II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 64
To prohibit the conditioning of any permit, lease, or other use agreement
on the transfer of any water right to the United States by the Secretary
of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY25, 2023
Mr. B
ARRASSO(for himself, Mr. RISCH, and Mr. CRAPO) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on En-
ergy and Natural Resources
A BILL
To prohibit the conditioning of any permit, lease, or other
use agreement on the transfer of any water right to
the United States by the Secretary of the Interior and
the Secretary of Agriculture, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Water Rights Protec-4
tion Act of 2023’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
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(1) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 1
means, as applicable— 2
(A) the Secretary of Agriculture; or 3
(B) the Secretary of the Interior. 4
(2) W
ATER RIGHT.—The term ‘‘water right’’ 5
means any surface water, groundwater, or water 6
storage use filed, permitted, certificated, confirmed, 7
decreed, adjudicated, or otherwise recognized by a 8
judicial proceeding or by the State, in which the user 9
acquires possession of the water or puts the water 10
to beneficial use, including water rights of federally 11
recognized Indian Tribes. 12
SEC. 3. POLICY DEVELOPMENT. 13
In developing any rule, policy, directive, management 14
plan, or similar Federal action relating to the issuance, 15
renewal, amendment, or extension of any permit, approval, 16
license, lease, allotment, easement, right-of-way, or other 17
land use or occupancy agreement, the Secretary— 18
(1) shall— 19
(A) recognize the longstanding authority of 20
the States relating to evaluating, protecting, al-21
locating, regulating, permitting, and adjudi-22
cating water use; and 23
(B) coordinate with the States to ensure 24
that any rule, policy, directive, management 25
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plan, or similar Federal action is consistent 1
with, and imposes no greater restriction or reg-2
ulatory requirement, than applicable State 3
water law; and 4
(2) shall not— 5
(A) assert any connection between surface 6
water and groundwater that is inconsistent with 7
such a connection recognized by State water 8
law; or 9
(B) take any action that adversely af-10
fects— 11
(i) the authority of a State in— 12
(I) permitting the beneficial use 13
of water; or 14
(II) adjudicating water rights; 15
(ii) any definition established by a 16
State with respect to the term ‘‘beneficial 17
use’’, ‘‘priority of water rights’’, or ‘‘terms 18
of use’’; or 19
(iii) any other right or obligation of a 20
State established under State law. 21
SEC. 4. TREATMENT OF WATER RIGHTS. 22
The Secretary shall not— 23
(1) condition the issuance, renewal, amendment, 24
or extension of any permit, approval, license, lease, 25
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allotment, easement, right-of-way, or other land use 1
or occupancy agreement on the transfer of any water 2
right (including joint and sole ownership) directly or 3
indirectly to the United States, or on any impair-4
ment of title or interest, in whole or in part, granted 5
or otherwise recognized under State law, by Federal 6
or State adjudication, decree, or other judgment, or 7
pursuant to any interstate water compact; 8
(2) require any water user (including any feder-9
ally recognized Indian Tribe) to apply for or acquire 10
a water right in the name of the United States 11
under State law as a condition of the issuance, re-12
newal, amendment, or extension of any permit, ap-13
proval, license, lease, allotment, easement, right-of- 14
way, or other land use or occupancy agreement; or 15
(3) condition or withhold the issuance, renewal, 16
amendment, or extension of any permit, approval, li-17
cense, lease, allotment, easement, right-of-way, or 18
other land use or occupancy agreement, in whole or 19
in part, on— 20
(A) limiting the date, time, quantity, loca-21
tion of diversion or pumping, or place of use of 22
a State water right beyond any applicable limi-23
tations under State water law; or 24
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(B) the modification of the terms and con-1
ditions of groundwater withdrawal, guidance 2
and reporting procedures, or conservation and 3
source protection measures established by a 4
State. 5
SEC. 5. EFFECT. 6
(a) R
ECLAMATIONCONTRACTS.—Nothing in this Act 7
in any way interferes with any existing or future Bureau 8
of Reclamation contract entered into pursuant to Federal 9
reclamation law (the Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388, 10
chapter 1093), and Acts supplemental to and amendatory 11
of that Act). 12
(b) E
NDANGERED SPECIESACT.—Nothing in this 13
Act affects the implementation of the Endangered Species 14
Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 15
(c) F
EDERALRESERVEDWATERRIGHTS.—Nothing 16
in this Act limits or expands any existing or future re-17
served water rights of the Federal Government on land 18
administered by the Secretary. 19
(d) F
EDERALPOWERACT.—Nothing in this Act lim-20
its or expands authorities pursuant to sections 4(e), 10(j), 21
or 18 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 797(e), 803(j), 22
811). 23
(e) I
NDIANWATERRIGHTS.—Nothing in this Act 24
limits or expands any existing or future reserved water 25
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right or treaty right of any federally recognized Indian 1
Tribe. 2
(f) F
EDERALLYHELDSTATEWATERRIGHTS.— 3
Nothing in this Act limits the ability of the Secretary, 4
through applicable State procedures, to acquire, use, en-5
force, or protect a State water right owned by the United 6
States. 7
(g) I
NTERSTATECOMPACTS.—Nothing in this Act af-8
fects an allocation contained in, or limitations and require-9
ments of, any interstate water compact or decree of the 10
Supreme Court of the United States interpreting or en-11
forcing an interstate water compact. 12
Æ
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