[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 29 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 H. R. 29

 To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct facilities to 
provide water for irrigation, municipal, domestic, military, and other 
    uses from the Santa Margarita River, California, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 4, 2007

   Mr. Issa introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
  Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on 
   Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct facilities to 
provide water for irrigation, municipal, domestic, military, and other 
    uses from the Santa Margarita River, California, 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. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions apply:
            (1) District.--The term ``District'' means the Fallbrook 
        Public Utility District, San Diego County, California.
            (2) Project.--The term ``Project'' means the impoundment, 
        recharge, treatment, and other facilities the construction, 
        operation, watershed management, and maintenance of which is 
        authorized under section 2.
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior, unless otherwise stated.

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR CONSTRUCTION OF SANTA MARGARITA RIVER 
              PROJECT.

    (a) Authorization.--The Secretary, acting pursuant to the Federal 
reclamation laws (Act of June 17, 1902; 32 Stat. 388), and Acts 
amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, as far as those laws are 
not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, is authorized to 
construct, operate, and maintain the Project substantially in 
accordance with the final feasibility report and this Act.
    (b) Conditions.--The Secretary may construct the Project only after 
the Secretary determines that the following conditions have occurred:
            (1) The District and the Navy have entered into contracts 
        under sections 9(c)2 and 9(e) of the Reclamation Project Act of 
        1939 to repay to the United States equitable and appropriate 
        portions, as determined by the Secretary, of the actual costs 
        of constructing, operating, and maintaining the Project.
            (2) The officer or agency of the State of California 
        authorized by law to grant permits for the appropriation of 
        water has granted such permits to the Bureau of Reclamation for 
        the benefit of the Department of the Navy and the District as 
        permittees for rights to the use of water for storage and 
        diversion as provided in this Act, including approval of all 
        requisite changes in points of diversion and storage, and 
        purposes and places of use.
            (3) The District has agreed that it will not assert against 
        the United States any prior appropriative right the District 
        may have to water in excess of the quantity deliverable to it 
        under this Act, and will share in the use of the waters 
        impounded by the Project on the basis of equal priority and in 
        accordance with the ratio prescribed in section 4(b). This 
        agreement and waiver and the changes in points of diversion and 
        storage under paragraph (2), shall become effective and binding 
        only when the Project has been completed and put into operation 
        and may be varied by agreement between the District and the 
        Secretary of the Navy.
            (4) The Secretary has determined that the Project has 
        economic, environmental, and engineering feasibility.

SEC. 3. COSTS.

    Upon completion of the construction of the Project, the Department 
of the Navy shall be responsible to repay to the Secretary only that 
portion of the construction, operation and maintenance costs of the 
Project that the Secretary and the Secretary of the Navy determine 
reflects the extent to which the Department of the Navy benefits from 
the Project. Provided that the Secretary is hereby authorized to enter 
into a contract with the Secretary of the Navy for the impounding, 
storage, treatment, and carriage of prior rights water for domestic, 
municipal, fish and wildlife, industrial and other beneficial purposes 
using Project facilities.

SEC. 4. OPERATION; YIELD ALLOTMENT; DELIVERY.

    (a) Operation.--The operation of the Project, subject to a 
memorandum of agreement between the Secretary, the Navy, and the 
District and under regulations satisfactory to the Secretary of the 
Navy with respect to the Navy's share of the project, may be by the 
Secretary, the District, or a third party consistent with section 6.
    (b) Yield Allotment.--Except as otherwise agreed between the 
parties, the Department of the Navy and the District shall participate 
in the Project yield on the basis of equal priority and in accordance 
with the following ratio:
            (1) 60 percent of the Project's yield is allotted to the 
        Secretary of the Navy.
            (2) 40 percent of the Project's yield is allotted to the 
        District.
    (c) Contracts for Delivery of Excess Water.--
            (1) Excess water available to other persons.--If the 
        Secretary of the Navy certifies to the official agreed upon to 
        administer the Project that the Department of the Navy does not 
        have immediate need for any portion of the 60 percent of the 
        Project's yield allotted to the Secretary of the Navy under 
        subsection (b), the official may enter into temporary contracts 
        for the sale and delivery of the excess water.
            (2) First right for excess water.--The first right to 
        excess water to be made available under paragraph (1) shall be 
        given the District, if otherwise consistent with the laws of 
        the State of California.
            (3) Condition of contracts.--Each contract entered into 
        under paragraph (1) for the sale and delivery of excess water 
        shall include a condition that the Secretary of the Navy has 
        the right to demand that water, without charge and without 
        obligation on the part of the United States, after 30 days 
        notice.
            (4) Modification of rights and obligations.--The rights and 
        obligations of the United States and the District regarding the 
        ratio, amounts, definition of Project yield, and payment for 
        excess water may be modified by an agreement between the 
        parties.
    (d) Consideration.--
            (1) Deposit of funds.--Moneys paid to the United States 
        under a contract entered into under subsection (c) shall be 
        deposited in the special account established for the Department 
        of the Navy under paragraph (1) of section 2667(d) of title 10, 
        United States Code, and shall be available for the purposes 
        specified in subparagraph (C) of such paragraph. Subparagraph 
        (D) of such paragraph shall not apply to moneys deposited in 
        the special account pursuant to this subsection.
            (2) In-kind consideration.--In lieu of monetary 
        consideration under paragraph (1), or in addition to such 
        consideration, the Secretary of the Navy may accept in-kind 
        consideration in a form and quantity that is acceptable to the 
        Secretary of the Navy, including the following forms of in-kind 
        consideration:
                    (A) Maintenance, protection, alteration, repair, 
                improvement, or restoration (including environmental 
                restoration) of property or facilities of the 
                Department of the Navy.
                    (B) Construction of new facilities for the 
                Department of the Navy.
                    (C) Provision of facilities for use by the 
                Department of the Navy.
                    (D) Facilities operation support for the Department 
                of the Navy.
                    (E) Provision of such other services as the 
                Secretary of the Navy considers appropriate.
            (3) Relation to other laws.--Sections 2662 and 2802 of 
        title 10, United States Code, shall not apply to any new 
        facilities whose construction is accepted as in-kind 
        consideration under this subsection.
            (4) Congressional notification.--If the in-kind 
        consideration proposed to be provided under a contract to be 
        entered into under subsection (c) has a value in excess of 
        $500,000, the contract may not be entered into until the 
        earlier of the following:
                    (A) The end of the 30-day period beginning on the 
                date on which a report describing the contract and the 
                form and quantity of the in-kind consideration is 
                submitted by the Secretary of the Navy to the Committee 
                on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on 
                Armed Services of the House of Representatives.
                    (B) The end of the 14-day period beginning on the 
                date on which a copy of the report referred to in 
                subparagraph (A) is provided in an electronic medium 
                pursuant to section 480 of title 10, United States 
                Code.

SEC. 5. REPAYMENT OBLIGATION OF THE DISTRICT.

    (a) In General.--The general repayment obligation of the District 
shall be determined by the Secretary of the Interior consistent with 
sections 9(c)2 and 9(e) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 to repay 
to the United States equitable and appropriate portions, as determined 
by the Secretary, of the actual costs of constructing, operating, and 
maintaining the Project; provided, however, that for the purposes of 
calculating interest and determining the time when the District's 
repayment obligation to the United States commences, the pumping and 
treatment of groundwater from the Project shall be deemed equivalent to 
the first use of water from a water storage project. There shall be no 
repayment obligation under this section for water delivered to the 
District under a contract as provided in section 4(c).
    (b) Modification of Rights and Obligation by Agreement.--The rights 
and obligations of the United States and the District regarding the 
repayment obligation of the District may be modified by an agreement 
between the parties.

SEC. 6. TRANSFER OF CARE, OPERATION, AND MAINTENANCE.

    The Secretary may transfer to the District, or a mutually agreed 
upon third party, the care, operation, and maintenance of the Project 
under conditions satisfactory to the Secretary and the District, and 
with respect to the portion of the Project that is located within the 
boundaries of Camp Pendleton, satisfactory also to the Secretary of the 
Navy. If such a transfer takes place, the District shall be entitled to 
an equitable credit for the costs associated with the Secretary's 
proportionate share of the operation and maintenance of the Project. 
The amount of such costs shall be applied against the indebtedness of 
the District to the United States.

SEC. 7. SCOPE OF ACT.

    For the purpose of this Act, the basis, measure, and limit of all 
rights of the United States pertaining to the use of water shall be the 
laws of the State of California. Provided that nothing in this Act 
shall be construed--
            (1) as a grant or a relinquishment by the United States of 
        any rights to the use of water that it acquired according to 
        the laws of the State of California, either as a result of its 
        acquisition of the lands comprising Camp Joseph H. Pendleton 
        and adjoining naval installations, and the rights to the use of 
        water as a part of that acquisition, or through actual use or 
        prescription or both since the date of that acquisition, if 
        any;
            (2) to create any legal obligation to store any water in 
        the Project, to the use of which the United States has such 
        rights;
            (3) to require the division under this Act of water to 
        which the United States has such rights; or
            (4) to constitute a recognition of, or an admission by the 
        United States that, the District has any rights to the use of 
        water in the Santa Margarita River, which rights, if any, exist 
        only by virtue of the laws of the State of California.

SEC. 8. LIMITATIONS ON OPERATION AND ADMINISTRATION.

    Unless otherwise agreed by the Secretary of the Navy, the Project--
            (1) shall be operated in a manner which allows the free 
        passage of all of the water to the use of which the United 
        States is entitled according to the laws of the State of 
        California either as a result of its acquisition of the lands 
        comprising Camp Joseph H. Pendleton and adjoining naval 
        installations, and the rights to the use of water as a part of 
        those acquisitions, or through actual use or prescription, or 
        both, since the date of that acquisition, if any; and
            (2) shall not be administered or operated in any way which 
        will impair or deplete the quantities of water the use of which 
        the United States would be entitled under the laws of the State 
        of California had the Project not been built.

SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the 
Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, the 
following--
            (1) $60,000,000 (the current estimated construction cost of 
        the Project, plus or minus such amounts as may be indicated by 
        the engineering cost indices for this type of construction); 
        and
            (2) such sums as may be required to operate and maintain 
        the said project.

SEC. 10. REPORTS TO CONGRESS.

    Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act 
and periodically thereafter, the Secretary and the Secretary of the 
Navy shall each report to the Congress regarding if the conditions 
specified in section 2(b) have been met and if so, the details of how 
they were met.

SEC. 11. SUNSET.

    The authority of the Secretary to complete construction of the 
Project shall terminate 10 years after the date of enactment of this 
Act.
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