59–006 

114TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2d Session 114–719 

TO DIRECT THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO ALLOW FOR PREPAYMENT OF REPAYMENT OBLIGATIONS UNDER REPAYMENT CONTRACTS 

BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE WEBER BASIN WATER CONSERVANCY DISTRICT 

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State 

of the Union and ordered to be printed 

Mr. BISHOP of Utah, from the Committee on Natural Resources, 

submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany H.R. 5468] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred the 

bill (H.R. 5468) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to allow for 

prepayment of repayment obligations under Repayment Contracts 

between the United States and the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. 

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

The purpose of H.R. 5468 is to direct the Secretary of the Interior 

to allow for prepayment of repayment obligations under Repayment 

Contracts between the United States and the Weber Basin Water 

Conservancy District. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

Under federal law, an irrigation district, municipal water utility 

or a water conservancy district that receives contracted water from 

a Bureau of Reclamation facility must repay its allocated portion 

of the capital costs of the federal water project. These repayment 

costs are typically set forth in long-term capital repayment contracts between the water utility and the federal government. A 

water utility that seeks to prepay what it owes to the federal government usually must wait for enactment of a public law specific 

to its circumstances. 

The federal Weber Basin Project is one of fourteen Reclamation 

projects in Utah. The Weber Basin Water Conservancy District 

maintains, operates and acts as the local sponsor of the Project. By 

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its own estimates, the District supplies on average 166,000 acrefeet of irrigation water to over 1,000 farms and 50,000 acre-feet of 

municipal and industrial water to over 500,000 people across five 

counties in northern Utah. An acre-foot amounts to 326,000 gallons 

of water or enough to cover an acre with one foot of water. The District entered into an initial repayment contract with the United 

States in 1952 and amended/supplemented that contract thereafter 

to repay its share of the original Project costs with applicable interest. The current contract repayment schedule will be completed in 

2034. 

The District seeks to prepay its repayment contract. A District 

representative testified that the District can save money by retiring 

its debt early and that such savings can be used to finance future 

water infrastructure and repair and replacement costs. At the same 

time, the federal government would receive early receipts as a result of accelerated repayments, according to the Congressional 

Budget Office. 

H.R. 5468 achieves these objectives by allowing for prepayment. 

The prepayment concept is based on legislative precedent from 

prior Congresses and this Congress. Specific to Utah, this bill requires the prepayment to be ‘‘under the terms and conditions similar to’’ section 210 of the Central Utah Project Completion Act 

(Public Law 102–575), which allowed the Central Utah Water Conservancy District to prepay municipal and industrial obligations associated with the Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project. 

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1 directs the Secretary of the Interior to allow the District to prepay its repayment contract obligations similar to the 

terms and conditions of Section 210 of the Central Utah Project 

Completion Act (Public Law 102–575) for prepayment of Central 

Project Unit repayment obligations. The prepayment shall include 

the net present value of all repayment obligations that would have 

been payable to the United States if this Act was not in effect, may 

be provided in several installments, may not be adjusted based on 

the prepayment financing used by the District, and the total repayment must occur no later than September 30, 2026. 

COMMITTEE ACTION

H.R. 5468 was introduced on June 14, 2016, by Congressman 

Rob Bishop (R–UT). The bill was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee on 

Water, Power and Oceans. On June 23, 2016, the Subcommittee 

held a hearing on the bill. On July 12, 2016, the Natural Resources 

Committee met to consider the bill. The Subcommittee was discharged by unanimous consent. No amendments were offered and 

the bill was ordered favorably reported to the House of Representatives by unanimous consent on July 13, 2016. 

COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of Rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of Rule XIII 

of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee on 

Natural Resources’ oversight findings and recommendations are reflected in the body of this report. 

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COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII

1. Cost of Legislation and Section 308(a) of the Congressional 

Budget Act. With respect to the requirements of clause 3(c)(2) and 

(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and 

sections 308(a) and 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, 

the Committee has received the enclosed cost estimate for the bill 

from the Director of the Congressional Budget Office: 

U.S. CONGRESS, 

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE, 

Washington, DC, September 2, 2016. 

Hon. ROB BISHOP, 

Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources, 

House of Representatives, Washington, DC. 

DEAR MADAM CHAIRMAN: The Congressional Budget Office has 

prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 5468, a bill to direct 

the Secretary of the Interior to allow for prepayment of repayment 

obligations under Repayment Contracts between the United States 

and the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District. 

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased 

to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Aurora Swanson. 

Sincerely, 

KEITH HALL. 

Enclosure. 

H.R. 5468—A bill to direct the Secretary of the Interior to allow for 

prepayment of repayment obligations under Repayment Contracts between the United States and the Weber Basin Water 

Conservancy District 

Summary: H.R. 5468 would direct the Bureau of Reclamation 

(BOR) to allow water contractors in the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District (the district) in Utah to repay their share of the 

capital costs of the Weber Basin Project on an accelerated schedule. 

CBO estimates that enacting the bill would result in a net increase in offsetting receipts, which are treated as reductions in direct spending, of $3 million over the next 10 years. Additionally, 

the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) expect that the 

contractors would finance some of those accelerated payments to 

the government with bonds exempt from federal taxation. As a result, JCT estimates that enacting the legislation would reduce revenues by a total of less than $500,000 over the 2017–2026 period. 

