II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1242
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to carry out watershed pilots,
and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL1 (legislative day, MARCH31), 2025
Mr. W
YDENintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to carry out
watershed pilots, 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 ‘‘Watershed Results 4
Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
(1) A
DVANCE WATERSHED ANALYTICS .—The 8
term ‘‘advance watershed analytics’’ means the tech-9
nical analysis that— 10
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(A) is conducted before providing funding 1
for a watershed outcomes project; 2
(B) identifies and quantifies the outcomes 3
and costs of all potential qualifying activities 4
across the watershed outcomes project; and 5
(C) assesses how different groups of quali-6
fying activities in the watershed outcomes 7
project could efficiently maximize outcomes for 8
the least cost. 9
(2) A
PPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON -10
GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-11
gress’’ means— 12
(A) the Committee on Energy and Natural 13
Resources of the Senate; and 14
(B) the Committee on Natural Resources 15
of the House of Representatives. 16
(3) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-17
ty’’ includes— 18
(A) a State, Indian Tribe, Tribal organiza-19
tion, irrigation district, or water district; 20
(B) a State, regional, or local authority, 21
the members of which include 1 or more organi-22
zations with water or power delivery authority; 23
(C) any other organization with water or 24
power delivery authority; and 25
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(D) any nongovernmental entity. 1
(4) P
AY-FOR-PERFORMANCE CONTRACT .—The 2
term ‘‘pay-for-performance contract’’ means a con-3
tract to purchase verified outcomes produced by im-4
plemented qualifying activities in a watershed out-5
comes project at a negotiated price. 6
(5) Q
UALIFYING ACTIVITY.—The term ‘‘quali-7
fying activity’’ means a conservation project carried 8
out in a watershed identified through advance water-9
shed analytics as having a high likelihood of cost-ef-10
fectively achieving 1 or more outcomes if implement 11
consistent with applicable performance standards 12
made available under section 3(e)(4). 13
(6) R
ECLAMATION STATE .—The term ‘‘Rec-14
lamation State’’ means— 15
(A) a State or territory described in the 16
first section of the Act of June 17, 1902 (32 17
Stat. 388, chapter 1093; 43 U.S.C. 391); 18
(B) the State of Hawaii; 19
(C) the State of Alaska; and 20
(D) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 21
(7) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 22
the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the 23
Commissioner of Reclamation. 24
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(8) WATERSHED OUTCOMES PROJECT .—The 1
term ‘‘watershed outcomes project’’ means the over-2
all watershed project managed by the watershed 3
partner. 4
(9) W
ATERSHED PARTNER .—The term ‘‘water-5
shed partner’’ means an eligible entity selected by 6
the Secretary under section 3(a)(2) to carry out a 7
watershed outcomes project. 8
SEC. 3. WATERSHED OUTCOMES PROJECTS. 9
(a) P
ROPOSALS; SELECTION.—The Secretary shall— 10
(1) not later than 1 year after the date of en-11
actment of this Act, solicit the submission from eligi-12
ble entities of proposals to develop and implement a 13
strategy that develops and uses advance watershed 14
analytics to cost-effectively carry out watershed out-15
comes projects to achieve meaningful watershed- 16
scale outcomes in a Reclamation State; and 17
(2) from among the proposals submitted under 18
paragraph (1), select a watershed partner for each 19
watershed to complete advance watershed analytics, 20
carry out watershed outcomes projects in a Reclama-21
tion State, manage watershed partnership duties 22
during the term of the partnership agreement, and 23
support pay-for-performance contracts. 24
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(b) GUIDELINES ANDCRITERIA FORPROPOSALS.— 1
The Secretary— 2
(1) shall develop criteria and guidelines for the 3
submission and selection of proposals under sub-4
section (a); and 5
(2) for purposes of developing the criteria and 6
guidelines under paragraph (1), may consider— 7
(A) the scope of the proposed watershed 8
