[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2575 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2575

  To amend the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 30, 1993

 Mr. Smith of Oregon (for himself, Mr. Allard, Mr. Dooley, Mr. Dornan, 
Mr. Crapo, Mr. Inslee, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Hansen, Mr. LaRocco, Mr. Lehman, 
and Mr. Doolittle) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                   the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. CERTIFICATION AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

    Section 206 of the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 (43 U.S.C. 390ff) 
is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a)'' after ``Sec. 206.'';
            (2) by inserting ``whose total landholding westwide exceeds 
        320 acres'' after ``such district'';
            (3) by striking ``title'' and inserting ``Act'';
            (4) by inserting at the end of subsection (a), as so 
        designated by paragraph (1) of this section, the following new 
        sentence: ``In the event that there is no change from the 
        information contained in the form previously submitted, a 
        landowner or lessee may notify the district in writing that no 
        change has occurred in lieu of submitting a new form.''; and
            (5) by inserting after subsection (a), as so designated by 
        paragraph (1) of this section, the following:
    ``(b)(1) In the case of noncompliance in connection with reporting 
and certification forms for incidents of noncompliance violations based 
on errors, good faith questions of interpretation or unintentional 
omissions, the Secretary shall have the authority to impose penalties 
not to exceed $1,500 per year against the person or legal entity who is 
in such noncompliance. For the imposition of the penalty, the Secretary 
shall establish a table of penalties which shall account for the 
acreage of the person or legal entity in violation and the number of 
their previous violations, if any. A penalty under this paragraph may 
not be applied to any person or legal entity who is otherwise liable if 
the violation was discovered and reported to the Secretary or his 
authorized representative by the liable person or legal entity and 
corrected within 30 days of the submission of the form. In the event 
the person or legal entity in noncompliance under this section received 
irrigation water on ineligible lands or at less than the appropriate 
water rate, the total penalty imposed against the noncomplying person 
or legal entity shall not exceed $1,500 per year, and the noncomplying 
person or legal entity shall not be subject to the underpayment penalty 
provisions set forth in section 224(i) of the Act.
    ``(2) The Secretary shall collect the fines and penalties assessed 
pursuant to this subsection from the person or legal entity who is in 
violation and not the district which delivers the irrigation water to 
the person or legal entity who is in violation.
    ``(3) Any funds recovered by the Secretary pursuant to this 
subsection shall be covered into the Reclamation Fund and placed to the 
credit of the district from whence such funds were derived.
    ``(4) The Secretary is directed to review all compliance violations 
identified prior to the date of enactment of this subsection. In the 
case of incidents of noncompliance based on errors, late submissions of 
forms, good faith questions of interpretations, and unintentional 
omissions, in lieu of an assessment of full cost, whether or not 
previously collected from the landholder or district, the Secretary may 
impose penalties of up to $1,500 per year against the person or legal 
entity who was in violation. Any amounts collected in excess thereof 
shall be refunded or credited to future payments of the district. The 
Secretary shall collect the fines and penalties from the person or 
legal entity who was in violation.
    ``(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any determination 
of noncompliance by the Secretary under this section or under section 
224(i) shall be in accordance with chapter 5 of title 5 of the United 
States Code (relating to administrative procedure) and subject to an 
adjudicatory hearing. No penalty shall be imposed by the Secretary on a 
landholder for failure to comply with any provision of this Act and the 
regulations established pursuant to this Act after one year from the 
date of noncompliance unless such noncompliance was the result of fraud 
or intentional misrepresentation of fact by the landholder.''.

SEC. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on January 1, 
1994.

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