‘‘(2) LIQUIDATED
DAMAGES.—A partnership 
agreement described in paragraph (1) may include a 
provision for liquidated damages in the event of a 
failure of one or more parties to perform. 
‘‘(3) OBLIGATION
OF
FUTURE
APPROPRIA-
TIONS.—In any partnership agreement described in 
paragraph (1) and entered into by a State, or a body 
politic of the State which derives its powers from the 
State constitution, or a governmental entity created 
by the State legislature, the agreement may reflect 
that it does not obligate future appropriations for 
such performance and payment when obligating fu-
ture appropriations would be inconsistent with con-
stitutional or statutory limitations of the State or a 
political subdivision of the State. 
‘‘(4) CREDIT FOR IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A partnership agree-
ment described in paragraph (1) may provide 
with respect to a project that the Secretary 
shall credit toward the non-Federal share of the 
cost of the project, including a project imple-
mented without specific authorization in law, 
the value of in-kind contributions made by the 
non-Federal interest, including—
‘‘(i) the costs of planning (including 
data collection), design, management, miti-
gation, construction, and construction serv-
ices that are provided by the non-Federal 
interest for implementation of the project; 
‘‘(ii) the value of materials or services 
provided before execution of the partner-
ship agreement, including efforts on con-
structed elements incorporated into the 
project; and 
‘‘(iii) the value of materials and serv-
ices provided after execution of the part-
nership agreement. 
‘‘(B) CONDITION.—The Secretary shall 
credit an in-kind contribution under subpara-
graph (A) if the Secretary determines that the 
material or service provided as an in-kind con-
tribution is integral to the project. 
‘‘(C) WORK
PERFORMED
BEFORE
PART-
NERSHIP AGREEMENT.—In any case in which 
the non-Federal interest is to receive credit 
under subparagraph (A)(ii) for the cost of work 
carried out by the non-Federal interest and 
such work has not been carried out as of the 
date of enactment of this subparagraph, the
Secretary and the non-Federal interest shall 
enter into an agreement under which the non-
Federal interest shall carry out such work, and 
only work carried out following the execution of 
the agreement shall be eligible for credit. 
‘‘(D) 
LIMITATIONS.—Credit 
authorized 
under this paragraph for a project—
‘‘(i) shall not exceed the non-Federal 
share of the cost of the project; 
‘‘(ii) shall not alter any other require-
ment that a non-Federal interest provide 
lands, easements or rights-of-way, or areas 
for disposal of dredged material for the 
project; 
‘‘(iii) shall not alter any requirement 
that a non-Federal interest pay a portion 
of the costs of construction of the project 
under sections 101 and 103 of the Water 
Resources Development Act of 1986 (33 
U.S.C. 2211; 33 U.S.C. 2213); and 
‘‘(iv) shall not exceed the actual and 
reasonable costs of the materials, services, 
or other things provided by the non-Fed-
eral interest, as determined by the Sec-
retary.
‘‘(E) APPLICABILITY.—
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—This paragraph 
shall apply to water resources projects au-
thorized after November 16, 1986, includ-
ing projects initiated after November 16, 
1986, without specific authorization in law. 
‘‘(ii) LIMITATION.—In any case in 
which a specific provision of law provides 
for a non-Federal interest to receive credit 
toward the non-Federal share of the cost 
of a study for, or construction or operation 
and maintenance of, a water resources 
project, the specific provision of law shall 
apply instead of this paragraph.’’. 
(b) NON-FEDERAL INTEREST.—Section 221(b) of 
such Act is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(b) DEFINITION OF NON-FEDERAL INTEREST.—
The term ‘non-Federal interest’ means a legally con-
stituted public body (including a federally recognized In-
dian tribe), and a nonprofit entity with the consent of the 
affected local government, that has full authority and ca-
pability to perform the terms of its agreement and to pay 
damages, if necessary, in the event of failure to perform.’’. 
(c) PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION.—Section 221 of 
such Act is further amended—
(1) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub-
section (h); and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(e) DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY.—Not later than 
September 30, 2008, the Secretary shall issue policies and 
guidelines for partnership agreements that delegate to the 
district engineers, at a minimum—
‘‘(1) the authority to approve any policy in a 
partnership agreement that has appeared in an 
agreement previously approved by the Secretary; 
‘‘(2) the authority to approve any policy in a 
partnership agreement the specific terms of which 
are dictated by law or by a final feasibility study, 
final environmental impact statement, or other final 
decision document for a water resources project; 
‘‘(3) the authority to approve any partnership 
agreement that complies with the policies and guide-
lines issued by the Secretary; and 
‘‘(4) the authority to sign any partnership 
agreement for any water resources project unless, 
within 30 days of the date of authorization of the 
project, the Secretary notifies the district engineer in 
which the project will be carried out that the Sec-
retary wishes to retain the prerogative to sign the 
partnership agreement for that project. 
‘‘(f) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 2 years 
after the date of enactment of this subsection, and every 
year thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a 
report detailing the following: 
‘‘(1) The number of partnership agreements 
signed by district engineers and the number of part-
nership agreements signed by the Secretary. 
‘‘(2) For any partnership agreement signed by 
the Secretary, an explanation of why delegation to 
the district engineer was not appropriate. 
‘‘(g) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Not later than 120 
days after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 
Chief of Engineers shall—
‘‘(1) ensure that each district engineer has 
made available to the public, including on the Inter-
net, all partnership agreements entered into under 
this section within the preceding 10 years and all 
partnership agreements for water resources projects 
currently being carried out in that district; and 
‘‘(2) make each partnership agreement entered 
into after such date of enactment available to the 
public, including on the Internet, not later than 7