[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1668 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1668

 To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to provide for suspension 
   of application of the Act to water releases by Federal and State 
 agencies in river basins that are affected by drought, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 26, 2015

Mr. McClintock introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to provide for suspension 
   of application of the Act to water releases by Federal and State 
 agencies in river basins that are affected by drought, 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 ``Save Our Water Act''.

SEC. 2. SUSPENSION OF ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT OF 1973 FOR WATER 
              MANAGEMENT ACTIONS IN AREAS AFFECTED BY DROUGHT.

    Section 10 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1539) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(k) Suspension of Application With Respect to Certain Federal and 
State Agencies During Periods of Drought.--
            ``(1) Suspension.--The application of this Act with respect 
        to water releases from water storage facilities by Federal and 
        State agencies in a navigable river basin in a State is 
        suspended during each period in which there is in effect a 
        drought in that basin.
            ``(2) Period of suspension.--A suspension under paragraph 
        (1)--
                    ``(A) begins on the date on which--
                            ``(i) the Secretary of the Army, acting 
                        through the Chief of Engineers, or the 
                        Secretary of the Interior determines that there 
                        is a drought in effect in such river basin that 
                        the U.S. Drought Monitor categorizes as D2 
                        (Severe Drought), D3 (Extreme Drought), or D4 
                        (Exceptional Drought) conditions; or
                            ``(ii) the Governor of the State (or the 
                        Governor's designee) determines that there is a 
                        drought in effect in such river basin; and
                    ``(B) ends on the date on which--
                            ``(i) in the case of a suspension that 
                        begins under subparagraph (A)(i), the Secretary 
                        that made the determination referred to in that 
                        subparagraph determines that the drought is no 
                        longer in effect; or
                            ``(ii) in the case of a suspension that 
                        begins under subparagraph (A)(ii), the Governor 
                        determines that the drought is no longer in 
                        effect.
            ``(3) Prohibition of enforcement by state.--
                    ``(A) Prohibition.--Except as provided in 
                subparagraph (B), a State may not enforce the 
                requirements of this Act with respect to any area of 
                the State with respect to which a suspension under 
                paragraph (1) applies.
                    ``(B) Enforcement of state law not affected.--
                Subparagraph (A) does not affect the authority of a 
                State to carry out and enforce the laws of the State.
            ``(4) Excepted water releases.--This subsection does not 
        prohibit any release of water from a water storage facility for 
        purposes of this Act by the Secretary of the Army, the 
        Secretary of the Interior, or a State if such Secretary or the 
        Governor of such State, respectively, certifies that--
                    ``(A) such release will not cause harm to the 
                local, regional, State, or Federal economy; and
                    ``(B) no water conservation measures will be 
                required to be taken by any water users as a result of 
                such release.
            ``(5) U.S. drought monitor defined.--In this subsection the 
        term `U.S. Drought Monitor' means such Monitor jointly produced 
        by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of 
        Nebraska-Lincoln, the Department of Agriculture, and the 
        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.''.
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