II 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5303 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
SEPTEMBER 29, 2016 
Received 
AN ACT 
To provide for improvements to the rivers and harbors of 
the United States, to provide for the conservation and 
development of water and related resources, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:21 Sep 30, 2016
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5303.RDS
H5303
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
HR 5303 RDS
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Water Resources Development Act of 2016’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Secretary defined. 
TITLE I—GENERAL PROVISIONS 
Sec. 101. Sense of Congress regarding Water Resources Development Acts. 
Sec. 102. Youth service and conservation corps organizations. 
Sec. 103. Navigation safety. 
Sec. 104. Emerging harbors. 
Sec. 105. Federal breakwaters and jetties. 
Sec. 106. Donor ports and energy transfer ports. 
Sec. 107. Remote and subsistence harbors. 
Sec. 108. Beneficial use of dredged material. 
Sec. 109. Reservoir sediment. 
Sec. 110. Contributed funds for reservoir operations. 
Sec. 111. Water supply conservation. 
Sec. 112. Interstate compacts. 
Sec. 113. Nonstructural alternatives. 
Sec. 114. Operation and maintenance of environmental protection and restora-
tion and aquatic ecosystem restoration projects. 
Sec. 115. Estuary restoration. 
Sec. 116. Great Lakes fishery and ecosystem restoration. 
Sec. 117. Agreements. 
Sec. 118. Corps of Engineers operation of unmanned aircraft systems. 
Sec. 119. Federal dredge fleet. 
Sec. 120. Corps of Engineers assets. 
Sec. 121. Funding to process permits. 
Sec. 122. Credit in lieu of reimbursement. 
Sec. 123. Clarification of contributions during emergency events. 
Sec. 124. Study of water resources development projects by non-Federal inter-
ests. 
Sec. 125. Non-Federal construction of authorized flood damage reduction 
projects. 
Sec. 126. Multistate activities. 
Sec. 127. Regional participation assurance for levee safety activities. 
Sec. 128. Participation of non-Federal interests. 
Sec. 129. Indian tribes. 
Sec. 130. Dissemination of information on the annual report process. 
Sec. 131. Scope of projects. 
Sec. 132. Preliminary feasibility study activities. 
Sec. 133. Post-authorization change reports. 
Sec. 134. Maintenance dredging data. 
Sec. 135. Electronic submission and tracking of permit applications. 
Sec. 136. Data transparency. 
Sec. 137. Backlog prevention. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:21 Sep 30, 2016
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6211
E:\BILLS\H5303.RDS
H5303
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
HR 5303 RDS
Sec. 138. Quality control. 
Sec. 139. Budget development and prioritization. 
Sec. 140. Use of natural and nature-based features. 
Sec. 141. Annual report on purchase of foreign manufactured articles. 
Sec. 142. Integrated water resources planning. 
Sec. 143. Evaluation of project partnership agreements. 
Sec. 144. Additional measures at donor ports and energy transfer ports. 
Sec. 145. Arctic deep draft port development partnerships. 
Sec. 146. International outreach program. 
Sec. 147. Comprehensive study. 
Sec. 148. Alternative models for managing Inland Waterways Trust Fund. 
Sec. 149. Alternative projects to maintenance dredging. 
Sec. 150. Fish hatcheries. 
Sec. 151. Environmental banks. 
Sec. 152. Cost share requirement. 
Sec. 153. Public access. 
Sec. 154. Tribal displacement. 
Sec. 155. Drought emergencies. 
Sec. 156. GAO study. 
Sec. 157. Work defined. 
Sec. 158. Authorization of federally maintained tributary channels as part of 
channel system. 
Sec. 159. Dam safety repair projects. 
Sec. 160. Expedited completion of authorized project for flood risk manage-
ment. 
Sec. 161. Review of Benefits. 
Sec. 162. Federal cost limitation of ecosystem restoration costs for certain 
projects. 
Sec. 163. Local flood protection works. 
Sec. 164. Flood mitigation and riverine restoration program. 
Sec. 165. Table Rock Lake, Arkansas and Missouri. 
Sec. 166. Adjustment to cost benefit ratio. 
Sec. 167. Land transfer and trust land for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. 
Sec. 168. Lake Kemp, Texas. 
Sec. 169. Coastal Texas ecosystem protection and restoration, Texas. 
Sec. 170. Corps levees that affect community-owned levees. 
Sec. 171. Corrosion prevention. 
Sec. 172. North Atlantic Coastal Region. 
Sec. 173. Acquisition of beach fill. 
Sec. 174. Prioritization of certain projects. 
Sec. 175. Watercraft Inspection Stations. 
Sec. 176. Gulf coast oyster bed recovery assessment. 
Sec. 177. Water infrastructure finance and innovation. 
Sec. 178. Flood mitigation and rierine restoration program. 
Sec. 179. Initiating work on separable elements. 
Sec. 180. Lower Bois d’Arc Creek Reservoir Project, Fannin County, Texas. 
Sec. 181. Consideration of use of natural and nature-based feature. 
Sec. 182. Recreational access. 
Sec. 183. No wake zones for vessels. 
Sec. 184. Ice jam prevention and mitigation. 
Sec. 185. Tribal consultation. 
Sec. 186. Structural health monitoring. 
