bureau of Rec-11
lamation identifies one specific factor or com-12
bination of factors under section 402.16 of title 13
50, Code of Federal Regulations; and 14
(C) not fewer than 120 days before officially 15
commencing or requesting reinitiation, the Sec-16
retary of the Interior notifies the Committee on 17
Natural Resources of the House of Representa-18
tives and Committee on Energy and Natural Re-19
sources of the Senate, in writing, of— 20
(i) the intent to commence or request 21
reinitiation under this section; and 22
(ii) the detailed justification for the 23
identification of the specific factor or com-24
bination of factors under section 402.16 of 25
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title 50, Code of Federal Regulations, that 1
was identified to satisfy the requirement in 2
subparagraph (B). 3
(2) D
OCUMENTS.—The documents referred to in 4
paragraph (1) are the following: 5
(A) The FWS Biological Opinion. 6
(B) The NOAA Biological Opinion. 7
(C) The Record of Decision for the Reiniti-8
ation of Consultation on the Coordinated Long- 9
Term Modified Operations of the Central Valley 10
Project and State Water Project, signed on Feb-11
ruary 18, 2020. 12
(b) A
PPLICABLEPROCEDURES ANDREVIEW.—For the 13
purposes of this Act, before reinitiating consultation on the 14
Long-Term Operation of the CVP and SWP, a request by 15
the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of the Commerce, 16
or any other Federal employee, to reinitiate consultation 17
shall be made in writing and considered a rule under sec-18
tion 551 of title 5, United States Code, and subject to the 19
requirements of sections 801 through 808 of that title. 20
(c) C
OOPERATION.—In implementing this section, the 21
Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce 22
shall comply with requirements included in section 4004 23
of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation 24
Act (Public Law 114–322). 25
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(d) EXCLUSION.—Notwithstanding subsection (b), in 1
implementing this section, section 801(b)(2) of title 5, 2
United States Code, shall not apply. 3
SEC. 105. SUNSET. 4
Sections 101 through 104 shall have no force or effect 5
on and after the date that is 7 years after the date of the 6
enactment of this Act. 7
SEC. 106. CONSULTATION ON COORDINATED OPERATIONS. 8
The Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation 9
Act (Public Law 114–322) is amended— 10
(1) in section 4004(a)— 11
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 12
strike ‘‘public water agency that contracts’’ and 13
insert ‘‘contractor’’; 14
(B) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘or pro-15
posed action’’ before the semicolon; 16
(C) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘or pro-17
posed action’’ before the semicolon; 18
(D) by redesignating paragraphs (3) 19
through (6) as paragraphs (4) through (7), re-20
spectively; 21
(E) after paragraph (2), by inserting the 22
following new paragraph: 23
‘‘(3) receive a copy of the draft proposed action 24
and have the opportunity to review that document 25
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and provide comment to the action agency, which 1
comments shall be afforded due consideration during 2
development;’’; and 3
(F) in paragraph (7), as redesignated by 4
subparagraph (C) of this paragraph— 5
(i) in the matter preceding subpara-6
graph (A), by inserting ‘‘action agency pro-7
poses a proposed action or’’ before ‘‘the con-8
sulting agency’’; 9
(ii) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 10
‘‘proposed action or’’ before ‘‘alternative 11
will’’; and 12
(iii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 13
‘‘alternative actions’’ and insert ‘‘actions or 14
alternatives’’; and 15
(2) in section 4013, by deleting ‘‘section 4004, 16
which shall expire 10 years after the date of its enact-17
ment;’’ and inserting ‘‘section 4004, which shall ex-18
pire on December 16, 2033;’’. 19
TITLE II—ALLOCATIONS FOR 20
SACRAMENTO VALLEY CON-21
TRACTORS 22
SEC. 201. DEFINITIONS. 23
In this title, the following definitions apply: 24
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(1) The term ‘‘existing CVP agricultural water 1
service or repayment contractor within the Sac-2
ramento River Watershed’’ means any water service 3
or repayment contractor within the Shasta, Trinity, 4
or Sacramento River division of the CVP that has in 5
effect a water service or repayment contract on the 6
date of enactment of this title that provides water for 7
irrigation. 8
