I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4342 

To provide for funding for construction and major rehabilitation for projects 

located on inland and intracoastal waterways of the United States, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 29, 2012 

Mr. WHITFIELD (for himself, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. CARNAHAN, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee, Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois, and Ms. SEWELL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee 

on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

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

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Waterways Are Vital 

5 for the Economy, Energy, Efficiency, and Environment 

6 Act of 2012’’ or the ‘‘WAVE4 Act’’. 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 4342 IH

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The inland waterways navigation system is 

4 vital to the economic well-being of the Nation. 

5 (2) Energy reliability and conservation are the 

6 cornerstones of the inland waterways navigation sys7 tem. 

8 (3) The efficiency of the inland waterways navi9 gation system creates the optimum transportation 

10 mode for bulk commodities in the United States. 

11 (4) The inland waterways navigation system 

12 provides for environmental protection and ecosystem 

13 sustainability. 

14 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

15 In order to ensure continued safe, dependable, highly 

16 cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable navigation 

17 on the inland and intracoastal waterways of the United 

18 States, the purposes of this Act are to— 

19 (1) improve program and project management 

20 applicable to the construction and major rehabilita21 tion of navigation projects on such waterways; 

22 (2) optimize inland waterways navigation sys23 tem reliability; 

24 (3) minimize the size and scope of inland water25 ways navigation project completion schedules; 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 4342 IH

1 (4) eliminate preventable delays in inland wa2 terways navigation project completion schedules; and 

3 (5) make inland waterways navigation capital 

4 investments through use of prioritization criteria 

5 that seek to maximize system-wide benefits and min6 imize overall system risk. 

7 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 

9 (1) QUALIFYING PROJECT.—The term ‘‘quali10 fying project’’ means any construction or major re11 habilitation project for navigation infrastructure of 

12 the inland and intracoastal waterways that is— 

13 (A) authorized before, on, or after the date 

14 of enactment of this Act; 

15 (B) not completed on the date of enact16 ment of this Act; and 

17 (C) funded at least in part from the Inland 

18 Waterways Trust Fund. 

19 (2) MAJOR REHABILITATION PROJECT.—The 

20 term ‘‘major rehabilitation project’’ means a project 

21 for the restoration of a major project or major 

22 project feature that has an estimated cost greater 

23 than $100,000,000. 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 4342 IH

1 SEC. 5. PROJECT DELIVERY PROCESS REFORMS. 

2 The Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief 

3 of Engineers, shall require the following: 

4 (1) Formal project management training and 

5 certification for project managers of a qualifying 

6 project. 

7 (2) Assignment as project managers for a quali8 fying project only of personnel fully certified by the 

9 Chief of Engineers. 

10 (3) Cost estimation that is risk-based and has 

11 a confidence level of at least 80 percent for a quali12 fying project. 

13 (4) Independent external peer review and sub14 mission to Congress (in the case of a feasibility re15 port) or the Secretary (in the case of a rehabilitation 

16 evaluation report) for any qualifying project— 

17 (A) that— 

18 (i) has an estimated total project cost 

19 greater than $45,000,000; 

20 (ii) is subject to public safety con21 cerns, as determined by the Chief of Engi22 neers; 

23 (iii) involves a high level of complexity 

24 or novel or precedent-setting approaches, 

25 as determined by the Chief of Engineers; 

26 or 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 4342 IH

1 (iv) is identified by the Chief of Engi2 neers as a matter of significant inter3 agency interest; or 

4 (B) for which such a review has been re5 quested by the Governor of any State affected 

6 by the project. 

7 (5) Appointment to a project development team 

8 for a qualifying project of a member of the Inland 

9 Waterways Users Board, selected by the Chairman 

10 of the Users Board. 

11 (6) Communication quarterly to the Inland Wa12 terways Users Board of the status of a qualifying 

13 project that is under construction. 

14 (7) Inclusion of the Chairman of the Inland 

15 Waterways Users Board and the project develop16 ment team appointee under paragraph (5) as sig17 natories of the project management plan for a quali18 fying project. 

19 (8) Establishment of a system to identify and 

20 apply on a continuing basis lessons learned from 

21 prior or ongoing projects so as to improve the likeli22 hood of on-time and on-budget completion of quali23 fying projects. 

24 (9) Evaluation, including through use of one or 

25 more pilot projects, of early contractor involvement 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 4342 IH

1 acquisition procedures to improve on-time and on2 budget project delivery performance. 

3 (10) Such additional measures that the Sec4 retary determines will achieve the purposes of this 

5 Act, including, as determined appropriate by the 

6 Secretary— 

7 (A) implementation of applicable practices 

8 and procedures drawn from the Secretary’s 

9 management of the military construction pro10 gram; 

11 (B) creation of one or more centers of ex12 pertise for the design and review of qualifying 

13 projects; 

14 (C) development and use of a portfolio of 

15 standard designs for inland navigation locks; 

16 (D) use of full-funding contracts or formu17 lation of a revised continuing contracts clause; 

18 and 

19 (E) establishment of procedures for recom20 mending new project construction starts using a 

21 capital projects business model. 

