II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 798 

To amend title 54, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of the 

Interior to make financial assistance to States under the Land and 

Water Conservation Fund available for water quality projects, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 14, 2023 

Mr. RUBIO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend title 54, United States Code, to authorize the 

Secretary of the Interior to make financial assistance 

to States under the Land and Water Conservation Fund 

available for water quality projects, 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 ‘‘Land and Water Con5 servation Fund Water Amendments Act of 2023’’. 


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•S 798 IS

1 SEC. 2. FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO STATES FOR WATER 

2 QUALITY PROJECTS. 

3 Section 200305 of title 54, United States Code, is 

4 amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (a), in the second sentence, by 

6 inserting ‘‘and water quality improvement’’ after 

7 ‘‘outdoor recreation’’; 

8 (2) in subsection (d), by adding at the end the 

9 following: 

10 ‘‘(5) WATER QUALITY.—A comprehensive state11 wide outdoor recreation plan shall identify— 

12 ‘‘(A) any body of water within the bound13 aries of the State for which a State water qual14 ity control plan has been developed pursuant to 

15 section 303(d) of the Federal Water Pollution 

16 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1313(d)); and 

17 ‘‘(B) any proposed water quality project 

18 (as defined in subsection (e)(4)(A)) to be con19 ducted with respect to a body of water that is 

20 identified under subparagraph (A).’’; and 

21 (3) in subsection (e)— 

22 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘AND DE23 VELOPMENT OF BASIC OUTDOOR RECREATION

24 FACILITIES’’ and inserting ‘‘, DEVELOPMENT

25 OF BASIC OUTDOOR RECREATION FACILITIES, 


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1 AND CONDUCT OF WATER QUALITY

2 PROJECTS’’; 

3 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and 

4 (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘, (3), and (4)’’; and 

5 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(4) WATER QUALITY PROJECTS.— 

7 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION OF WATER QUALITY

8 PROJECT.—In this paragraph, the term ‘water 

9 quality project’ means any project identified in 

10 a State water quality control plan developed for 

11 the purpose of restoring any body of water that 

12 is identified by the State under section 303(d) 

13 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 

14 U.S.C. 1313(d)) as being impaired. 

15 ‘‘(B) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—Under 

16 paragraph (1), the Secretary may provide finan17 cial assistance for the conduct of water quality 

18 projects. 

19 ‘‘(C) NON-FEDERAL SHARE CREDIT.—The 

20 Secretary may credit toward the non-Federal 

21 share required under subsection (c) funds allo22 cated by a State for the conduct of a water 

23 quality project. 

24 ‘‘(D) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary 

25 shall consult with the Administrator of the EnVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Mar 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S798.IS S798

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1 vironmental Protection Agency in carrying out 

2 this paragraph. 

3 ‘‘(E) LIMITATIONS.— 

4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In providing fi5 nancial assistance to water quality projects 

6 under this paragraph, the Secretary shall 

7 only provide financial assistance to water 

8 quality projects that seek to improve water 

9 quality by improving, restoring, or devel10 oping natural hydrological systems, such as 

11 wetlands, marshes, living shorelines, or any 

12 other naturally occurring hydrological fea13 tures the Secretary determines to be nec14 essary for the purpose of reducing nutrient 

15 loads. 

16 ‘‘(ii) NO REIMBURSEMENT.—Funds 

17 made available for a water quality project 

18 under this paragraph may not be used to 

19 reimburse the cost of any water quality 

20 project that has already been completed or 

21 is otherwise fully funded. 

22 ‘‘(iii) EFFECT.—Nothing in this para23 graph— 


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1 ‘‘(I) expands the authority of the 

2 Federal Government over nonnav3 igable waters; or 

4 ‘‘(II) authorizes the Secretary to 

5 regulate the conduct of water quality 

6 projects.’’. 

Æ 


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