In total, CBO estimates that those changes in direct spending and 

revenues would decrease budget deficits over that 10-year period by 

$3 million. Because the legislation would affect direct spending and 

revenues, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. 

CBO estimates that enacting the bill would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits by more than $5 billion in any 

of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027. 

H.R. 5468 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) 

and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments. 

Estimated cost to the Federal Government: The estimated budgetary effect of H.R. 5468 is shown in the following table. The costs 

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of this legislation fall within budget function 300 (natural resources 

and environment). 

By fiscal year, in millions of dollars— 

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2017– 

2021 

2017– 

2026 

INCREASE OR DECREASE (¥) IN DIRECT SPENDING a

Estimated Budget 

Authority b .................. ¥15 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ¥10 ¥3 

Estimated Outlays ......... ¥15 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ¥10 ¥3 

Note: Components may not sum to totals because of rounding. 

a Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation estimate that enacting H.R. 5468 would result in an insignificant loss of revenues over the 

2017–2026 period. b Over the next 18 years (2017–2034), CBO estimates that enacting the bill would lead to a net loss in offsetting receipts, which would increase direct spending by about $6 million. 

Basis of estimate: For this estimate, CBO assumes that H.R. 

5468 will be enacted near the end of 2016. 

Under current law, the BOR delivers water to irrigation and municipal and industrial contractors in Utah through the Weber Basin 

Project. In addition to paying for the water, those contractors also 

pay for a portion of the estimated capital costs of constructing the 

reservoirs and conveyance systems that store and deliver the 

water. Over the next 18 years, CBO estimates that those contractors will pay about $1.3 million annually for their share of construction costs (including interest) to the federal government on an 

outstanding obligation of about $22 million (including principle and 

interest). They are not authorized to pay construction costs on an 

accelerated schedule. 

H.R. 5468 would authorize contractors in the district to repay 

their share of the capital investment in the project at any time before the end of 2026. To fulfill their repayment obligation early, 

contractors would be required to repay the present value of their 

future contract payments discounted at the 20-year maturity rate 

for U.S. Treasury securities. 

Based on information from the BOR about the terms of current 

water contracts in the Weber Basin, CBO expects that contractors 

would choose to repay their outstanding obligations in the first 

year after enactment. CBO estimates that receipts from accelerated 

payments would total $16 million over the 2017–2026 period. During the same period there would be a corresponding loss totaling 

$13 million in annual repayments (including interest from municipal and industrial water contractors) that would otherwise occur 

under current law. On balance, under H.R. 5468, CBO estimates 

that net receipts would increase by $3 million over the 2017–2026 

period. That 10-year increase in net receipts would be more than 

offset by a corresponding reduction in payments that would otherwise occur in years after 2026. In total, over the next 18 years, 

CBO estimates that the net loss in offsetting receipts from enacting 

this provision would total about $6 million. 

In addition, JCT expects that revenue losses related to increased 

use of tax exempt financing under the bill would total less than 

$500,000 over the 2017–2026 period. 

Pay-As-You-Go considerations: The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act 

of 2010 establishes budget-reporting and enforcement procedures 

for legislation affecting direct spending or revenues. The net 

changes in outlays and revenues that are subject to those pay-asyou-go procedures are shown in the following table. 

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By fiscal year, in millions of dollars a— 

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2016– 

2021 

2016– 

2026 

NET INCREASE OR DECREASE (¥) IN THE DEFICIT 

Statutory Pay-As-YouGo Impact ............. 0 ¥15 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ¥10 ¥3 

a Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation estimate that enacting H.R. 5468 would result in an insignificant loss of revenues over the 

2017–2026 period. 

Estimated impact on state, local, and tribal governments: H.R. 

5468 contains no intergovernmental mandates as defined in UMRA 

and would benefit the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District in 

Utah by allowing the district to prepay what it owes in remaining 

capital obligations to the federal government for use of federal 

water infrastructure. Any costs incurred by the district under 

agreements with the federal government would result from voluntary commitments. 

Estimated impact on the private sector: H.R. 5468 contains no 

private-sector mandates as defined in UMRA. 

Increase in long-term net direct spending and deficits: CBO estimates that enacting the bill would not increase net direct spending 

or on-budget deficits by more than $5 billion in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027. 

Estimate prepared by: Federal spending: Aurora Swanson; Federal revenues: Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation; Impact on 

state, local, and tribal governments: Jon Sperl; Impact on the private sector: Paige Piper/Bach. 

Estimate approved by: Theresa Gullo, Assistant Director for 

Budget Analysis. 

2. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by 

clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or objective 

of this bill is to direct the Secretary of the Interior to allow for prepayment of repayment obligations under Repayment Contracts between the United States and the Weber Basin Water Conservancy 

District. 

EARMARK STATEMENT

This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks, limited 

tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined under clause 9(e), 

9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives. 

COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104–4

This bill contains no unfunded mandates. 

COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5

Directed Rule Making. The Chairman does not believe that this 

bill directs any executive branch official to conduct any specific 

rule-making proceedings. 

Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not establish or 

reauthorize a program of the federal government known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was not included in 

any report from the Government Accountability Office to Congress 

pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111–139 or identified in the 

most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance published purmstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with HEARINGS

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suant to the Federal Program Information Act (Public Law 95–220, 

as amended by Public Law 98–169) as relating to other programs. 

PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW

This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or tribal law. 

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

If enacted, this bill would make no changes in existing law. 

Æ 

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