A bill to amend the Lower Rio Grande Valley Water Resources Conservation and Improvement Act of 2000 to authorize additional projects under that Act, and for other purposes.

Summary: Lower Rio Grande Valley Water Resources Conservation and Improvement Act of 2001 - Amends the Lower Rio Grande Valley Water Resources Conservation and Improvement Act of 2000 to: (1) authorize the construction of additional specified projects in Texas; (2) require the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Commissioner of Reclamation, to carry out the Lower Rio Grande Water Conservation and Improvement Program through cooperative agreements; (3) require the Secretary to review and evaluate project proposals in accordance with the guidelines described in a specified Bureau of Reclamation document; (4) require the Secretary to determine that a non-Federal project sponsor is financially capable of funding the non-Federal share of the project's costs, including operation, maintenance, repair, and replacement, and whether the project meets the guidelines; (5) permit project sponsors to enter into at least one contract with the Secretary under which the Secretary shall prepare the reports required under the Act (at a Federal cost share not to exceed 50 percent); (6) increase the authorization of appropriations for carrying out the Program; and (7) limit the non-Federal share of the total cost of any project carried out under or with assistance provided under the Act to 50 percent.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Lower Rio Grande Valley Water 
Resources Conservation and Improvement Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL PROJECT AUTHORIZATIONS.

    Section 4(a) of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Water Resources 
Conservation and Improvement Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-576; 114 Stat. 
3067) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) In the United Irrigation District of Hidalgo County, 
        Texas, a pipeline and pumping system, as identified in the 
        study conducted by Sigler, Winston, Greenwood, and Associates, 
        Inc., dated January 2001.
            ``(6) In the Cameron County, Texas, Irrigation District No. 
        2, proposed improvements to Canal C, as identified in the 
        engineering report completed by Martin, Brown, and Perez, dated 
        February 8, 2001.
            ``(7) In the Cameron County, Texas, Irrigation District No. 
        2, a proposed Canal C and Canal 13 Inner Connect, as identified 
        in the engineering report completed by Martin, Brown, and 
        Perez, dated February 12, 2001.
            ``(8) In Delta Lake Irrigation District of Hidalgo and 
        Willacy Counties, Texas, proposed water conservation projects, 
        as identified in the engineering report completed by AW Blair 
        Engineering, dated February 13, 2001.
            ``(9) In the Hidalgo and Cameron County, Texas, Irrigation 
        District No. 9, a proposed project to salvage spill water using 
        automatic control of canal gates, as identified in the 
        engineering report completed by AW Blair Engineering, dated 
        February 14, 2001.
            ``(10) In the Brownsville Irrigation District of Cameron 
        County, Texas, a proposed main canal replacement, as identified 
        in the engineering report completed by Holdar-Garcia & 
        Associates, dated February 14, 2001.
            ``(11) In the Hidalgo County, Texas, Irrigation District 
        No. 16, a proposed off-district pump station project, as 
        identified in the engineering report completed by Melden & 
        Hunt, Inc., dated February 14, 2001.
            ``(12) In the Hidalgo County, Texas, Irrigation District 
        No. 1, a proposed canal replacement of the North Branch East 
        Main, as identified in the engineering analysis completed by 
        Melden & Hunt, Inc., dated February 2001.
            ``(13) In the Donna (Texas) Irrigation District, a proposed 
        improvement project, as identified in the engineering analysis 
        completed by Melden & Hunt, Inc., dated February 13, 2001.
            ``(14) In the Hudspeth County, Texas, Conservation and 
        Reclamation District No. 1--
                    ``(A) the Alamo Arroyo Pumping Plant water quality 
                project, as identified in the engineering report and 
                drawings completed by Gebliard-Sarma and Associates, 
                dated July 1996; and
                    ``(B) the construction of a 1,000 acre-foot off-
                channel regulating reservoir for the capture and 
                conservation of irrigation water, as identified in the 
                engineering report completed by AW Blair Engineering, 
                dated March 2001.
            ``(15) In the El Paso County, Texas, Water Improvement 
        District No. 1, the Riverside Canal Improvement Project Phase 
        I, Reach A, a canal lining and water conservation project, as 
        identified in the engineering report and drawings completed by 
        AW Blair Engineering, dated November 1999.
            ``(16) In the Maverick County, Texas, Water Improvement and 
        Control District No. 1, the concrete lining project of 12 miles 
        of the Maverick Main Canal, as identified in the engineering 
        report completed by AW Blair Engineering, dated March 2001.
            ``(17) In the Hidalgo County, Texas, Irrigation District 
        No. 6, rehabilitation of 10.2 miles of concrete lining in the 
        main canal between Lift Stations Nos. 2 and 3, as identified in 
        the engineering report completed by AW Blair Engineering, dated 
        March 2001.
            ``(18) In the Hidalgo County, Texas, Irrigation District 
        No. 2, Wisconsin Canal Improvements, as identified in the 
        engineering report completed by Sigler, Winston, Greenwood and 
        Associates, Inc., dated February 2001.
            ``(19) In the Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 2, 
        Lateral `A' Canal Improvements, as identified in the 
        engineering report completed by Sigler, Winston, Greenwood and 
        Associates, Inc., dated July 25, 2001.''.

SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Lower Rio Grande Water Conservation and Improvement Program.--
Section 3 of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Water Resources Conservation 
and Improvement Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-576; 114 Stat. 3065) is 
amended--
            (1) in the first sentence of subsection (a), by striking 
        ``The Secretary'' and all that follows through ``in 
        cooperation'' and inserting ``The Secretary, acting through the 
        Commissioner of Reclamation, shall carry out a program under 
        cooperative agreements'';
            (2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the following:
    ``(b) Review and Evaluation.--The Secretary shall review and 
evaluate project proposals in accordance with the guidelines described 
in the document published by the Bureau of Reclamation entitled 
`Guidelines for Preparing and Reviewing Proposals for Water 
Conservation and Improvement Projects Under Public Law 106-576', dated 
June 2000.'';
            (3) in subsection (d), by inserting before the period at 
        the end the following: ``, including operation, maintenance, 
        repair, and replacement'';
            (4) in subsection (e), by striking ``the criteria 
        established pursuant to this section'' and inserting ``the 
        guidelines referred to in subsection (b)'';
            (5) by striking subsection (f) and inserting the following:
    ``(f) Report Preparation; Reimbursement.--
            ``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), project 
        sponsors may choose to enter into 1 or more contracts with the 
        Secretary under which the Secretary shall prepare the reports 
        required under this section.
            ``(2) Federal share.--The Federal share of the cost of 
        report preparation by the Secretary described in paragraph (1) 
        shall not exceed 50 percent of the total cost of that 
        preparation.''; and
            (6) in subsection (g), by striking ``$2,000,000'' and 
        inserting ``$8,000,000''.
    (b) Lower Rio Grande Construction Authorization.--Section 4 of the 
Lower Rio Grande Valley Water Resources Conservation and Improvement 
Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-576; 114 Stat. 3067) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) in the first sentence, by striking ``costs of 
                any construction'' and inserting ``total project cost 
                of any project''; and
                    (B) in the last sentence, by striking ``spent'' and 
                inserting ``expended''; and
            (2) in subsection (c), by striking ``$10,000,000'' and 
        inserting ``$47,000,000, as adjusted to reflect the change, 
        relative to September 30, 2001, in the Consumer Price Index for 
        all urban consumers published by the Department of Labor''.