SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘California Drought Al-
leviation Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. TEMPORARY EXEMPTION DURING DROUGHT EMER-
GENCIES. 
(a) EXEMPTION FOR THE OPERATION OF PUMPING 
PLANTS DURING DROUGHT EMERGENCIES.—Upon the 
declaration of a drought emergency by the Governor of 
California, the Secretary of the Interior shall make a writ-
ten determination as to the existence of a drought emer-
gency for the service areas of the Central Valley Project 
and the State Water Project. If the Secretary determines 
that a drought emergency exists for all or portions of the 
service areas of the Central Valley Project and the State 
Water Project, the Secretary shall temporarily exempt the 
operations of the Bureau of Reclamation C.W. ‘‘Bill’’ 
Jones Pumping Plant and the State of California Harvey 
O. Banks Pumping Plant from the prohibitions under the 
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) 
against take of species listed as endangered species or 
threatened species or adverse modification of critical habi-
tat, until such time as the Secretary determines that the 
drought emergency conditions are alleviated. For the pur-
poses of section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 
(16 U.S.C. 1536), the action of pumping water from these 
plants shall not be considered discretionary. 
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(b) TIME FOR DETERMINATION OF DROUGHT EMER-
GENCY.—The Secretary shall make such a determination 
as to the existence of a drought emergency within the 30- 
day period beginning on the date of a gubernatorial 
drought emergency declaration referred to in subsection 
(a). If the Secretary fails to make such determination 
within such period with respect to any portion of a service 
area referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary is deemed 
to have made a written determination that a drought 
emergency exists for that portion. 
(c) REASONABLE AND PRUDENT MEASURES TO PRO-
TECT SPECIES.—The Secretary may include in any deter-
mination under subsection (a) that a drought emergency 
exists, reasonable and prudent measures for the protection 
of an endangered species or its critical habitat. Such rea-
sonable and prudent measures, or the failure of the Sec-
retary to prescribe such reasonable and prudent measures, 
shall not impede the ability of the C.W. ‘‘Bill’’ Jones 
Pumping Plant and the Harvey O. Banks Pumping Plant 
to supply sufficient water for municipal, industrial, and 
irrigation uses. The cost of reasonable and prudent meas-
ures prescribed by the Secretary under this subsection 
shall be borne by the United States and shall be non-
reimbursable. 
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(d) NO EFFECT ON OTHER PROJECTS.—In carrying 
out this Act, the Secretary of the Interior and the Sec-
retary of Commerce shall not impose additional prescrip-
tions under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) or the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 
791a et seq.) on any other water storage or conveyance 
facility on the San Joaquin River, the Sacramento River, 
or their tributaries. 
SEC. 3. CONTINUED OPERATION OF C.W. ‘‘BILL’’ JONES 
PUMPING PLANT DURING DROUGHT EMER-
GENCIES. 
If the Secretary of the Interior determines that a 
drought emergency exists for any portion of the Central 
Valley Project Service Area in California, the Secretary 
shall direct the Bureau of Reclamation to operate the 
C.W. ‘‘Bill’’ Jones Pumping Plant at a capacity consistent 
with the Coordinated Operation Agreement between the 
Bureau of Reclamation and the California Department of 
Water Resources, and consistent with otherwise applicable 
laws (other than prohibitions under the Endangered Spe-
cies Act of 1973 from which the operation is exempt under 
subsection (a)) and existing water right, until such time 
as the Secretary determines that the drought emergency 
conditions are alleviated. 
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SEC. 4. DELTA SMELT HATCHERY PROGRAM. 
The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to enter, 
and shall seek to enter, into a cooperative agreement with 
the State of California to support the establishment of a 
fish hatchery program to preserve and restore the species 
Hypomesus transpacificus (popularly known as Delta 
Smelt) in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The hatch-
ery program should be designed to establish a sustainable 
population of Hypomesus transpacificus sufficient to war-
rant the species’ removal from the lists published under 
section 4 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 
U.S.C. 1533) and the State of California Endangered Spe-
cies Act. All Hypomesus transpacificus maintained, cul-
tured, introduced, or reintroduced under the program es-
tablished under this section are deemed to be members 
of any subspecies or population segment of Hypomesus 
transpacificus listed under section 4 of the Endangered 
Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533) for purposes of de-
termining whether such subspecies or population segment 
is a threatened species or endangered species under such 
section. 
Æ 
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