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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2575

To amend the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 30, 1993

Mr. SMITH of Oregon (for himself, Mr. ALLARD, Mr. DOOLEY, Mr. DORNAN,

Mr. CRAPO, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. HANSEN, Mr. LAROCCO, Mr.

LEHMAN, and Mr. DOOLITTLE) introduced the following bill; which was

referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

A BILL

To amend the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982, 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. CERTIFICATION AND REPORTING REQUIRE4 MENTS.

5 Section 206 of the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982

6 (43 U.S.C. 390ff) is amended—

7 (1) by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ after ‘‘SEC. 206.’’;

8 (2) by inserting ‘‘whose total landholding

9 westwide exceeds 320 acres’’ after ‘‘such district’’;

10 (3) by striking ‘‘title’’ and inserting ‘‘Act’’;
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1 (4) by inserting at the end of subsection (a), as

2 so designated by paragraph (1) of this section, the

3 following new sentence: ‘‘In the event that there is

4 no change from the information contained in the

5 form previously submitted, a landowner or lessee

6 may notify the district in writing that no change has

7 occurred in lieu of submitting a new form.’’; and

8 (5) by inserting after subsection (a), as so des9 ignated by paragraph (1) of this section, the follow10 ing:

11 ‘‘(b)(1) In the case of noncompliance in connection

12 with reporting and certification forms for incidents of non13 compliance violations based on errors, good faith questions

14 of interpretation or unintentional omissions, the Secretary

15 shall have the authority to impose penalties not to exceed

16 $1,500 per year against the person or legal entity who

17 is in such noncompliance. For the imposition of the pen18 alty, the Secretary shall establish a table of penalties

19 which shall account for the acreage of the person or legal

20 entity in violation and the number of their previous viola21 tions, if any. A penalty under this paragraph may not be

22 applied to any person or legal entity who is otherwise liable

23 if the violation was discovered and reported to the Sec24 retary or his authorized representative by the liable person

25 or legal entity and corrected within 30 days of the submis-
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1 sion of the form. In the event the person or legal entity

2 in noncompliance under this section received irrigation

3 water on ineligible lands or at less than the appropriate

4 water rate, the total penalty imposed against the non5 complying person or legal entity shall not exceed $1,500

6 per year, and the noncomplying person or legal entity shall

7 not be subject to the underpayment penalty provisions set

8 forth in section 224(i) of the Act.

9 ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall collect the fines and pen10 alties assessed pursuant to this subsection from the person

11 or legal entity who is in violation and not the district

12 which delivers the irrigation water to the person or legal

13 entity who is in violation.

14 ‘‘(3) Any funds recovered by the Secretary pursuant

15 to this subsection shall be covered into the Reclamation

16 Fund and placed to the credit of the district from whence

17 such funds were derived.

18 ‘‘(4) The Secretary is directed to review all compli19 ance violations identified prior to the date of enactment

20 of this subsection. In the case of incidents of noncompli21 ance based on errors, late submissions of forms, good faith

22 questions of interpretations, and unintentional omissions,

23 in lieu of an assessment of full cost, whether or not pre24 viously collected from the landholder or district, the Sec25 retary may impose penalties of up to $1,500 per year
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1 against the person or legal entity who was in violation.

2 Any amounts collected in excess thereof shall be refunded

3 or credited to future payments of the district. The Sec4 retary shall collect the fines and penalties from the person

5 or legal entity who was in violation.

6 ‘‘(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any

7 determination of noncompliance by the Secretary under

8 this section or under section 224(i) shall be in accordance

9 with chapter 5 of title 5 of the United States Code (relat10 ing to administrative procedure) and subject to an adju11 dicatory hearing. No penalty shall be imposed by the Sec12 retary on a landholder for failure to comply with any pro13 vision of this Act and the regulations established pursuant

14 to this Act after one year from the date of noncompliance

15 unless such noncompliance was the result of fraud or in16 tentional misrepresentation of fact by the landholder.’’.

17 SEC. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.

18 The amendments made by this Act shall take effect

19 on January 1, 1994.

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