(2) The terms ‘‘Above Normal’’, ‘‘Below Normal’’, 9
‘‘Dry’’, and ‘‘Wet’’, with respect to a year, have the 10
meanings given those terms in the Sacramento Valley 11
Water Year Type (40–30–30) Index. 12
SEC. 202. ALLOCATIONS OF WATER. 13
Subject to section 203, the Secretary of the Interior 14
shall make every reasonable effort in the operation of the 15
CVP to allocate water provided for irrigation purposes to 16
each existing CVP agricultural water service contractor 17
within the Sacramento River Watershed in accordance with 18
the following: 19
(1) Not less than 100 percent of the contract 20
quantity of the existing CVP agricultural water serv-21
ice contractor within the Sacramento River Water-22
shed in a Wet year. 23
(2) Not less than 100 percent of the contract 24
quantity of the existing CVP agricultural water serv-25
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ice contractor within the Sacramento River Water-1
shed in an Above Normal year. 2
(3) Not less than 100 percent of the contract 3
quantity of the existing CVP agricultural water serv-4
ice contractor within the Sacramento River Water-5
shed in a Below Normal year that is preceded by an 6
Above Normal or Wet year. 7
(4) Not less than 50 percent of the contract 8
quantity of the existing CVP agricultural water serv-9
ice contractor within the Sacramento River Water-10
shed in a Dry year that is preceded by a Below Nor-11
mal, Above Normal, or Wet year. 12
(5) In any other year not identified in any sub-13
sections (a) through (d), not less than twice the allo-14
cation percentage to south-of-Delta CVP agricultural 15
water service contractors, up to 100 percent. 16
SEC. 203. PROTECTION OF REFUGE, MUNICIPAL AND INDUS-17
TRIAL, AND OTHER CONTRACTORS. 18
Nothing in section 202 shall— 19
(1) adversely affect any protections for the envi-20
ronment, including the obligation of the Secretary of 21
the Interior to make water available to managed wet-22
lands pursuant to section 3406(d) of the Central Val-23
ley Project Improvement Act (title XXXIV of Public 24
Law 102–575; 106 Stat. 4722); 25
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(2) adversely affect any obligation of the Sec-1
retary of the Interior or the Secretary of Commerce 2
under the FWS Biological Opinion or the NOAA Bio-3
logical Opinion; 4
(3) modify any provision of a water service con-5
tract that addresses municipal or industrial water 6
shortage policies of the Secretary of the Interior; 7
(4) affect or limit the authority of the Secretary 8
of the Interior to adopt or modify municipal and in-9
dustrial water shortage policies; 10
(5) constrain, govern, or affect, directly or indi-11
rectly, the operations of the American River division 12
of the CVP or any deliveries from that division or a 13
unit or facility of that division; or 14
(6) affect any allocation to a CVP municipal or 15
industrial water service contractor by increasing or 16
decreasing allocations to the contractor, as compared 17
to the allocation the contractor would have received 18
absent section 202. 19
SEC. 204. OTHER CONTRACTORS. 20
Nothing in section 202 shall— 21
(1) affect the priority of any individual or entity 22
with a Sacramento River settlement contract over 23
water service or repayment contractors; 24
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(2) affect the United States ability to deliver 1
water to the San Joaquin River exchange contractors 2
from the Sacramento River and the Delta via the 3
Delta-Mendota Canal or modify or amend the rights 4
and obligations under the Purchase Contract between 5
Miller and Lux and the United States and the Second 6
Amended Exchange Contract between the United 7
States, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Rec-8
lamation and Central California Irrigation District, 9
San Luis Canal Company, Firebaugh Canal Water 10
District and Columbia Canal Company; 11
(3) affect the allocation of water to Friant divi-12
sion contractors of the CVP; 13
(4) result in the involuntary reduction in con-14
tract water allocations to individuals or entities with 15
contracts to receive water from the Friant division; 16
(5) result in the involuntary reduction in water 17
allocations to refuge contractors; or 18
(6) authorize any actions inconsistent with State 19
water rights law. 20
TITLE III—INFRASTRUCTURE 21
SEC. 301. SHASTA RESERVOIR ENLARGEMENT PROJECT. 22
Section 40902(a)(2) of the Infrastructure Investment 23
and Jobs Act (Public Law 117–58) is amended— 24
(1) in subparagraph (B)— 25
