or is intended to otherwise facilitate the Water Man-
agement Goal, as described in the Settlement. The 
Secretary shall promptly make such notice publicly 
available. 
(2) 
DETERMINATION
OF
REDUCTIONS
TO 
WATER
DELIVERIES.—Water transferred or ex-
changed under an agreement that meets the terms 
of this subsection shall not be counted as a replace-
ment or an offset for purposes of determining reduc-
tions to water deliveries to any Friant Division long- 
term contractor except as provided in paragraph 
16(b) of the Settlement. The Secretary shall, at least 
annually, make publicly available a compilation of 
the number of transfer or exchange agreements exer-
cising the provisions of this subsection to reduce, 
avoid, or mitigate impacts to water deliveries caused 
by the Interim Flows or Restoration Flows or to fa-
cilitate the Water Management Goal, as well as the 
volume of water transferred or exchanged under 
such agreements. 
(3) STATE LAW.—Nothing in this subsection al-
ters State law or permit conditions, including any 
applicable geographical restrictions on the place of 
use of water transferred or exchanged pursuant to 
this subsection. 
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(f) CERTAIN REPAYMENT OBLIGATIONS NOT AL-
TERED.—Implementation of the provisions of this section 
shall not alter the repayment obligation of any other long- 
term water contractor receiving water from the Central 
Valley Project. 
(g) STATUTORY INTERPRETATION.—Nothing in this 
Act shall be construed to affect the right of any Friant 
Division long-term contractor to use a particular type of 
financing to make the payments required in subsection 
(a)(1). 
SEC. 111. CALIFORNIA CENTRAL VALLEY SPRING RUN CHI-
NOOK SALMON. 
(a) FINDING.—Congress finds that the implementa-
tion of the Settlement to resolve 18 years of contentious 
litigation regarding restoration of the San Joaquin River 
and the reintroduction of the California Central Valley 
Spring Run Chinook salmon is a unique and unprece-
dented circumstance that requires clear expressions of 
Congressional intent regarding how the provisions of the 
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) 
are utilized to achieve the goals of restoration of the San 
Joaquin River and the successful reintroduction of Cali-
fornia Central Valley Spring Run Chinook salmon. 
(b) REINTRODUCTION
IN
THE
SAN
JOAQUIN 
RIVER.—California Central Valley Spring Run Chinook 
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salmon shall be reintroduced in the San Joaquin River 
below Friant Dam pursuant to section 10(j) of the Endan-
gered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1539(j)) and the 
Settlement, provided that the Secretary of Commerce 
finds that a permit for the reintroduction of California 
Central Valley Spring Run Chinook salmon may be issued 
pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered Spe-
cies Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1539(a)(1)(A)). 
(c) FINAL RULE.— 
(1) DEFINITION
OF
THIRD
PARTY.—For the 
purpose of this subsection, the term ‘‘third party’’ 
means persons or entities diverting or receiving 
water pursuant to applicable State and Federal law 
and shall include Central Valley Project contractors 
outside of the Friant Division of the Central Valley 
Project and the State Water Project. 
(2) ISSUANCE.—The Secretary of Commerce 
shall issue a final rule pursuant to section 4(d) of 
the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 
1533(d)) governing the incidental take of reintro-
duced California Central Valley Spring Run Chinook 
salmon prior to the reintroduction. 
(3) REQUIRED COMPONENTS.—The rule issued 
under paragraph (2) shall provide that the reintro-
duction will not impose more than de minimus: 
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water supply reductions, additional storage releases, 
or bypass flows on unwilling third parties due to 
such reintroduction. 
(4) APPLICABLE
LAW.—Nothing in this sec-
tion— 
(A) diminishes the statutory or regulatory 
protections provided in the Endangered Species 
Act for any species listed pursuant to section 4 
of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 
U.S.C. 1533) other than the reintroduced popu-
lation of California Central Valley Spring Run 
Chinook salmon, including protections pursuant 
to existing biological opinions or new biological 
opinions issued by the Secretary or Secretary of 
Commerce; or 
(B) precludes the Secretary or Secretary of 
Commerce from imposing protections under the 
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 
1531 et seq.) for other species listed pursuant 
to section 4 of that Act (16 U.S.C. 1533) be-
cause those protections provide incidental bene-
fits to such reintroduced California Central Val-
ley Spring Run Chinook salmon. 
(d) REPORT.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than December 31, 
2024, the Secretary of Commerce shall report to 
Congress on the progress made on the reintroduction 
set forth in this section and the Secretary’s plans for 
future implementation of this section. 
(2) INCLUSIONS.—The report under paragraph 
(1) shall include— 
(A) an assessment of the major challenges, 
if any, to successful reintroduction; 
(B) an evaluation of the effect, if any, of 
the reintroduction on the existing population of 
California Central Valley Spring Run Chinook 
salmon existing on the Sacramento River or its 
tributaries; and 
(C) an assessment regarding the future of 
the reintroduction. 
(e) FERC PROJECTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—With regard to California 
Central Valley Spring Run Chinook salmon reintro-
duced pursuant to the Settlement, the Secretary of 
Commerce shall exercise its authority under section 
18 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 811) by re-
serving its right to file prescriptions in proceedings 
for projects licensed by the Federal Energy Regu-
latory Commission on the Calaveras, Stanislaus, 
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