II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 216 

To require the Secretary of the Interior to submit to Congress a report 

on the efforts of the Bureau of Reclamation to manage its infrastructure 

assets. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 24, 2017 

Mr. BARRASSO (for himself and Mr. SCHATZ) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of the Interior to submit to Congress a report on the efforts of the Bureau of Reclamation to manage its infrastructure assets. 

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 ‘‘Bureau of Reclamation 

5 Transparency Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the water resources infrastructure of the 

9 Bureau of Reclamation provides important benefits 


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1 related to irrigated agriculture, municipal and indus2 trial water, hydropower, flood control, fish and wild3 life, and recreation in the 17 Reclamation States; 

4 (2) as of 2013, the combined replacement value 

5 of the infrastructure assets of the Bureau of Rec6 lamation was $94,500,000,000; 

7 (3) the majority of the water resources infra8 structure facilities of the Bureau of Reclamation are 

9 at least 60 years old; 

10 (4) the Bureau of Reclamation has previously 

11 undertaken efforts to better manage the assets of 

12 the Bureau of Reclamation, including an annual re13 view of asset maintenance activities of the Bureau of 

14 Reclamation known as the ‘‘Asset Management 

15 Plan’’; and 

16 (5) actionable information on infrastructure 

17 conditions at the asset level, including information 

18 on maintenance needs at individual assets due to 

19 aging infrastructure, is needed for Congress to con20 duct oversight of Reclamation facilities and meet the 

21 needs of the public. 

22 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

23 In this Act: 

24 (1) ASSET.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘asset’’ 

2 means any of the following assets that are used 

3 to achieve the mission of the Bureau of Rec4 lamation to manage, develop, and protect water 

5 and related resources in an environmentally and 

6 economically sound manner in the interest of 

7 the people of the United States: 

8 (i) Capitalized facilities, buildings, 

9 structures, project features, power produc10 tion equipment, recreation facilities, or 

11 quarters. 

12 (ii) Capitalized and noncapitalized 

13 heavy equipment and other installed equip14 ment. 

15 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘asset’’ in16 cludes assets described in subparagraph (A) 

17 that are considered to be mission critical. 

18 (2) ASSET MANAGEMENT REPORT.—The term 

19 ‘‘Asset Management Report’’ means— 

20 (A) the annual plan prepared by the Bu21 reau of Reclamation known as the ‘‘Asset Man22 agement Plan’’; and 

23 (B) any publicly available information re24 lating to the plan described in subparagraph 

25 (A) that summarizes the efforts of the Bureau 


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1 of Reclamation to evaluate and manage infra2 structure assets of the Bureau of Reclamation. 

3 (3) MAJOR REPAIR AND REHABILITATION

4 NEED.—The term ‘‘major repair and rehabilitation 

5 need’’ means major nonrecurring maintenance at a 

6 Reclamation facility, including maintenance related 

7 to the safety of dams, extraordinary maintenance of 

8 dams, deferred major maintenance activities, and all 

9 other significant repairs and extraordinary mainte10 nance. 

11 (4) RECLAMATION FACILITY.—The term ‘‘Rec12 lamation facility’’ means each of the infrastructure 

13 assets that are owned by the Bureau of Reclamation 

14 at a Reclamation project. 

15 (5) RECLAMATION PROJECT.—The term ‘‘Rec16 lamation project’’ means a project that is owned by 

17 the Bureau of Reclamation, including all reserved 

18 works and transferred works owned by the Bureau 

19 of Reclamation. 

20 (6) RESERVED WORKS.—The term ‘‘reserved 

21 works’’ means buildings, structures, facilities, or 

22 equipment that are owned by the Bureau of Rec23 lamation for which operations and maintenance are 

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1 reau of Reclamation, regardless of the source of 

2 funding for the operations and maintenance. 

3 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

4 the Secretary of the Interior. 

5 (8) TRANSFERRED WORKS.—The term ‘‘trans6 ferred works’’ means a Reclamation facility at which 

7 operations and maintenance of the facility is carried 

8 out by a non-Federal entity under the provisions of 

9 a formal operations and maintenance transfer con10 tract or other legal agreement with the Bureau of 

11 Reclamation. 

12 SEC. 4. ASSET MANAGEMENT REPORT ENHANCEMENTS 

13 FOR RESERVED WORKS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 

15 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 

16 to Congress an Asset Management Report that— 

17 (1) describes the efforts of the Bureau of Rec18 lamation— 

19 (A) to maintain in a reliable manner all re20 served works at Reclamation facilities; and 

21 (B) to standardize and streamline data re22 porting and processes across regions and areas 

23 for the purpose of maintaining reserved works 

24 at Reclamation facilities; and 


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1 (2) expands on the information otherwise pro2 vided in an Asset Management Report, in accord3 ance with subsection (b). 

4 (b) INFRASTRUCTURE MAINTENANCE NEEDS AS5 SESSMENT.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Asset Management Re7 port submitted under subsection (a) shall include— 

8 (A) a detailed assessment of major repair 

9 and rehabilitation needs for all reserved works 

10 at all Reclamation projects; and 

11 (B) to the extent practicable, an itemized 

12 list of major repair and rehabilitation needs of 

13 individual Reclamation facilities at each Rec14 lamation project. 

15 (2) INCLUSIONS.—To the extent practicable, 

16 the itemized list of major repair and rehabilitation 

17 needs under paragraph (1)(B) shall include— 

18 (A) a budget level cost estimate of the ap19 propriations needed to complete each item; and 

20 (B) an assignment of a categorical rating 

21 for each item, consistent with paragraph (3). 

22 (3) RATING REQUIREMENTS.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—The system for assign24 ing ratings under paragraph (2)(B) shall be— 


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1 (i) consistent with existing uniform 

2 categorization systems to inform the an3 nual budget process and agency require4 ments; and 

5 (ii) subject to the guidance and in6 structions issued under subparagraph (B). 

7 (B) GUIDANCE.—As soon as practicable 

8 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec9 retary shall issue guidance that describes the 

10 applicability of the rating system applicable 

11 under paragraph (2)(B) to Reclamation facili12 ties. 

13 (4) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Except as provided 

14 in paragraph (5), the Secretary shall make publicly 

15 available, including on the Internet, the Asset Man16 agement Report required under subsection (a). 

17 (5) CONFIDENTIALITY.—The Secretary may ex18 clude from the public version of the Asset Manage19 ment Report made available under paragraph (4) 

20 any information that the Secretary identifies as sen21 sitive or classified, but shall make available to the 

22 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 

23 Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of 

24 the House of Representatives a version of the report 

25 containing the sensitive or classified information. 


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1 (c) UPDATES.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

2 on which the Asset Management Report is submitted 

3 under subsection (a) and biennially thereafter, the Sec4 retary shall update the Asset Management Report, subject 

5 to the requirements of section 5(b)(2). 

6 (d) CONSULTATION.—To the extent that such con7 sultation would assist the Secretary in preparing the Asset 

8 Management Report under subsection (a) and updates to 

9 the Asset Management Report under subsection (c), the 

10 Secretary shall consult with— 

11 (1) the Secretary of the Army (acting through 

12 the Chief of Engineers); and 

13 (2) water and power contractors. 

14 SEC. 5. ASSET MANAGEMENT REPORT ENHANCEMENTS 

15 FOR TRANSFERRED WORKS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall coordinate 

17 with the non-Federal entities responsible for the operation 

18 and maintenance of transferred works in developing re19 porting requirements for Asset Management Reports with 

20 respect to major repair and rehabilitation needs for trans21 ferred works that are similar to the reporting require22 ments described in section 4(b). 

23 (b) GUIDANCE.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—After considering input from 

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1 lamation, the Secretary shall develop and implement 

2 a rating system for transferred works that incor3 porates, to the maximum extent practicable, the rat4 ing system for major repair and rehabilitation needs 

5 for reserved works developed under section 4(b)(3). 

6 (2) UPDATES.—The ratings system developed 

7 under paragraph (1) shall be included in the up8 dated Asset Management Reports under section 

9 4(c). 

10 SEC. 6. OFFSET. 

11 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the 

12 case of the project authorized by section 1617 of the Rec13 lamation Projects Authorization and Adjustment Act of 

14 1992 (43 U.S.C. 390h–12c), the maximum amount of the 

15 Federal share of the cost of the project under section 

16 1631(d)(1) of that Act (43 U.S.C. 390h–13(d)(1)) other17 wise available as of the date of enactment of this Act shall 

18 be reduced by $2,000,000. 

Æ 


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