IIB 
113TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3189 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MARCH 24, 2014 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources 
AN ACT 
To prohibit the conditioning of any permit, lease, or other 
use agreement on the transfer of any water right to 
the United States by the Secretaries of the Interior and 
Agriculture. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Water Rights Protec-
tion Act’’. 
SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF WATER RIGHTS. 
The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 
Agriculture— 
(1) shall not condition the issuance, renewal, 
amendment, or extension of any permit, approval, li-
cense, lease, allotment, easement, right-of-way, or 
other land use or occupancy agreement on the trans-
fer of any water right (including joint and sole own-
ership) directly to the United States, or any impair-
ment of title, in whole or in part, granted or other-
wise recognized under State law, by Federal or State 
adjudication, decree, or other judgment, or pursuant 
to any interstate water compact; and 
(2) shall not require any water user (including 
any federally recognized Indian tribe) to apply for or 
acquire a water right in the name of the United 
States under State law as a condition of the 
issuance, renewal, amendment, or extension of any 
permit, approval, license, lease, allotment, easement, 
right-of-way, or other land use or occupancy agree-
ment. 
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SEC. 3. DEFINITION. 
For purposes of this Act, the term ‘‘water right’’ 
means any surface, groundwater, or storage use filed, per-
mitted, certificated, confirmed, decreed, adjudicated, or 
otherwise recognized by a judicial proceeding or by the 
State in which the user acquires possession of the water 
or puts it to beneficial use. Such term shall include water 
rights for federally recognized Indian tribes. 
SEC. 4. IMPACT ON EXISTING AUTHORITY. 
Nothing in this Act limits or expands any existing 
legally recognized authority of the Secretaries to issue, 
grant, or condition any permit, approval, license, lease, al-
lotment, easement, right-of-way, or other land use or occu-
pancy agreement on Federal lands subject to their respec-
tive jurisdictions. 
SEC. 5. EFFECT ON RECLAMATION CONTRACTS. 
Nothing in this Act shall in any way interfere with 
existing or future Bureau of Reclamation contracts en-
tered into pursuant to Federal reclamation law (the Act 
of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388, chapter 1093), and Acts 
supplemental to and amendatory of that Act). 
SEC. 6. EFFECT ON ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT. 
Nothing in this Act shall affect the implementation 
of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 
et seq.). 
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SEC. 7. EFFECT ON FEDERAL RESERVED WATER RIGHTS. 
Nothing in this Act limits or expands any existing 
reserved water rights of the Federal Government on lands 
administered by the Secretary of the Interior or the Sec-
retary of Agriculture. 
SEC. 8. EFFECT ON FEDERAL POWER ACT. 
Nothing in this Act limits or expands authorities pur-
suant to sections 4(e), 10(j), or 18 of the Federal Power 
Act (16 U.S.C. 797(e), 803(j), and 811). 
SEC. 9. EFFECT ON INDIAN WATER RIGHTS. 
Nothing in this Act limits or expands any existing 
reserved water right or treaty right of any federally recog-
nized Indian tribe. 
Passed the House of Representatives March 13, 
2014. 
Attest: 
KAREN L. HAAS, 
Clerk. 
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