[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2133 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2133

  To amend the Act of August 21, 1957, to allocate funds from certain 
  electric power sales from the Niagara Power Project in New York to 
       capital needs of Western New York, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 28, 2009

Mr. Higgins (for himself, Mr. Lee of New York, Mr. Massa, Mrs. Maloney, 
 and Mr. Israel) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                  the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Act of August 21, 1957, to allocate funds from certain 
  electric power sales from the Niagara Power Project in New York to 
       capital needs of Western New York, 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. NIAGARA POWER PROJECT.

    (a) Western New York Regional Development Corporation.--The Act of 
August 21, 1957, authorizing the construction of the Niagara Power 
Project (16 U.S.C. 836 and following) is amended by adding the 
following new sections at the end thereof:

``SEC. 3 REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION.

    ``(a) Establishment of Corporation Approved.--Niagara County, Erie 
County, and Chautauqua County, New York, are authorized to establish a 
Regional Development Corporation to operate in accordance with this 
section and in accordance with such other rules and regulations as may 
be established, consistent with this section, by agreement of such 
counties. Any such agreement shall be submitted to the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission. The Commission is authorized to approve such 
agreement unless the Commission find the agreement inconsistent with 
this section or other applicable provisions of law.
    ``(b) Governance.--The Regional Development Corporation shall be 
governed by a Board of Directors, to be comprised of 7 members, 
appointed as follows:
            ``(1) One individual appointed by the Chairperson of the 
        County Legislature in Niagara County, New York.
            ``(2) One individual appointed by the County Executive of 
        Erie County, New York.
            ``(3) One individual appointed by the County Executive of 
        Chautauqua County, New York.
            ``(4) One individual appointed by the Mayor of Buffalo, New 
        York.
            ``(5) One individual appointed by the Mayor of Niagara 
        Falls, New York.
            ``(6) One individual appointed by the Buffalo Niagara 
        Partnership or its successor agency.
            ``(7) One individual appointed by the Governor of the State 
        of New York.
    ``(c) Staff and Support.--The Board of Directors shall appoint such 
staff and provide such support for the Corporation as the Board deems 
necessary.
    ``(d) Meetings, Books, and Records.--The meetings of the Board 
shall be open to the public, and all books and records of the 
Corporation shall be available to the public during normal business 
hours. The Board shall make public as promptly as possible the minutes 
of all meetings held by the Board. The Comptroller General of the 
United States shall annually review all operations of the Corporation 
and submit a report to the Congress regarding all financial and other 
operations of the Corporation.
    ``(e) Eligible Expenditures.--Funds made available to the 
Corporation under this section may be used only for construction, 
engineering, architecture, and related projects for the development of 
the waterfront in Niagara County, Chautauqua County, and Erie County, 
New York, the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation, the Olmsted 
Park system, regional cultural institutions in Niagara County, 
Chautauqua County, and Erie County, New York, downtown Niagara Falls 
redevelopment initiatives, and the Buffalo Niagara Medical campus.
    ``(f) Allocation of Funds.--Funds made available under this section 
shall be allocated among Erie, Chautauqua, and Niagara County projects 
in proportion to the existing ratio for the allocation of replacement 
and expansion power between facilities in the three counties.
    ``(g) Funding.--All proceeds from the sale of electric power 
generated by the Niagara Power Project and allocated to the replacement 
power program and the expansion power program, but not used by the 
designated recipients, shall be transferred by the New York Power 
Authority to the Regional Development Corporation established under 
this section.''.
                                 <all>