Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1261 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1261
5	5	To amend title 54, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of the
6	6	Interior to make financial assistance to States under the Land and
7	7	Water Conservation Fund available for water quality projects, and for
8	8	other purposes.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	FEBRUARY12, 2025
11	11	Mr. M
12	12	ASTintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
13	13	on Natural Resources
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To amend title 54, United States Code, to authorize the
16	16	Secretary of the Interior to make financial assistance
17	17	to States under the Land and Water Conservation Fund
18	18	available for water quality projects, and for other pur-
19	19	poses.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
23	23	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Land and Water Con-4
24	24	servation Fund Water Amendments Act of 2025’’. 5
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27	27	•HR 1261 IH
28	28	SEC. 2. FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO STATES FOR WATER 1
29	29	QUALITY PROJECTS. 2
30	30	Section 200305 of title 54, United States Code, is 3
31	31	amended— 4
32	32	(1) in subsection (a), in the second sentence, by 5
33	33	inserting ‘‘and water quality improvement’’ after 6
34	34	‘‘outdoor recreation’’; 7
35	35	(2) in subsection (d), by adding at the end the 8
36	36	following: 9
37	37	‘‘(5) W
38	38	ATER QUALITY.—A comprehensive state-10
39	39	wide outdoor recreation plan shall identify— 11
40	40	‘‘(A) any body of water within the bound-12
41	41	aries of the State for which a State water qual-13
42	42	ity control plan has been developed pursuant to 14
43	43	section 303(d) of the Federal Water Pollution 15
44	44	Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1313(d)); and 16
45	45	‘‘(B) any proposed water quality project 17
46	46	(as defined in subsection (e)(4)(A)) to be con-18
47	47	ducted with respect to a body of water that is 19
48	48	identified under subparagraph (A).’’; and 20
49	49	(3) in subsection (e)— 21
50	50	(A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘
51	51	ANDDE-22
52	52	VELOPMENT OF BASICOUTDOORRECREATION 23
53	53	F
54	54	ACILITIES’’ and inserting ‘‘, DEVELOPMENT 24
55	55	OFBASICOUTDOORRECREATIONFACILITIES, 25
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58	58	•HR 1261 IH
59	59	AND CONDUCT OF WATER QUALITY 1
60	60	P
61	61	ROJECTS’’; 2
62	62	(B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and 3
63	63	(3)’’ and inserting ‘‘, (3), and (4)’’; and 4
64	64	(C) by adding at the end the following: 5
65	65	‘‘(4) W
66	66	ATER QUALITY PROJECTS .— 6
67	67	‘‘(A) D
68	68	EFINITION OF WATER QUALITY 7
69	69	PROJECT.—In this paragraph, the term ‘water 8
70	70	quality project’ means any project identified in 9
71	71	a State water quality control plan developed for 10
72	72	the purpose of restoring any body of water that 11
73	73	is identified by the State under section 303(d) 12
74	74	of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 13
75	75	U.S.C. 1313(d)) as being impaired. 14
76	76	‘‘(B) F
77	77	INANCIAL ASSISTANCE .—Under 15
78	78	paragraph (1), the Secretary may provide finan-16
79	79	cial assistance for the conduct of water quality 17
80	80	projects. 18
81	81	‘‘(C) N
82	82	ON-FEDERAL SHARE CREDIT .—The 19
83	83	Secretary may credit toward the non-Federal 20
84	84	share required under subsection (c) funds allo-21
85	85	cated by a State for the conduct of a water 22
86	86	quality project. 23
87	87	‘‘(D) C
88	88	ONSULTATION.—The Secretary 24
89	89	shall consult with the Administrator of the En-25
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92	92	•HR 1261 IH
93	93	vironmental Protection Agency in carrying out 1
94	94	this paragraph. 2
95	95	‘‘(E) L
96	96	IMITATIONS.— 3
97	97	‘‘(i) I
98	98	N GENERAL.—In providing fi-4
99	99	nancial assistance to water quality projects 5
100	100	under this paragraph, the Secretary shall 6
101	101	only provide financial assistance to water 7
102	102	quality projects that seek to improve water 8
103	103	quality by improving, restoring, remedi-9
104	104	ating, or developing natural hydrological 10
105	105	systems, such as— 11
106	106	‘‘(I) wetlands; 12
107	107	‘‘(II) marshes; 13
108	108	‘‘(III) living shorelines; 14
109	109	‘‘(IV) near-shore estuarine 15
110	110	waters; or 16
111	111	‘‘(V) any other naturally occur-17
112	112	ring hydrological features the Sec-18
113	113	retary determines to be necessary for 19
114	114	the purpose of reducing nutrient 20
115	115	loads. 21
116	116	‘‘(ii) N
117	117	O REIMBURSEMENT .—Funds 22
118	118	made available for a water quality project 23
119	119	under this paragraph may not be used to 24
120	120	reimburse the cost of any water quality 25
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123	123	•HR 1261 IH
124	124	project that has already been completed or 1
125	125	is otherwise fully funded. 2
126	126	‘‘(iii) E
127	127	FFECT.—Nothing in this para-3
128	128	graph— 4
129	129	‘‘(I) expands the authority of the 5
130	130	Federal Government over nonnav-6
131	131	igable waters; or 7
132	132	‘‘(II) authorizes the Secretary to 8
133	133	regulate the conduct of water quality 9
134	134	projects.’’. 10
135	135	Æ
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