[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 407 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 407

   To provide funding for construction and major rehabilitation for 
  projects located on inland and intracoastal waterways of the United 
                    States, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 28, 2013

Mr. Casey (for himself, Ms. Landrieu, and Ms. Klobuchar) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                      Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide funding for construction and major rehabilitation for 
  projects located on inland and intracoastal waterways of the United 
                    States, 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. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Reinvesting In Vital Economic Rivers 
and Waterways Act of 2013'' or the ``RIVER Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that the inland waterways navigation system--
            (1) is an essential economic resource for the United 
        States;
            (2) serves as the most efficient sustainable transportation 
        mode for bulk commodities in the United States while 
        maintaining environmental resources; and
            (3) as of the date of enactment of this Act, is underfunded 
        and needs significant changes to remain viable in the future.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    The purpose of this Act is to establish a sustainable, cost-
effective way to ensure that the inland and intracoastal waterways of 
the United States remain economically viable through--
            (1) the redesign of the program and project management 
        process applicable to the construction and major rehabilitation 
        of navigation projects on those waterways;
            (2) the continued development and improvement of inland 
        waterways navigation systems;
            (3) enhanced efficiency of inland waterways navigation 
        project completion schedules; and
            (4) inland waterways navigation capital investments to 
        ensure that projects can be completed in a reasonable timeframe 
        and to allow maximum systemwide benefits.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Inland and intracoastal waterways.--The term ``inland 
        and intracoastal waterways'' means the inland and intracoastal 
        waterways of the United States described in section 206 of the 
        Inland Waterways Revenue Act of 1978 (33 U.S.C. 1804).
            (2) Inland waterway users board.--The term ``Inland 
        Waterway Users Board'' means the Inland Waterway Users Board 
        established by section 302 of the Water Resources Development 
        Act of 1986 (33 U.S.C. 2251).
            (3) Major rehabilitation project.--The term ``major 
        rehabilitation project'' means a project for the restoration of 
        a major project or major project feature of the inland and 
        intracoastal waterways that has an estimated cost greater than 
        $50,000,000.
            (4) Qualifying project.--The term ``qualifying project'' 
        means any construction or major rehabilitation project for 
        navigation infrastructure of the inland and intracoastal 
        waterways that is--
                    (A) authorized before, on, or after the date of 
                enactment of this Act;
                    (B) not completed as of the date of enactment of 
                this Act; and
                    (C) funded at least in part from the Inland 
                Waterways Trust Fund established by section 9506 of the 
                Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
            (5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers.

SEC. 5. PROJECT DELIVERY PROCESS REFORMS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary shall promulgate regulations that, 
at a minimum, shall require for each qualifying project--
            (1) a cost estimation that is risk-based and has a 
        confidence level of not less than 80 percent;
            (2) an independent external peer review and submission to 
        Congress (in the case of a feasibility report) or the Secretary 
        (in the case of a rehabilitation evaluation report) for any 
        qualifying project--
                    (A) that--
                            (i) has an estimated total project cost 
                        greater than $45,000,000;
                            (ii) is subject to public safety concerns, 
                        as determined by the Secretary;
                            (iii) involves a high level of complexity 
                        or novel or precedent-setting approaches, as 
                        determined by the Secretary; or
                            (iv) is identified by the Secretary as a 
                        matter of significant interagency interest; or
                    (B) for which a review has been requested by the 
                Governor of any State affected by the project;
            (3) the appointment to a project development team for the 
        qualifying project of a member of the Inland Waterways Users 
        Board, as selected by a majority of the Inland Waterways Users 
        Board;
            (4) a quarterly update submitted to the Inland Waterways 
        Users Board of the status of a qualifying project that is under 
        construction;
            (5) the inclusion of the Chairman of the Inland Waterways 
        Users Board and the project development team appointee under 
        paragraph (3) as signatories of the project management plan for 
        a qualifying project;
            (6) the establishment of a system to identify and apply on 
        a continuing basis lessons learned from prior or ongoing 
        projects so as to improve the likelihood of on-time and on-
        budget completion of qualifying projects;
            (7) the evaluation, including through the use of 1 or more 
        pilot projects, of early contractor involvement acquisition 
        procedures to improve on-time and on-budget project delivery 
        performance; and
            (8) any additional measures that the Secretary determines 
        will achieve the purposes of this Act, including, as determined 
        appropriate by the Secretary--
                    (A) the implementation of applicable practices and 
                procedures drawn from the management of the military 
                construction program by the Secretary;
                    (B) the development and use of a portfolio of 
                standard designs for inland navigation locks;
                    (C) the use of full-funding contracts or the 
                formulation of a revised continuing contracts 
                provision; and
                    (D) the establishment of procedures for 
                recommending new project construction starts using a 
                capital projects business model.
    (b) Report Requirement.--
            (1) In general.--For each fiscal year, the Secretary shall 
        submit to Congress a report that describes each project, if 
        any, that receives more than 50 percent of the total amount of 
        funds made available in that fiscal year under the Inland 
        Waterways Trust Fund established by section 9506 of the 
        Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
            (2) Requirement.--For each project described in paragraph 
        (1) that exceeds the estimated cost of carrying out that 
        project for 3 or more consecutive years, the Secretary shall 
        include in the report submitted under that paragraph 
        alternative financing plans for the project.