Sec. 187. Expedited completion of authorized project for flood control. 
Sec. 188. Cameron County, Texas. 
Sec. 189. Great Lakes Navigation System. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:21 Sep 30, 2016
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6211
E:\BILLS\H5303.RDS
H5303
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
HR 5303 RDS
Sec. 190. Kennewick Man. 
Sec. 191. Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. 
Sec. 192. Additional assistance. 
TITLE II—STUDIES 
Sec. 201. Authorization of proposed feasibility studies. 
Sec. 202. Expedited completion of reports for certain projects. 
Sec. 203. Tulsa and West Tulsa, Arkansas River, Oklahoma. 
TITLE III—DEAUTHORIZATIONS AND RELATED PROVISIONS 
Sec. 301. Deauthorization of inactive projects. 
Sec. 302. Valdez, Alaska. 
Sec. 303. Los Angeles County Drainage Area, Los Angeles County, California. 
Sec. 304. Sutter Basin, California. 
Sec. 305. Essex River, Massachusetts. 
Sec. 306. Port of Cascade Locks, Oregon. 
Sec. 307. Central Delaware River, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 
Sec. 308. Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. 
Sec. 309. Rivercenter, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 
Sec. 310. Joe Pool Lake, Texas. 
Sec. 311. Salt Creek, Graham, Texas. 
Sec. 312. Texas City Ship Channel, Texas City, Texas. 
Sec. 313. Stonington Harbor, Connecticut. 
TITLE IV—WATER RESOURCES INFRASTRUCTURE 
Sec. 401. Project authorizations. 
SEC. 2. SECRETARY DEFINED. 
In this Act, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Sec-
retary of the Army. 
TITLE I—GENERAL PROVISIONS 
SEC. 101. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING WATER RE-
SOURCES DEVELOPMENT ACTS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Corps of Engineers constructs projects 
for the purposes of navigation, flood control, beach 
erosion control and shoreline protection, hydro-
electric power, recreation, water supply, environ-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:21 Sep 30, 2016
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5303.RDS
H5303
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
HR 5303 RDS
mental protection, restoration, and enhancement, 
and fish and wildlife mitigation. 
(2) The Corps of Engineers is the primary Fed-
eral provider of outdoor recreation in the United 
States. 
(3) The Corps of Engineers owns and operates 
more than 600 dams. 
(4) The Corps of Engineers operates and main-
tains 12,000 miles of commercial inland navigation 
channels. 
(5) The Corps of Engineers manages the dredg-
ing of more than 200,000,000 cubic yards of con-
struction and maintenance dredge material annually. 
(6) The Corps of Engineers maintains 926 
coastal, Great Lakes, and inland harbors. 
(7) The Corps of Engineers restores, creates, 
enhances, or preserves tens of thousands of acres of 
wetlands annually under the Corps’ Regulatory Pro-
gram. 
(8) The Corps of Engineers provides a total 
water supply storage capacity of 329,200,000 acre- 
feet in major Corps lakes. 
(9) The Corps of Engineers owns and operates 
24 percent of United States hydropower capacity or 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:21 Sep 30, 2016
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5303.RDS
H5303
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
HR 5303 RDS
3 percent of the total electric capacity of the United 
States. 
(10) The Corps of Engineers supports Army 
and Air Force installations. 
(11) The Corps of Engineers provides technical 
and construction support to more than 100 coun-
tries. 
(12) The Corps of Engineers manages an Army 
military construction program that carried out ap-
proximately 
$44,600,000,000 
in 
construction 
projects (the largest construction effort since World 
War II) between 2006 and 2013. 
(13) The Corps of Engineers researches and de-
velops technologies to protect the environment and 
enhance quality of life in the United States. 
(14) The legislation for authorizing Corps of 
Engineers projects is the Water Resources Develop-
ment Act and, between 1986 and 2000, Congress 
typically enacted an authorization bill every 2 years. 
(15) Since 2000, only 3 Water Resources De-
velopment Acts have been enacted. 
(16) In 2014, the Water Resources Reform and 
Development Act of 2014 was enacted, which accel-
erated the infrastructure project delivery process, 
fostered fiscal responsibility, and strengthened water 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:21 Sep 30, 2016
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5303.RDS
H5303
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
HR 5303 RDS
transportation networks to promote the competitive-
ness, prosperity, and economic growth of the United 
States. 
(17) Section 1001 of the Water Resources Re-
form and Development Act of 2014 (33 U.S.C. 
2282c) requires typical Corps of Engineers project 
feasibility studies to be completed in 3 years. 
(18) Section 7001 of the Water Resources Re-
form and Development Act of 2014 (33 U.S.C. 
2282d) requires the Corps of Engineers to submit 
annually a Report to Congress on Future Water Re-
sources Development, which ensures projects and ac-
tivities proposed at the local, regional, and State lev-
els are considered for authorization. 
(19) Passing Water Resources Development 
Acts on a routine basis enables Congress to exercise 
oversight, ensures the Corps of Engineers maintains 
an appropriately sized portfolio, prevents project 
backlog, and keeps United States infrastructure 
competitive. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that— 
(1) the missions and authorities of the Corps of 
Engineers are a unique function that benefits all 
Americans; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:21 Sep 30, 2016
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5303.RDS
H5303
SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS