II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 407 

To provide funding for construction and major rehabilitation for projects 

located on inland and intracoastal waterways of the United States, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2013 

Mr. CASEY (for himself, Ms. LANDRIEU, and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To provide funding for construction and major rehabilitation 

for projects located on inland and intracoastal waterways 

of the United States, 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 ‘‘Reinvesting In Vital 

5 Economic Rivers and Waterways Act of 2013’’ or the 

6 ‘‘RIVER Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds that the inland waterways navigation 

9 system— 


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1 (1) is an essential economic resource for the 

2 United States; 

3 (2) serves as the most efficient sustainable 

4 transportation mode for bulk commodities in the 

5 United States while maintaining environmental re6 sources; and 

7 (3) as of the date of enactment of this Act, is 

8 underfunded and needs significant changes to re9 main viable in the future. 

10 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

11 The purpose of this Act is to establish a sustainable, 

12 cost-effective way to ensure that the inland and intra13 coastal waterways of the United States remain economi14 cally viable through— 

15 (1) the redesign of the program and project 

16 management process applicable to the construction 

17 and major rehabilitation of navigation projects on 

18 those waterways; 

19 (2) the continued development and improve20 ment of inland waterways navigation systems; 

21 (3) enhanced efficiency of inland waterways 

22 navigation project completion schedules; and 

23 (4) inland waterways navigation capital invest24 ments to ensure that projects can be completed in a 


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1 reasonable timeframe and to allow maximum sys2 temwide benefits. 

3 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

5 (1) INLAND AND INTRACOASTAL WATER6 WAYS.—The term ‘‘inland and intracoastal water7 ways’’ means the inland and intracoastal waterways 

8 of the United States described in section 206 of the 

9 Inland Waterways Revenue Act of 1978 (33 U.S.C. 

10 1804). 

11 (2) INLAND WATERWAY USERS BOARD.—The 

12 term ‘‘Inland Waterway Users Board’’ means the 

13 Inland Waterway Users Board established by section 

14 302 of the Water Resources Development Act of 

15 1986 (33 U.S.C. 2251). 

16 (3) MAJOR REHABILITATION PROJECT.—The 

17 term ‘‘major rehabilitation project’’ means a project 

18 for the restoration of a major project or major 

19 project feature of the inland and intracoastal water20 ways that has an estimated cost greater than 

21 $50,000,000. 

22 (4) QUALIFYING PROJECT.—The term ‘‘quali23 fying project’’ means any construction or major re24 habilitation project for navigation infrastructure of 

25 the inland and intracoastal waterways that is— 


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1 (A) authorized before, on, or after the date 

2 of enactment of this Act; 

3 (B) not completed as of the date of enact4 ment of this Act; and 

5 (C) funded at least in part from the Inland 

6 Waterways Trust Fund established by section 

7 9506 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

8 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

9 the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief 

10 of Engineers. 

11 SEC. 5. PROJECT DELIVERY PROCESS REFORMS. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall promulgate 

13 regulations that, at a minimum, shall require for each 

14 qualifying project— 

15 (1) a cost estimation that is risk-based and has 

16 a confidence level of not less than 80 percent; 

17 (2) an independent external peer review and 

18 submission to Congress (in the case of a feasibility 

19 report) or the Secretary (in the case of a rehabilita20 tion evaluation report) for any qualifying project— 

21 (A) that— 

22 (i) has an estimated total project cost 

23 greater than $45,000,000; 

24 (ii) is subject to public safety con25 cerns, as determined by the Secretary; 


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1 (iii) involves a high level of complexity 

2 or novel or precedent-setting approaches, 

3 as determined by the Secretary; or 

4 (iv) is identified by the Secretary as a 

5 matter of significant interagency interest; 

6 or 

7 (B) for which a review has been requested 

8 by the Governor of any State affected by the 

9 project; 

10 (3) the appointment to a project development 

11 team for the qualifying project of a member of the 

12 Inland Waterways Users Board, as selected by a ma13 jority of the Inland Waterways Users Board; 

14 (4) a quarterly update submitted to the Inland 

15 Waterways Users Board of the status of a qualifying 

16 project that is under construction; 

17 (5) the inclusion of the Chairman of the Inland 

18 Waterways Users Board and the project develop19 ment team appointee under paragraph (3) as sig20 natories of the project management plan for a quali21 fying project; 

22 (6) the establishment of a system to identify 

23 and apply on a continuing basis lessons learned from 

24 prior or ongoing projects so as to improve the likeliVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:36 Mar 02, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S407.IS S407

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1 hood of on-time and on-budget completion of quali2 fying projects; 

3 (7) the evaluation, including through the use of 

4 1 or more pilot projects, of early contractor involve5 ment acquisition procedures to improve on-time and 

6 on-budget project delivery performance; and 

7 (8) any additional measures that the Secretary 

8 determines will achieve the purposes of this Act, in9 cluding, as determined appropriate by the Sec10 retary— 

11 (A) the implementation of applicable prac12 tices and procedures drawn from the manage13 ment of the military construction program by 

14 the Secretary; 

15 (B) the development and use of a portfolio 

16 of standard designs for inland navigation locks; 

17 (C) the use of full-funding contracts or the 

18 formulation of a revised continuing contracts 

19 provision; and 

20 (D) the establishment of procedures for 

21 recommending new project construction starts 

22 using a capital projects business model. 