outcomes project, including the selected sub-9
region or basin-level watershed for consider-10
ation; 11
(B) the purpose and goals of the proposed 12
watershed outcomes project; 13
(C) any stakeholder outreach conducted 14
with respect to the proposed watershed out-15
comes project; 16
(D) evidence of widespread support within 17
the local community for, the proposed water-18
shed outcomes project; 19
(E) the capability of the watershed partner 20
to perform the required duties in accordance 21
with subsection (d); 22
(F) how the watershed partner will procure 23
and use advance watershed analytics to identify 24
and quantify the outcomes and costs of all po-25
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tential qualifying activities for the proposed wa-1
tershed outcomes project; 2
(G) estimated costs of completing advance 3
watershed analytics and operating the proposed 4
watershed outcomes project; 5
(H) the anticipated qualifying activity 6
types that are relevant for the selected water-7
shed identified under subparagraph (A); and 8
(I) plans for monitoring, evaluating, and 9
reporting on progress made toward achieving 10
the outcomes of the proposed watershed out-11
comes project. 12
(c) P
ARTNERSHIPAGREEMENTS.— 13
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may enter 14
into a partnership agreement with a watershed part-15
ner selected under subsection (a)(2) to design and 16
implement a watershed outcomes project that uses 17
advance watershed analytics to achieve meaningful 18
watershed-scale outcomes in accordance with this 19
section. 20
(2) T
ERM.— 21
(A) I
N GENERAL.—A partnership agree-22
ment entered into under paragraph (1) shall be 23
for a term— 24
(i) of not more 5 years; or 25
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(ii) if the Secretary determines that a 1
longer term is necessary to meet the objec-2
tives of the watershed outcomes project, a 3
longer term established by the Secretary. 4
(B) R
ENEWAL.—A partnership agreement 5
entered into under paragraph (1) may be re-6
newed for a term of not more than 5 years. 7
(C) E
XTENSION.—A partnership agree-8
ment entered into under paragraph (1) or re-9
newed under subparagraph (B) may be ex-10
tended 1 time for a term of not more than 2 11
years, as determined by the Secretary. 12
(3) T
ECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE .— 13
Through a partnership agreement entered into under 14
paragraph (1), the Secretary shall provide to a wa-15
tershed partner— 16
(A) technical or financial assistance to de-17
sign and implement a watershed outcomes 18
project; and 19
(B) grants, cooperative agreements, or 20
other financial assistance to support— 21
(i) the activities under subparagraph 22
(A); and 23
(ii) performance payments to quali-24
fying activities under subsection (g)(4). 25
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(4) PROJECT DEVELOPMENT COSTS .—The Sec-1
retary may annually award to a watershed partner 2
an amount equal to not more than 50 percent of es-3
timated costs of the watershed outcomes project to 4
carry out the duties described in subsection (d). 5
(d) D
UTIES OFWATERSHEDPARTNERS.—Under a 6
partnership agreement entered into under subsection 7
(c)(1), the Secretary shall establish duties to be carried 8
out by the watershed partner, including considering estab-9
lishing the following duties: 10
(1) Preparing a funding and implementation 11
strategy that uses advance watershed analytics to 12
cost-effectively carry out a watershed outcomes 13
project by selecting a sufficient number of qualifying 14
activities to achieve meaningful watershed-scale out-15
comes by— 16
(A) completing advance watershed ana-17
lytics to identify and quantify the outcomes and 18
costs of all potential qualifying activities for the 19
watershed outcomes project; 20
(B) establishing baseline metrics to sup-21
port the development of setting outcome prices 22
and performance standards for the watershed 23
outcomes project; 24
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(C) developing performance standards for 1
the watershed outcomes project; 2
(D) leveraging financial assistance pro-3
vided by the Secretary to secure additional 4
funds for the watershed outcomes project; 5
(E) designing, recruiting, and verifying 6
qualifying activities for the watershed outcomes 7
project; and 8
(F) providing outcome and financial ac-9
