California is experiencing serious water shortages due to widespread and exceptional drought. Even though much of the state is served by two large water infrastructure projects that store water for future use—the federal Central Valley Project (CVP) and the State Water Project (SWP)—both projects have had to reduce water deliveries to the farmers and communities they serve. Many water users have received no water from the CVP and SWP this year and are supplementing surface water supplies with groundwater. Some water basins are experiencing overdraft of local aquifers (i.e., extraction of more groundwater than is being replenished). The dry hydrological conditions, in combination with regulatory restrictions on water being pumped from the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers Delta confluence with the San Francisco Bay (Bay-Delta) to protect water quality and fish and wildlife, have resulted in water supply cutbacks for CVP and SWP water users throughout their respective service areas, and in historic cutbacks to senior water rights in some areas. The effects are widespread and are being felt by many economic sectors. The extent and severity of the drought is also taking its toll on fish and wildlife resources and has increased concern for wildfires. California's complex water supply systems also experienced severe water supply shortages during a recent three-year drought, which lasted from 2008 to 2010, during a six-year drought from 1987 to 1992, and during a two-year drought from 1976 to 1977. CVP and SWP water operations and water supply reductions have been at the heart of legislation in the 113 th Congress aimed at addressing management of the systems in response to the current drought in California. Faced with the prospect of another dry winter and water shortages in 2015, the short-term issue for Congress is how to respond to demands for increased water deliveries, while avoiding harm to the environment (including several fish species and water quality) and economies that depend directly on environmental resources (e.g., recreation, commercial and sport fishing). Other issues include how to address water supply in general and how to finance any improvement or increase in water supply storage given current fiscal constraints and earmark moratoria. A longer-term issue for Congress is how to improve federal water delivery reliability and stabilize the aquatic ecosystems upon which water and power users, and diverse economies, depend, while also maintaining federally listed species and water quality. Several bills have been introduced in the 113 th Congress to address California water supply and drought, and management of the CVP and SWP in particular. This report provides a description and analysis of H.R. 5781 , the California Emergency Drought Relief Act of 2014, which was introduced on December 2, 2014, and includes brief comparisons with H.R. 3964 , which passed the House on February 5, 2014, and S. 2198 , which passed the Senate on May 22, 2014. Some of this analysis draws from a CRS report comparing the two earlier bills: CRS Report R43649, Federal Response to Drought in California: An Analysis of S. 2198 and H.R. 3964 , by [author name scrubbed], [author name scrubbed], and [author name scrubbed]. Although nearly 60% of California is experiencing exceptional drought—the most severe category classified by the U.S. Drought Monitor —some water users also point to regulatory and court-imposed restrictions on water pumping to protect fish under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) as contributing to reduced CVP and SWP water deliveries. Thus, some refer to the drought as a "Congress-made" or "man-made drought." Similar claims were made in 2009 after three years of drought conditions led to water supply shortages in California. Frustration for CVP and SWP water contractors also occurred when California experienced a very wet year in 2011, and water deliveries were still reduced. Conversely, fishermen and others questioned to what degree increased Delta pumping in 2004 contributed to fish declines. Although reservoirs were mostly near or above average entering the 2012 water year, low precipitation during the 2011/2012 winter and biological opinion requirements for managing Delta pumps resulted in reduced CVP water deliveries for 2012 and again in 2013, a below-normal water year. A variety of factors affect CVP and SWP water deliveries. These include operational constraints pursuant to the federal ESA, as noted above, but also state water quality regulations and court orders implementing state and federal water quality and other laws, CVP allocations policies, and the state's long established water rights system. These latter factors can exacerbate the impacts of drought on water deliveries to some contractors. For example, the system of state water rights has a profound effect on who gets how much water and when, particularly in times of drought or other changes in the hydrologic cycle. Water shortages due to hydrologic variability and regulatory export restrictions have resulted in unequal impacts