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(A) in the matter preceding clause (i), by 1
striking ‘‘this Act, except for any project for 2
which—’’ and inserting ‘‘this Act; or’’; and 3
(B) by striking clauses (i) and (ii); and 4
(2) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘(except 5
that projects described in clauses (i) and (ii) of sub-6
paragraph (B) shall not be eligible)’’. 7
SEC. 302. WATER SUPPLY PLAN; PROJECTS. 8
(a) P
LAN.—Not later than 180 days after the date of 9
the enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of the Bureau 10
of Reclamation shall develop a water deficit report, which 11
shall identify— 12
(1) projected water supply shortages in the State 13
of California for irrigation water service, municipal 14
and industrial water service, water supply for wild-15
life refuges supplied by the CVP or the SWP; and 16
(2) infrastructure projects or actions which, if 17
taken, would— 18
(A) significantly reduce or eliminate the 19
projected water supply shortage; or 20
(B) fulfill water allocations consistent with 21
agricultural, municipal and industrial contrac-22
tors, water service or repayment contractors, 23
water rights settlement contractors, exchange 24
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contractors, and SWP contractors with water de-1
livery contractors on the CVP and SWP. 2
(b) R
EPORT TOCONGRESS.—The Commissioner of the 3
Bureau of Reclamation shall provide a report described in 4
subsection (a) to the House Committee on Natural Re-5
sources and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural 6
Resources upon its completion. 7
SEC. 303. CONSERVATION FISH HATCHERIES. 8
Section 4010(b)(5) of the Water Infrastructure Im-9
provements for the Nation Act (Public Law 114–322) is 10
amended by adding at the end the following: 11
‘‘(D) S
EMI-ANNUAL REPORT .—The Sec-12
retary of the Interior and the Secretary of Com-13
merce shall submit to the Committee on Natural 14
Resources of the House of Representatives and 15
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of 16
the Senate semi-annual reports that detail ac-17
tivities carried out under this paragraph.’’. 18
SEC. 304. STORAGE; DURATION. 19
(a) S
TORAGE.—Section 4007 of the Water Infrastruc-20
ture Improvements for the Nation Act (Public Law 114– 21
322) is amended— 22
(1) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ‘‘or any pub-23
lic agency organized pursuant to State law’’ and in-24
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serting ‘‘any public agency organized pursuant to 1
State law, or any stakeholder’’; and 2
(2) in subsection (i), by striking ‘‘January 1, 3
2021’’ and inserting ‘‘January 1, 2028’’. 4
(b) D
URATION.—Section 4013 of the Water Infrastruc-5
ture Improvements for the Nation Act (Public Law 114– 6
322) is amended— 7
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’; 8
(2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para-9
graph (3); and 10
(3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol-11
lowing: 12
‘‘(2) section 4007, which (except as provided in 13
paragraph (3)), shall expire on December 31, 2028; 14
and’’. 15
SEC. 305. SHASTA DAM ENLARGEMENT. 16
(a) F
UNDING.—In accordance with section 4007 of the 17
Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act 18
(Public Law 114–322), and as recommended by the Sec-19
retary in letters dated February 13, 2019; June 22, 2020; 20
and December 3, 2020; funds made available in the Water 21
and Related Resources account for the Bureau of Reclama-22
tion in Acts of appropriation for fiscal years 2017, 2018, 23
2019, 2020, and 2021 shall be made available to the Shasta 24
Dam and Reservoir Enlargement Project. 25
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(b) CLARIFICATION.—No provision of State law shall 1
preclude or otherwise prevent any public water agency, in-2
cluding a public agency of the State, that contracts for the 3
delivery of CVP water from assisting or cooperating with, 4
whether by loan, grant, license, or otherwise, the planning 5
and construction of any project undertaken by the Bureau 6
of Reclamation to enlarge Shasta Dam. 7
TITLE IV—CVPIA ACTIONS 8
SEC. 401. CVPIA RESTORATION ACTIONS. 9
(a) R
EFUGEWATERSUPPLYPROGRAM.—Not later 10
than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the 11
Secretary of the Interior shall complete the refuge water 12
supply program under section 3406(d) of the Central Valley 13
Project Improvement Act (title XXXIV of Public Law 102– 14
575; 106 Stat. 4722) and shall, within that 2-year period, 15
give priority to completing the refuge water supply pro-16