22 SEC. 6. 20-YEAR CAPITAL INVESTMENT PROGRAM. 

23 (a) PROGRAM REQUIRED.—Not later than one year 

24 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

25 the Army, working in conjunction with the Inland WaterVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:13 Apr 06, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4342.IH H4342

rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 4342 IH

1 ways Users Board, shall submit to Congress a 20-year 

2 program for making capital investments on the inland and 

3 intracoastal waterways based on application of objective 

4 national project-selection prioritization criteria, as devel5 oped by the Secretary. Such program may be based on 

6 the 20-year capital investment strategy contained in the 

7 Inland Marine Transportation System (IMTS) Capital 

8 Projects Business Model, Final Report published on April 

9 13, 2010, as approved by the Inland Waterways Users 

10 Board. 

11 (b) ANNUAL REVIEW AND UPDATE.—Beginning not 

12 later than one year after the date on which a 20-year pro13 gram is submitted to Congress under subsection (a), and 

14 each year thereafter, the Secretary of the Army, working 

15 in conjunction with the Inland Waterways Users Board, 

16 shall submit to Congress an updated 20-year program. 

17 Such updated program shall include identification and ex18 planation of any changes that were made to the prior 

19 year’s project-specific recommendations, including any 

20 changes that were made to the objective national project21 selection prioritization criteria that were used to develop 

22 the updated recommendations. 

23 (c) STRATEGIC REVIEW AND UPDATE.—Not later 

24 than 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and 

25 every 5 years thereafter, the Secretary of the Army, workVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:13 Apr 06, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4342.IH H4342

rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 4342 IH

1 ing in conjunction with the Inland Waterways Users 

2 Board, shall submit to Congress a strategic review of the 

3 capital investment program for the Inland Marine Trans4 portation System and make such revisions to the program 

5 as the Secretary and Users Board jointly consider appro6 priate. 

7 SEC. 7. COST SHARING FOR QUALIFYING PROJECTS. 

8 (a) GENERAL RULE.—Notwithstanding any other 

9 provision of law, and subject to subsection (b), one-half 

10 of the cost of construction of a qualifying project shall be 

11 paid only from amounts appropriated from the general 

12 fund of the Treasury, and one-half of such costs shall be 

13 paid only from amounts appropriated from the Inland Wa14 terways Trust Fund. 

15 (b) SPECIAL RULE FOR DAMS.—Notwithstanding 

16 subsection (a), the cost of construction of a dam shall be 

17 paid only from amounts appropriated from the general 

18 fund of the Treasury. 

19 SEC. 8. LIMITATION ON EXPENDITURES FROM THE INLAND 

20 WATERWAYS TRUST FUND. 

21 Section 9506 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

22 is amended— 

23 (1) in subsection (c)(1), by— 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 4342 IH

1 (A) inserting ‘‘and subject to subsection 

2 (d),’’ after ‘‘Except as provided in paragraph 

3 (2),’’; 

4 (B) striking ‘‘, as in effect on the date of 

5 the enactment of this section’’ and inserting ‘‘, 

6 provided that such expenditures may not exceed 

7 50 percent of the total cost of the construction 

8 or rehabilitation’’; and 

9 (2) by inserting at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON EXPENDITURES FROM TRUST

11 FUND.—(1) Amounts in the Inland Waterways Trust 

12 Fund shall not be available for expenditures for— 

13 ‘‘(A) construction or rehabilitation of dams; or 

14 ‘‘(B) any rehabilitation expenditure that does 

15 not equal or exceed $100,000,000. 

16 ‘‘(2) Amounts in the Inland Waterways Trust Fund 

17 may not be used to pay for any part of the cost to con18 struct an authorized Federal project that exceeds the sum 

19 of— 

20 ‘‘(A) the total authorized cost to construct the 

21 Federal project as specified in the Public Law that 

22 authorized construction of the project or, in the case 

23 of a rehabilitation project, in the relevant rehabilita24 tion evaluation report; 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 4342 IH

1 ‘‘(B) an adjustment for inflation for the time 

2 that elapses between the date of the project’s au3 thorization and the date on which construction of 

4 the project begins; and 

5 ‘‘(C) an additional amount, if any, jointly 

6 agreed to by the Secretary and the Inland Water7 ways Users Board as appropriate to the project.’’. 

8 SEC. 9. REVISION TO INLAND WATERWAYS USER FEE. 

9 Section 4042(b)(2)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code 

10 of 1986 is amended to read as follows: 

11 ‘‘(A) The Inland Waterways Trust Fund 

12 financing rate is the rate determined in accord13 ance with the following table: 

The tax per 

‘‘If the use occurs: gallon is: 

During 2012 ................................................................................ 20 cents

After 2012 ................................................................................... 26 cents’’. 

Æ 


rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS