I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8263 

To amend the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 to encourage non-Federal 

hydropower development with respect to Bureau of Reclamation projects. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 7, 2024 

Ms. BOEBERT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 to encourage 

non-Federal hydropower development with respect to Bureau of Reclamation projects. 

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 ‘‘Rural Jobs and Hydro5 power Expansion Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO RECLAMATION PROJECT ACT. 

7 Section 9(c) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 

8 (53 Stat. 1194) is amended— 

9 (1) by striking ‘‘(1) The Secretary is author10 ized’’ and inserting ‘‘The Secretary is authorized’’; 


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1 (2) by striking ‘‘small conduit hydropower using 

2 Bureau of Reclamation facilities and pumped stor3 age hydropower exclusively using Bureau of Rec4 lamation reservoirs’’ and inserting ‘‘hydropower 

5 using all Bureau of Reclamation facilities’’; 

6 (3) by striking ‘‘No contract relating to munic7 ipal water supply’’ and inserting the following: 

8 ‘‘(1) No contract relating to municipal water 

9 supply’’; 

10 (4) in paragraph (2)(A)— 

11 (A) by striking ‘‘applicable transferred 

12 conduit’’ and inserting ‘‘applicable transferred 

13 works facility’’; 

14 (B) by striking ‘‘applicable reserved con15 duit’’ and inserting ‘‘applicable reserved works 

16 facility’’; and 

17 (C) by striking ‘‘power privilege offer for a 

18 small conduit’’ and inserting ‘‘power privilege 

19 offer for the’’; 

20 (5) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘small con21 duit’’ and inserting ‘‘applicable’’; 

22 (6) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘small conduit 

23 hydropower’’; 

24 (7) in paragraph (6)— 


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘conduit’’ before ‘‘hydro2 power generation’’; and 

3 (B) by striking ‘‘transferred conduit’’ and 

4 inserting ‘‘transferred works facility’’; 

5 (8) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘conduit’’; 

6 (9) in paragraph (8)— 

7 (A) by inserting ‘‘(referred to in this sec8 tion as an ‘authorization’)’’ before ‘‘issued by 

9 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’’; 

10 (B) by striking ‘‘August 9, 2013,’’ and in11 serting ‘‘the date of the enactment of the Rural 

12 Jobs and Hydropower Expansion Act’’; and 

13 (C) by adding at the end ‘‘Any authoriza14 tion issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory 

15 Commission with respect to a project shall re16 main in place until such authorization becomes 

17 inactive. As allowed by the Federal Energy 

18 Regulatory Commission, an authorization may 

19 be renewed and remain active. Once the author20 ization becomes inactive, project site jurisdic21 tion shall shift to the Bureau of Reclamation 

22 exclusively.’’; 

23 (10) by redesignating paragraph (9) as para24 graph (10); 


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1 (11) by inserting after paragraph (8) the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(9) Nothing in this section shall expand or 

4 otherwise amend the Bureau of Reclamation lease of 

5 power privilege authorities outside the project 

6 boundary.’’; and 

7 (12) in paragraph (10), as so redesignated— 

8 (A) by striking subparagraphs (A), (C), 

9 (D), and (E); 

10 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as 

11 subparagraph (A); and 

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

13 ‘‘(B) RESERVED WORKS FACILITY.—The 

14 term ‘reserved works facility’ means those fa15 cilities owned by the Bureau of Reclamation 

16 where the Bureau of Reclamation has retained 

17 responsibility for carrying out operation and 

18 maintenance activities. 

19 ‘‘(C) TRANSFERRED WORKS FACILITY.— 

20 The term ‘transferred works facility’ means a 

21 project facility where the operations and main22 tenance of that facility is carried out by a non23 Federal entity under the provisions of a formal 

24 operations and maintenance transfer contract.’’. 

Æ 


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