on CVP and SWP water contractors because of differences in priority of water rights underlying different water contracts and federal and state allocation policies. Although combined Delta exports have increased on average since the 1980s and early 1990s (see Figure 1 , above), even with implementation of several regulatory restrictions, CVP water allocations for some contractors have been significantly reduced, even in non-drought years (see Figure 2 for 2014 water-year allocations). Legislation addressing the management of the CVP and SWP is particularly controversial because the coordinated operation and management of the CVP and SWP involves a complex web of federal and state law, including the state water rights priorities mentioned above; water delivery contracts; federal, state, and local agency policies; multi-agency agreements; and other factors. Achieving consensus on such legislation is often difficult because a change in any of these factors can affect other parties and interests, including potentially altering the timing or amount of water made available to such parties or the underlying ecosystem. For example, if water pumped from the Delta is directed to be increased beyond the status quo, some question where that water will come from and what effect it might have on other water users or species, or in-Delta water quality. Similarly, by prohibiting involuntary reductions to those who receive water from the CVP and SWP, could that result in reduced water supplies or a change in the timing of water available to other water users not specified? How will such directions be squared with the declaration that the CVP must be operated in conformity with state water law and that there shall be "no redirected water supply or fiscal impacts"? For example, will it be possible to pump at the levels specified in the bill without having "redirected" impacts on other water users? How can such impacts be avoided, and if they cannot, who might bear responsibility or pay for unavoidable costs? These are some of the questions raised by H.R. 5781 , as well as H.R. 3964 and S. 2198 . H.R. 5781 attempts to address these issues. Some proponents in favor of the bill state that it aims to provide additional water supplies for users without altering environmental laws and regulations, and while preserving water rights and priorities. Further, they note that the bill would provide federal agencies with the flexibility to maximize water flows through the CVP and SWP in a short-term framework (i.e., the bill would expire in 2016 or when the California state drought emergency declaration is suspended). Some opponents of the bill state that it would increase flows of water out of the Bay-Delta for municipal, agricultural, and industrial uses as well as for species and habitat to the detriment of water quality in the Bay-Delta. Further, they note that the bill would alter biological opinions (BiOps) for listed species under ESA by increasing pumping rates for water out of the Delta, ultimately reducing the protections for these species and their habitat. The Obama Administration on December 5, 2014, issued a Statement of Administration Policy opposing passage of H.R. 5781 on the grounds that it "fails to equitably address critical elements of California's complex water challenges." The statement concludes with a notification of potential veto of H.R. 5781 after stating that "the bill appears to include a number of potentially conflicting mandates which can create confusion and undermine environmental laws, making it ripe for future litigation." Governor Brown's administration also stated that it opposed H.R. 5781 by implying that the bill would reignite water wars within the state of California. This analysis focuses on the most recently House-passed bill, H.R. 5781 . It includes a brief summary of key provisions of H.R. 5781 , and compares it to two other bills aiming to address different aspects of water supply and management in California, H.R. 3964 and S. 2198 . Some of this analysis draws from a CRS report comparing the two earlier bills, CRS Report R43649, Federal Response to Drought in California: An Analysis of S. 2198 and H.R. 3964 , by [author name scrubbed], [author name scrubbed], and [author name scrubbed]. A side-by-side comparison of comparable text in these bills is provided at the end of this report. Portions of H.R. 5781 address policy questions stemming from limited CVP and SWP water supplies in a similar way to H.R. 3964 and S. 2198 , with some exceptions. There are several slightly different and new provisions and subsections, including four new definitions in the bill. While Title I of H.R. 5781 —in similar fashion to S. 2198 —aims to maximize water supplies within existing law and regulations, Title II aims to protect third parties from "redirected" impacts and involuntary water supply reductions to the state and specified contractors (similar to language included in H.R. 3964 as passed by the House). There have been no hearings on the House- or Senate-passed bills, or on H.R. 5781 , and only limited debate on the bills themselves.