23 (b) REPORT REQUIREMENT.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—For each fiscal year, the 

25 Secretary shall submit to Congress a report that deVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:36 Mar 02, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S407.IS S407

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1 scribes each project, if any, that receives more than 

2 50 percent of the total amount of funds made avail3 able in that fiscal year under the Inland Waterways 

4 Trust Fund established by section 9506 of the Inter5 nal Revenue Code of 1986. 

6 (2) REQUIREMENT.—For each project described 

7 in paragraph (1) that exceeds the estimated cost of 

8 carrying out that project for 3 or more consecutive 

9 years, the Secretary shall include in the report sub10 mitted under that paragraph alternative financing 

11 plans for the project. 

12 SEC. 6. 20-YEAR CAPITAL INVESTMENT PROGRAM. 

13 (a) PROGRAM REQUIRED.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

15 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in 

16 conjunction with the Inland Waterways Users 

17 Board, shall submit to Congress a 20-year program 

18 for making capital investments on the inland and in19 tracoastal waterways, which shall include plans to 

20 update communications technology and be based on 

21 the application of objective national project-selection 

22 prioritization criteria, as developed by the Secretary. 

23 (2) CONTENTS.—The 20-year program de24 scribed in paragraph (1) may be based on the 20- 

25 year capital investment strategy contained in the InVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:36 Mar 02, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S407.IS S407

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1 land Marine Transportation System Capital Projects 

2 Business Model, Final Report published on April 13, 

3 2010, as approved by the Inland Waterways Users 

4 Board. 

5 (b) ANNUAL REVIEW AND UPDATE.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than 1 

7 year after the date on which a 20-year program is 

8 submitted to Congress under subsection (a), and 

9 each year thereafter, the Secretary, in conjunction 

10 with the Inland Waterways Users Board, shall sub11 mit to Congress an updated 20-year program. 

12 (2) CONTENTS.—The updated program de13 scribed in paragraph (1) shall include an identifica14 tion and explanation of any changes that were made 

15 to the project-specific recommendations included in 

16 the previous 20-year program, including any changes 

17 that were made to the objective national project-se18 lection prioritization criteria used to develop the up19 dated recommendations. 

20 (c) STRATEGIC REVIEW AND UPDATE.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 5 years after 

22 the date of enactment of this Act, and every 5 years 

23 thereafter, the Secretary, in conjunction with the In24 land Waterways Users Board, shall submit to Con25 gress a strategic review of the capital investment 


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1 program for the Inland Marine Transportation Sys2 tem, including any revisions to the program that the 

3 Secretary and the Users Board jointly consider to be 

4 appropriate. 

5 (2) INCLUSIONS.—The review described in 

6 paragraph (1) shall include an analysis of the com7 munications technology in use on the inland and in8 tracoastal waterways system and a description of 

9 any plans to modernize that technology to increase 

10 safety and maximize efficiency. 

11 SEC. 7. LIMITATION ON EXPENDITURES FROM THE INLAND 

12 WATERWAYS TRUST FUND. 

13 Section 9506 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

14 is amended— 

15 (1) in subsection (c)(1), by— 

16 (A) inserting ‘‘and subject to subsection 

17 (d),’’ after ‘‘Except as provided in paragraph 

18 (2),’’; and 

19 (B) inserting before the period at the end 

20 ‘‘, provided that such expenditures may not ex21 ceed 50 percent of the total cost of the con22 struction or rehabilitation’’; and 

23 (2) by inserting at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON EXPENDITURES FROM TRUST

25 FUND.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Amounts in the Inland Wa2 terways Trust Fund shall not be available for ex3 penditures for— 

4 ‘‘(A) construction or rehabilitation of 

5 dams, or 

6 ‘‘(B) any rehabilitation expenditure that 

7 does not equal or exceed $50,000,000. 

8 ‘‘(2) RESTRICTION ON TOTAL COST.—Amounts 

9 in the Inland Waterways Trust Fund shall not be 

10 used to pay for any part of the cost to construct an 

11 authorized Federal project that exceeds the sum 

12 of— 

13 ‘‘(A) the amount equal to— 

14 ‘‘(i) the total authorized cost to con15 struct the Federal project as specified in 

16 the Public Law that authorized construc17 tion of the project or, in the case of a re18 habilitation project, in the relevant reha19 bilitation evaluation report, multiplied by 

20 ‘‘(ii) the cost-of-living adjustment de21 termined under section 1(f)(3) for the year 

22 in which construction or rehabilitation 

23 under the project begins (determined by 

24 substituting the year that precedes the cal25 endar year in which such project was auVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:36 Mar 02, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S407.IS S407

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1 thorized for ‘1992’ in subparagraph (B) of 

2 such section), and 

3 ‘‘(B) any additional amount that is jointly 

4 agreed to by the Secretary and the Inland Wa5 terways Users Board as appropriate to the 

6 project.’’. 

7 SEC. 8. REVISION TO INLAND WATERWAYS USER FEE. 

8 Section 4042(b)(2)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code 

9 of 1986 is amended to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘(A) The Inland Waterways Trust Fund 

11 financing rate is the rate determined in accord12 ance with the following table: 

The tax per 

‘‘If the use occurs: gallon is: 

During 2013 ................................................................................ 20 cents

After 2013 ................................................................................... 29 cents’’. 

Æ 


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