SEC. 6. 20-YEAR CAPITAL INVESTMENT PROGRAM.

    (a) Program Required.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in conjunction with the 
        Inland Waterways Users Board, shall submit to Congress a 20-
        year program for making capital investments on the inland and 
        intracoastal waterways, which shall include plans to update 
        communications technology and be based on the application of 
        objective national project-selection prioritization criteria, 
        as developed by the Secretary.
            (2) Contents.--The 20-year program described in paragraph 
        (1) may be based on the 20-year capital investment strategy 
        contained in the Inland Marine Transportation System Capital 
        Projects Business Model, Final Report published on April 13, 
        2010, as approved by the Inland Waterways Users Board.
    (b) Annual Review and Update.--
            (1) In general.--Beginning not later than 1 year after the 
        date on which a 20-year program is submitted to Congress under 
        subsection (a), and each year thereafter, the Secretary, in 
        conjunction with the Inland Waterways Users Board, shall submit 
        to Congress an updated 20-year program.
            (2) Contents.--The updated program described in paragraph 
        (1) shall include an identification and explanation of any 
        changes that were made to the project-specific recommendations 
        included in the previous 20-year program, including any changes 
        that were made to the objective national project-selection 
        prioritization criteria used to develop the updated 
        recommendations.
    (c) Strategic Review and Update.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 5 years after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, and every 5 years thereafter, the 
        Secretary, in conjunction with the Inland Waterways Users 
        Board, shall submit to Congress a strategic review of the 
        capital investment program for the Inland Marine Transportation 
        System, including any revisions to the program that the 
        Secretary and the Users Board jointly consider to be 
        appropriate.
            (2) Inclusions.--The review described in paragraph (1) 
        shall include an analysis of the communications technology in 
        use on the inland and intracoastal waterways system and a 
        description of any plans to modernize that technology to 
        increase safety and maximize efficiency.

SEC. 7. LIMITATION ON EXPENDITURES FROM THE INLAND WATERWAYS TRUST 
              FUND.

    Section 9506 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended--
            (1) in subsection (c)(1), by--
                    (A) inserting ``and subject to subsection (d),'' 
                after ``Except as provided in paragraph (2),''; and
                    (B) inserting before the period at the end ``, 
                provided that such expenditures may not exceed 50 
                percent of the total cost of the construction or 
                rehabilitation''; and
            (2) by inserting at the end the following:
    ``(d) Limitation on Expenditures From Trust Fund.--
            ``(1) In general.--Amounts in the Inland Waterways Trust 
        Fund shall not be available for expenditures for--
                    ``(A) construction or rehabilitation of dams, or
                    ``(B) any rehabilitation expenditure that does not 
                equal or exceed $50,000,000.
            ``(2) Restriction on total cost.--Amounts in the Inland 
        Waterways Trust Fund shall not be used to pay for any part of 
        the cost to construct an authorized Federal project that 
        exceeds the sum of--
                    ``(A) the amount equal to--
                            ``(i) the total authorized cost to 
                        construct the Federal project as specified in 
                        the Public Law that authorized construction of 
                        the project or, in the case of a rehabilitation 
                        project, in the relevant rehabilitation 
                        evaluation report, multiplied by
                            ``(ii) the cost-of-living adjustment 
                        determined under section 1(f)(3) for the year 
                        in which construction or rehabilitation under 
                        the project begins (determined by substituting 
                        the year that precedes the calendar year in 
                        which such project was authorized for `1992' in 
                        subparagraph (B) of such section), and
                    ``(B) any additional amount that is jointly agreed 
                to by the Secretary and the Inland Waterways Users 
                Board as appropriate to the project.''.

SEC. 8. REVISION TO INLAND WATERWAYS USER FEE.

    Section 4042(b)(2)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 
amended to read as follows:
                    ``(A) The Inland Waterways Trust Fund financing 
                rate is the rate determined in accordance with the 
                following table:

                                                            The tax per
``If the use occurs:                                         gallon is:
        During 2013........................................   20 cents 
        After 2013......................................... 29 cents''.
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