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[House Report 113-536]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

113th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 2d Session                                                     113-536

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     TO AUTHORIZE EARLY REPAYMENT OF OBLIGATIONS TO THE BUREAU OF 
 RECLAMATION WITHIN THE NORTHPORT IRRIGATION DISTRICT IN THE STATE OF 
                                NEBRASKA

                                _______
                                

 July 17, 2014.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

 Mr. Hastings of Washington, from the Committee on Natural Resources, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 4562]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred 
the bill (H.R. 4562) to authorize early repayment of 
obligations to the Bureau of Reclamation within the Northport 
Irrigation District in the State of Nebraska, 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. 4562 is to authorize early repayment of 
obligations to the Bureau of Reclamation within the Northport 
Irrigation District in the State of Nebraska.

                  BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

    H.R. 4562 gives individual landowners within the Northport 
Irrigation District the ability to make accelerated or lump sum 
capital repayments to the federal government under its water 
contract with the Bureau of Reclamation. In exchange for paying 
their part of Northport's debt, the landowners who pay will no 
longer be subject to federal acreage limitations and paperwork 
requirements. Under federal law, any irrigation 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 contracts between the irrigation district 
and the federal government.
    Northport, located in western Nebraska, is one of four 
irrigation districts that receive water from the federal North 
Platte Project. Water for Northport is conveyed 80 miles from 
the Guernsey reservoir through the Tri-State Canal, which is 
privately owned and operated by the Farmers Irrigation 
District. In return for allowing the water to be conveyed 
through the Tri-State canal, Farmers receives compensation in 
the form of a ``carriage fee'' from Northport. Pursuant to a 
1958 amendment to the Northport/Bureau of Reclamation contract, 
if the amount of the carriage fee owed to Farmers by Northport 
is more than $8,000 per year, Northport is not obligated to 
make its annual capital repayment to the federal government. 
According to testimony presented by a Northport official on the 
bill, the annual carriage fee can be anywhere from $80,000 to 
$100,000. Since carriage fees have been over $8,000 per year 
since the early 1950s, Northport's capital repayment debt to 
the federal government has been stagnant at over $923,000 for 
over six decades. As long as Northport owes the debt, its 
landowners are subject to the 960 irrigated acre planting 
limitation and paperwork requirements that must be met prior to 
getting water each year, as set forth in the Reclamation Reform 
Act of 1982 (Public Law 97-293).
    There are several landowners within Northport that have 
reached retirement age with plans to leave the real estate to 
family members who have already accumulated acres. Those 
combined acres will take families over the 960 irrigated acre 
planting limitation. Several landowners within Northport are 
willing to repay their portion of the capital repayment 
obligations owed to the federal government to avoid being 
subject to the federal requirements in Public Law 97-293; 
however federal law prohibits these landowners from making such 
accelerated or lump sum payments. This bill allows for such 
accelerated or lump sum repayments and is based on two 
bipartisan precedents (Section 508 of Public Law 110-229 and 
Public Law 109-138). In short, the bill will likely generate 
revenue for the federal government while giving farm families 
the ability to grow and expand their operations.

                            COMMITTEE ACTION

    H.R. 4562 was introduced on May 1, 2014, by Congressman 
Adrian Smith (R-NE). The bill was referred to the Committee on 
Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee 
on Water and Power. On June 10, 2014, the Subcommittee on Water 
and Power held a hearing on the bill. On June 19, 2014, the 
Natural Resources Committee met to consider the bill. The 
Subcommittee on Water and Power was discharged by unanimous 
consent. No amendments were offered and the bill was adopted 
and ordered favorably reported to the House of Representatives 
by unanimous consent.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1. Early Repayment of Construction Costs

    Subsection (a) allows any landowner within the Northport 
Irrigation District to repay, at any time, the construction 
costs of project facilities allocated to the landowner's land 
within Northport, notwithstanding Section 213 of the 
Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 (Public Law 97-293).
    Subsection (b) stipulates that upon full repayment of all 
costs described in subsection (a), the parcels of land shall 
not be subject to the ownership and full-cost pricing 
limitations under the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 (Public 
Law 97-293).
    Subsection (c) authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to 
provide a certificate of repayment described in section 
213(b)(1) of the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 (Public Law 97-
293) upon the request of the landowner who has repaid the costs 
described in subsection (a).
    Subsection (d) states that nothing in the bill: (1) 
modifies any contractual rights under, or amends or reopens, 
the reclamation contract between Northport and the United 
States; or (2) modifies any rights, obligations, or 
relationships between Northport and landowners within Northport 
under Nebraska State law.

            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.

                    COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII

    1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the 
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and 
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be 
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(2)(B) 
of that Rule provides that this requirement does not apply when 
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted 
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the 
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Under clause 3(c)(3) of rule 
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section 
403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has 
received the following cost estimate for this bill from the 
Director of the Congressional Budget Office:

H.R. 4562--A bill to authorize early repayment of obligations to the 
        Bureau of Reclamation within the Northport Irrigation District 
        in the state of Nebraska

    H.R. 4562 would allow individual landowners in the 
Northport Irrigation District in Nebraska to prepay their share 
of the cost to build the North Platte Project in Nebraska. 
Based on information from the Bureau of Reclamation, CBO 
estimates that enacting the legislation would have an 
insignificant effect on the federal budget. Because the 
legislation would affect direct spending, pay-as-you-go 
procedures apply. Enacting H.R. 4562 would not affect revenues.
    Currently, the Northport Irrigation District is not making 
any payment to the bureau on the district's outstanding 
obligation of $924,000 that it owes for the irrigation project. 
Based on information from the bureau, CBO does not expect the 
district to begin repaying this debt in the next several years.
    H.R. 4562 would allow the 25 individual landowners in the 
district to pay their portion of the balance early. Based on 
information from the district, about half of those landowners 
are expected to do so under the bill. CBO estimates that those 
payments would increase offsetting receipts (which are treated 
as reductions in direct spending) to the federal government by 
$440,000 over the 2015-2024 period.
    H.R. 4562 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Aurora Swanson. 
This estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant 
Director for Budget Analysis.
    2. Section 308(a) of Congressional Budget Act. As required 
by clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives and section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget 
Act of 1974, this bill does not contain any new budget 
authority, spending authority, credit authority, or an increase 
or decrease in revenues or tax expenditures. CBO estimates that 
provisions in the bill would increase offsetting receipts 
(which are treated as reductions in direct spending) to the 
federal government by $440,000 over the 2015-2024 period.
    3. 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 authorize early repayment of 
obligations to the Bureau of Reclamation within the Northport 
Irrigation District in the State of Nebraska.

                           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 pursuant 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.

                                  
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