gram when making funding decisions from the Central Val-17
ley Project Restoration Fund established under section 3407 18
of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (106 Stat. 19
4726), the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public 20
Law 117–25), the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act 21
(Public Law 88–578), and other sources of funding. 22
(b) R
ESTORATIONACTIONSDEEMEDCOMPLETE.— 23
Upon completion of the refuge water supply program pur-24
suant to subsection (a), or September 30, 2025, whichever 25
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occurs first, the Secretary of the Interior shall deem com-1
plete the fish, wildlife, and habitat mitigation and restora-2
tion actions mandated under section 3406 of the Central 3
Valley Project Improvement Act (title XXXIV of Public Law 4
102–575; 106 Stat. 4714). 5
TITLE V—WATER SUPPLY PER-6
MITTING COORDINATION ACT 7
SEC. 501. SHORT TITLE. 8
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Water Supply Permit-9
ting Coordination Act’’. 10
SEC. 502. DEFINITIONS. 11
In this title: 12
(1) B
UREAU.—The term ‘‘Bureau’’ means the 13
Bureau of Reclamation. 14
(2) C
OOPERATING AGENCIES.—The term ‘‘cooper-15
ating agency’’ means a Federal agency with jurisdic-16
tion over a review, analysis, opinion, statement, per-17
mit, license, or other approval or decision required for 18
a qualifying project under applicable Federal laws 19
and regulations, or a State agency subject to section 20
503(c). 21
(3) Q
UALIFYING PROJECTS.—The term ‘‘quali-22
fying projects’’ means new surface water storage 23
projects in the States covered under the Act of June 24
17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388, chapter 1093), and Acts sup-25
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plemental to and amendatory of that Act (43 U.S.C. 1
371 et seq.) constructed on lands administered by the 2
Department of the Interior or the Department of Ag-3
riculture, exclusive of any easement, right-of-way, 4
lease, or any private holding, if the project applicant 5
or sponsor elects to participate in the process author-6
ized by this title. Such term shall also include State- 7
led projects (as defined in section 4007(a)(2) of the 8
WIIN Act) for new surface water storage projects in 9
the States covered under the Act of June 17, 1902 (32 10
Stat. 388, chapter 1093), and Acts supplemental to 11
and amendatory of that Act (43 U.S.C. 371 et seq.) 12
constructed on lands administered by the Department 13
of the Interior or the Department of Agriculture, ex-14
clusive of any easement, right-of-way, lease, or any 15
private holding, unless the project applicant elects not 16
to participate in the process authorized by this title. 17
(4) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 18
the Secretary of the Interior. 19
SEC. 503. ESTABLISHMENT OF LEAD AGENCY AND COOPER-20
ATING AGENCIES. 21
(a) E
STABLISHMENT OFLEADAGENCY.—The Bureau 22
is established as the lead agency for purposes of coordi-23
nating all reviews, analyses, opinions, statements, permits, 24
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•HR 215 RH
licenses, or other approvals or decisions required under Fed-1
eral law to construct qualifying projects. 2
(b) I
DENTIFICATION AND ESTABLISHMENT OF CO-3
OPERATINGAGENCIES.—The Commissioner of the Bureau 4
shall— 5
(1) identify, as early as practicable upon receipt 6
of an application for a qualifying project, any Fed-7
eral agency that may have jurisdiction over a review, 8
analysis, opinion, statement, permit, license, ap-9
proval, or decision required for a qualifying project 10
under applicable Federal laws and regulations; and 11
(2) notify any such agency, within a reasonable 12
timeframe, that the agency has been designated as a 13
cooperating agency in regards to the qualifying 14
project unless that agency responds to the Bureau in 15
writing, within a timeframe set forth by the Bureau, 16
notifying the Bureau that the agency— 17
(A) has no jurisdiction or authority with 18
respect to the qualifying project; 19
(B) has no expertise or information relevant 20
to the qualifying project or any review, analysis, 21
opinion, statement, permit, license, or other ap-22
proval or decision associated therewith; or 23
(C) does not intend to submit comments on 24
the qualifying project or conduct any review of 25
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•HR 215 RH
such a project or make any decision with respect 1
to such project in a manner other than in co-2
