[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 42 (Tuesday, March 3, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S1306]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 1352. Ms. McSALLY submitted an amendment intended to be proposed 
by her to the bill S. 2657, to support innovation in advanced 
geothermal research and development, and for other purposes; which was 
ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

        At the end of subtitle B of title I, add the following:

     SEC. 12_____. WESTERN AREA POWER ADMINISTRATION PILOT 
                   PROJECT.

       (a) In General.--Not later than 120 days after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Western Area 
     Power Administration (referred to in this section as the 
     ``Administrator'') shall--
       (1) establish a pilot project, as part of the continuous 
     process improvement program and to provide increased 
     transparency for customers--
       (A) to make available a database of information relating to 
     the Western Area Power Administration in accordance with 
     paragraph (2); and
       (B) to provide annual updates to the database in accordance 
     with subsection (b); and
       (2) publish on a publicly available website of the Western 
     Area Power Administration, a database of the following 
     information, beginning with fiscal year 2008, relating to the 
     Western Area Power Administration:
       (A) By power system and in a consistent format, rates 
     charged to customers for power and transmission service.
       (B) By power system, the amount of capacity or energy sold.
       (C) By region, an accounting, at the task level, budget 
     activity level, organizational code level, and object class 
     level, of all expenditures, including--
       (i) indirect costs, including overhead costs;
       (ii) direct charges and direct allocations;
       (iii) costs related to contract staff;
       (iv) costs related to independent consultants;
       (v) the number of full-time equivalents;
       (vi) charges to the region from the headquarters office of 
     the Western Area Power Administration for all annual and 
     capital costs; and
       (vii) expenses incurred on behalf of other Federal agencies 
     or programs or third parties for the administration of 
     programs not related to the marketing, transmission, or 
     wheeling of Federal hydropower resources within the Western 
     Area Power Administration marketing area, including--

       (I) indirect costs, including overhead costs;
       (II) direct charges and allocations;
       (III) costs related to contract staff; and
       (IV) the number of full-time equivalents.

       (D) For the headquarters office of the Western Area Power 
     Administration, an accounting, at the task level, budget 
     activity level, organizational code level, and object class 
     level, of all expenditures, including--
       (i) indirect costs, including overhead costs;
       (ii) direct charges and direct allocations;
       (iii) costs related to contract staff;
       (iv) costs related to independent consultants;
       (v) the number of full-time equivalents;
       (vi) a summary of any expenditures described in this 
     paragraph, with the total amount paid by each region and 
     power system; and
       (vii) expenses incurred on behalf of other Federal agencies 
     or programs or third parties for the administration of 
     programs not related to the marketing, transmission, or 
     wheeling of Federal hydropower resources within the Western 
     Area Power Administration marketing area, including--

       (I) indirect costs, including overhead costs;
       (II) direct charges and allocations;
       (III) costs related to contract staff; and
       (IV) the number of full-time equivalents.

       (E) Capital expenditures for each project, including--
       (i) capital investments delineated by the year in which 
     each investment is placed into service; and
       (ii) the sources of capital for each investment.
       (b) Annual Summary.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than 120 days after the end of 
     each fiscal year in which the pilot project is being carried 
     out under this section, the Administrator shall make 
     available on a publicly available website--
       (A) updates to documents made available on the date of the 
     initial publication of the information on the website under 
     subsection (a)(2);
       (B) an identification of the annual changes in the 
     information published on the website under subsection (a)(2);
       (C) the reasons for the changes identified under 
     subparagraph (B);
       (D) subject to paragraph (2), the total amount of the 
     unobligated balances retained by the Western Area Power 
     Administration at the end of the prior fiscal year within 
     each project and headquarters by--
       (i) purpose or function;
       (ii) source of funding;
       (iii) anticipated program allotment; and
       (iv) underlying authority for each source of funding; and
       (E) the anticipated level of unobligated balances that the 
     Western Area Power Administration expects to retain at the 
     end of the fiscal year in which the annual summary is 
     published, as delineated by each of the categories described 
     in clauses (i) through (iv) of subparagraph (D).
       (2) Limitation.--Amounts in the Upper Colorado River Basin 
     Fund established by section 5(a) of the Act of April 11, 1956 
     (commonly known as the ``Colorado River Storage Project 
     Act'') (43 U.S.C. 620d(a)), shall not be considered to be an 
     unobligated balance retained by the Western Area Power 
     Administration for purposes of paragraph (1)(D).
       (c) Termination.--The pilot project under this section 
     shall terminate on the date that is 7 years after the date of 
     enactment of this Act.
                                 ______