counting services relating to qualifying activities 10
carried out to achieve outcomes. 11
(2) Using the strategy prepared under para-12
graph (1) to prioritize qualifying activity outreach 13
efforts. 14
(3) Working with local stakeholders to recruit 15
and design an implementation-ready queue of pri-16
ority qualifying activities. 17
(4) Ensuring that any proposed priority quali-18
fying activities have the support of affected local 19
stakeholders. 20
(5) Setting activity outcome prices and devel-21
oping performance standards for qualifying activi-22
ties. 23
(6) Developing a plan to carry out qualifying 24
activities having a high likelihood of cost-effectively 25
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achieving 1 or more outcomes described in sub-1
section (f) if implemented consistent with the appli-2
cable performance standards made available by the 3
Secretary under subsection (e)(4). 4
(7) Selecting, developing pay-for-performance 5
contracts for, funding, and carrying out qualifying 6
activities, in accordance with the plan developed 7
under paragraph (6), to achieve meaningful water-8
shed-scale outcomes. 9
(8)(A) Quantifying the outcomes for qualifying 10
activities. 11
(B) Verifying that qualifying activities have 12
been implemented consistent with applicable per-13
formance standards. 14
(C) Providing applicable documentation to the 15
Secretary with respect to the information quantified 16
and verified under subparagraphs (A) and (B). 17
(9) Monitoring qualifying activities at appro-18
priate levels to confirm ongoing performance. 19
(10) Other duties necessary to carry out a wa-20
tershed outcomes project, as determined to be nec-21
essary by the Secretary. 22
(e) D
UTIES OFSECRETARY.—Under a partnership 23
agreement entered into under subsection (c), the Secretary 24
shall— 25
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(1) ensure that there is widespread support 1
within the local community for the watershed out-2
comes project; 3
(2) verify the advance watershed analytics com-4
pleted by the watershed partner, to the maximum 5
extent practicable; 6
(3) ensure that there are made available to the 7
public outcome price tables, by qualifying activity 8
type, for use as the basis for negotiating pay-for-per-9
formance contracts for the applicable watershed out-10
comes project; 11
(4) ensure that there are made available to the 12
public qualifying activity and watershed outcomes 13
project performance standards that are to be used as 14
the basis for— 15
(A) identifying, quantifying, and verifying 16
qualifying activity outcomes; and 17
(B) executing pay-for-performance con-18
tracts; 19
(5) review outcome quantification and 20
verification documentation provided by the water-21
shed partner under subsection (d)(8)(C); 22
(6) provide to a watershed partner financial as-23
sistance to purchase verified outcomes from quali-24
fying activities in a watershed outcomes project, at 25
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prices set for the watershed outcomes project in ac-1
cordance with this section; and 2
(7) coordinate with other Federal agencies, to 3
the maximum extent practicable, to help leverage 4
and concentrate funding into watershed outcomes 5
projects. 6
(f) R
EQUIREDOUTCOMES FORQUALIFYINGACTIVI-7
TIES.—To be eligible for a performance payment under 8
subsection (g)(4), a qualified activity shall produce 1 or 9
more measurable, clearly defined outcomes that result in 10
a quantifiable and verifiable— 11
(1) increase in surface water or groundwater; 12
(2) increase in aquatic habitat quality, quantity, 13
connectivity, or access in a watershed; 14
(3) surface water or groundwater quality im-15
provement, including water temperature reductions, 16
or a reduction in salinity or nutrient or sediment 17
runoff associated with irrigated agriculture; or 18
(4) other quantifiable benefits, as determined 19
by the Secretary, likely to improve watershed health 20
in the watershed outcomes project. 21
(g) F
INANCIALASSISTANCE FOR QUALIFYINGAC-22
TIVITIES INWATERSHEDOUTCOMESPROJECTS.— 23
(1) L
EVERAGING FEDERAL FUNDING .—To 24
achieve meaningful watershed-scale outcomes, 25
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amounts made available under section 5 may be 1
used to satisfy any cost-sharing requirement with re-2
spect to carrying out a watershed outcomes project. 3
(2) F
EDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of 4
grants or other financial assistance for a watershed 5
outcomes project under this Act shall be not more 6
than 75 percent of the total cost of the watershed 7
outcomes project. 8
(3) W
ATERSHED PARTNER CONTRIBUTIONS .— 9
The Secretary may— 10
(A) accept non-Federal contributions for a 11
watershed outcomes project, including funding 12
or financing secured by the watershed partner 13
in accordance with the strategy developed under 14
subsection (d)(1); and 15
(B) use amounts accepted under subpara-16
graph (A) to carry out activities authorized 17
under this Act in the watershed outcomes 18
project. 19
(4) P
ERFORMANCE PAYMENTS .—Not later than 20
90 days after the date on which a watershed partner 21
verifies the outcomes generated from qualifying ac-22
tivities and confirms that the qualifying activity has 23
been implemented consistent with the performance 24
standards of the applicable watershed outcomes 25
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project, the Secretary shall provide financial assist-1
ance to the watershed partner to support perform-2
ance payments. 3
(h) M
AXIMUMNUMBER OFWATERSHEDOUTCOMES 4
P
ROJECTS.—Not more than a total of 5 watershed out-5
comes projects may be carried out under this section. 6
(i) R
ESTRICTIONS ONUSE OFADVANCEWATERSHED 7
A
NALYTICSDATA.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act affects 9
or modifies existing law with respect to the treat-10
ment of personal data in the conduct by an employee 11
of the Federal Government or a designee of an em-12
ployee of the Federal Government in carrying out of-13
ficial duties of the Federal employee or designee 14
under this Act. 15
(2) D
ATA COLLECTION.—All information or 16
data collected or assembled by a Federal employee 17
or a designee of a Federal employee to complete ad-18
vance watershed analytics activities, directly or indi-19
rectly, under this Act— 20
(A) shall be used for the sole purpose of 21
identifying, prioritizing, and funding qualifying 22
activities in a watershed outcomes project; and 23
(B) shall be considered to be confidential 24
commercial information that is exempt from 25
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disclosure under section 552(b)(4) of title 5, 1
United States Code (commonly known as the 2
‘‘Freedom of Information Act’’). 3
(3) A
PPLICABILITY TO WATERSHED PART -4
NERS.—Any restrictions on a Federal employee 5
under this section shall apply to an employee of a 6
watershed partner. 7
(j) E
FFECT.—Nothing in this Act creates, impairs, 8
alters, or supersedes a Federal or State water right. 9
SEC. 4. BRIEFING; REPORTS. 10
(a) A
NNUALBRIEFING ORREPORT.—For each fiscal 11
year for which a watershed outcomes project is carried out 12
under section 3, not later than the date on which the 13
budget of the United States Government is submitted by 14
the President under section 1105 of title 31, United States 15
Code, for that fiscal year, the Secretary shall provide to 16
the appropriate committees of Congress a briefing or re-17
port describing the status of each watershed outcomes 18
project, including progress towards the applicable strategy 19
prepared under section 3(d)(1), including any payments 20
made for outcomes. 21
(b) 5-Y
EARREPORT.—Not later than October 1 of 22
the fifth fiscal year in which a watershed outcomes project 23
is carried out under section 3, the Secretary shall submit 24
to the appropriate committees of Congress a report that— 25
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(1) summarizes— 1
(A) the projected results of the qualifying 2
activities in the watershed outcomes project in 3
meeting the strategy prepared under section 4
3(d)(1); 5
(B) the projected outcomes of the water-6
shed outcomes project; 7
(C) the total amount of funds secured for 8
the watershed outcomes project; 9
(D) the type of funding expended under 10
the watershed outcomes project; and 11
(E) such other information as the Sec-12
retary determines to be appropriate; and 13
(2) includes recommendations for continuing, 14
terminating, or making permanent the authoriza-15
tions under this Act. 16
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 17
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec-18
retary to carry out this Act $17,000,000 for each of fiscal 19
years 2026 through 2031. 20
Æ
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