operation with the Bureau. 3
(c) S
TATEAUTHORITY.—A State in which a quali-4
fying project is being considered may choose, consistent 5
with State law— 6
(1) to participate as a cooperating agency; and 7
(2) to make subject to the processes of this title 8
all State agencies that— 9
(A) have jurisdiction over the qualifying 10
project; 11
(B) are required to conduct or issue a re-12
view, analysis, or opinion for the qualifying 13
project; or 14
(C) are required to make a determination 15
on issuing a permit, license, or approval for the 16
qualifying project. 17
SEC. 504. BUREAU RESPONSIBILITIES. 18
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The principal responsibilities of the 19
Bureau under this title are— 20
(1) to serve as the point of contact for appli-21
cants, State agencies, Indian Tribes, and others re-22
garding proposed qualifying projects; 23
(2) to coordinate preparation of unified environ-24
mental documentation that will serve as the basis for 25
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•HR 215 RH
all Federal decisions necessary to authorize the use of 1
Federal lands for qualifying projects; and 2
(3) to coordinate all Federal agency reviews nec-3
essary for project development and construction of 4
qualifying projects. 5
(b) C
OORDINATIONPROCESS.—The Bureau shall have 6
the following coordination responsibilities: 7
(1) P
REAPPLICATION COORDINATION .—Notify co-8
operating agencies of proposed qualifying projects not 9
later than 30 days after receipt of a proposal and fa-10
cilitate a preapplication meeting for prospective ap-11
plicants, relevant Federal and State agencies, and In-12
dian Tribes— 13
(A) to explain applicable processes, data re-14
quirements, and applicant submissions necessary 15
to complete the required Federal agency reviews 16
within the timeframe established; and 17
(B) to establish the schedule for the quali-18
fying project. 19
(2) C
ONSULTATION WITH COOPERATING AGEN -20
CIES.—Consult with the cooperating agencies through-21
out the Federal agency review process, identify and 22
obtain relevant data in a timely manner, and set nec-23
essary deadlines for cooperating agencies. 24
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•HR 215 RH
(3) SCHEDULE.—Work with the qualifying 1
project applicant and cooperating agencies to estab-2
lish a project schedule. In establishing the schedule, 3
the Bureau shall consider, among other factors— 4
(A) the responsibilities of cooperating agen-5
cies under applicable laws and regulations; 6
(B) the resources available to the cooper-7
ating agencies and the non-Federal qualifying 8
project sponsor, as applicable; 9
(C) the overall size and complexity of the 10
qualifying project; 11
(D) the overall schedule for and cost of the 12
qualifying project; and 13
(E) the sensitivity of the natural and his-14
toric resources that may be affected by the quali-15
fying project. 16
(4) E
NVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE .—Prepare a 17
unified environmental review document for each 18
qualifying project application, incorporating a single 19
environmental record on which all cooperating agen-20
cies with authority to issue approvals for a given 21
qualifying project shall base project approval deci-22
sions. Help ensure that cooperating agencies make 23
necessary decisions, within their respective authori-24
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•HR 215 RH
ties, regarding Federal approvals in accordance with 1
the following timelines: 2
(A) Not later than 1 year after acceptance 3
of a completed project application when an envi-4
ronmental assessment and finding of no signifi-5
cant impact is determined to be the appropriate 6
level of review under the National Environ-7
mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 8
seq.). 9
(B) Not later than 1 year and 30 days after 10
the close of the public comment period for a draft 11
environmental impact statement under the Na-12
tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 13
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), when an environmental im-14
pact statement is required under the same. 15
(5) C
ONSOLIDATED ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD .— 16
Maintain a consolidated administrative record of the 17
information assembled and used by the cooperating 18
agencies as the basis for agency decisions. 19
(6) P
ROJECT DATA RECORDS .—To the extent 20
practicable and consistent with Federal law, ensure 21
that all project data is submitted and maintained in 22
generally accessible electronic format, compile, and 23
where authorized under existing law, make available 24
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•HR 215 RH
such project data to cooperating agencies, the quali-1
fying project applicant, and to the public. 2
(7) P
ROJECT MANAGER .—Appoint a project 3
manager for each qualifying project. The project man-4
ager shall have authority to oversee the project and to 5
facilitate the issuance of the relevant final authorizing 6
documents, and shall be responsible for ensuring ful-7
fillment of all Bureau responsibilities set forth in this 8
section and all cooperating agency responsibilities 9
under section 505. 10
SEC. 505. COOPERATING AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES. 11
(a) A
DHERENCE TOBUREAUSCHEDULE.— 12
(1) T
IMEFRAMES.—On notification of an appli-13
cation for a qualifying project, the head of each co-14
operating agency shall submit to the Bureau a time-15
frame under which the cooperating agency reasonably 16
will be able to complete the authorizing responsibil-17
ities of the cooperating agency. 18
(2) S
CHEDULE.— 19
(A) U
SE OF TIMEFRAMES .—The Bureau 20
shall use the timeframes submitted under this 21
subsection to establish the project schedule under 22
section 504. 23
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•HR 215 RH
(B) ADHERENCE.—Each cooperating agen-1
cy shall adhere to the project schedule established 2
by the Bureau under subparagraph (A). 3
(b) E
NVIRONMENTALRECORD.—The head of each co-4
operating agency shall submit to the Bureau all environ-5
mental review material produced or compiled in the course 6
of carrying out activities required under Federal law, con-7
sistent with the project schedule established by the Bureau 8
under subsection (a)(2). 9
(c) D
ATASUBMISSION.—To the extent practicable and 10
consistent with Federal law, the head of each cooperating 11
agency shall submit all relevant project data to the Bureau 12
in a generally accessible electronic format, subject to the 13
project schedule established by the Bureau under subsection 14
(a)(2). 15
SEC. 506. FUNDING TO PROCESS PERMITS. 16
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary, after public notice 17
in accordance with subchapter II of chapter 5, and chapter 18
7, of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the 19
‘‘Administrative Procedure Act’’), may accept and expend 20
funds contributed by a non-Federal public entity to expedite 21
the evaluation of a permit of that entity related to a quali-22
fying project. 23
(b) E
FFECT ONPERMITTING.— 24
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(1) EVALUATION OF PERMITS.—In carrying out 1
this section, the Secretary shall ensure that the eval-2
uation of permits carried out using funds accepted 3
under this section shall— 4
(A) be reviewed by the Regional Director of 5
the Bureau of the region in which the qualifying 6
project or activity is located (or a designee); and 7
(B) use the same procedures for decisions 8
that would otherwise be required for the evalua-9
tion of permits for similar projects or activities 10
not carried out using funds authorized under 11
this section. 12
(2) I
MPARTIAL DECISION MAKING .—In carrying 13
out this section, the Secretary and the head of each 14
cooperating agency receiving funds under this section 15
for a qualifying project shall ensure that the use of 16
the funds accepted under this section for the quali-17
fying project shall not— 18
(A) substantively or procedurally impact 19
impartial decision making with respect to the 20
issuance of permits; or 21
(B) diminish, modify, or otherwise affect 22
the statutory or regulatory authorities of the co-23
operating agency. 24
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(c) LIMITATION ONUSE OFFUNDS.—None of the funds 1
accepted under this section shall be used to carry out a re-2
view of the evaluation of permits required under subsection 3
(b)(1)(A). 4
(d) P
UBLICAVAILABILITY.—The Secretary shall en-5
sure that all final permit decisions carried out using funds 6
authorized under this section are made available to the pub-7
lic, including on the internet. 8
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751
118
TH
CONGRESS
2
D
S
ESSION
H. R. 215
[Report No. 118–919]
A BILL
To provide long-term water supply and regulatory
reliability to drought-stricken California, and for
other purposes.
D
ECEMBER
18, 2024
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,
and ordered to be printed
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