Bureau of Reclamation Transparency Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 40 To require the Secretary of the Interior to submit to Congress a report on the efforts of the Bureau of Reclamation to manage its infrastructure assets. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 8, 2019 Mr. BARRASSO (for himself and Mr. SCHATZ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Nat- ural Resources A BILL To require the Secretary of the Interior to submit to Con- gress a report on the efforts of the Bureau of Reclama- tion to manage its infrastructure assets. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bureau of Reclamation 4 Transparency Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) ASSET.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jan 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S40.IS S40 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 40 IS (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘asset’’ 1 means any of the following assets that are used 2 to achieve the mission of the Bureau of Rec- 3 lamation to manage, develop, and protect water 4 and related resources in an environmentally and 5 economically sound manner in the interest of 6 the people of the United States: 7 (i) Capitalized facilities, buildings, 8 structures, project features, power produc- 9 tion equipment, recreation facilities, or 10 quarters. 11 (ii) Capitalized and noncapitalized 12 heavy equipment and other installed equip- 13 ment. 14 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘asset’’ in- 15 cludes assets described in subparagraph (A) 16 that are considered to be mission critical. 17 (2) ASSET MANAGEMENT REPORT.—The term 18 ‘‘Asset Management Report’’ means— 19 (A) the annual plan prepared by the Bu- 20 reau of Reclamation known as the ‘‘Asset Man- 21 agement Plan’’; and 22 (B) any publicly available information re- 23 lating to the plan described in subparagraph 24 (A) that summarizes the efforts of the Bureau 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jan 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S40.IS S40 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 40 IS of Reclamation to evaluate and manage infra- 1 structure assets of the Bureau of Reclamation. 2 (3) MAJOR REPAIR AND REHABILITATION 3 NEED.—The term ‘‘major repair and rehabilitation 4 need’’ means major nonrecurring maintenance at a 5 Reclamation facility, including maintenance related 6 to the safety of dams, extraordinary maintenance of 7 dams, deferred major maintenance activities, and all 8 other significant repairs and extraordinary mainte- 9 nance. 10 (4) RECLAMATION FACILITY.—The term ‘‘Rec- 11 lamation facility’’ means each of the infrastructure 12 assets that are owned by the Bureau of Reclamation 13 at a Reclamation project. 14 (5) RECLAMATION PROJECT.—The term ‘‘Rec- 15 lamation project’’ means a project that is owned by 16 the Bureau of Reclamation, including all reserved 17 works and transferred works owned by the Bureau 18 of Reclamation. 19 (6) RESERVED WORKS.—The term ‘‘reserved 20 works’’ means buildings, structures, facilities, or 21 equipment that are owned by the Bureau of Rec- 22 lamation for which operations and maintenance are 23 performed by employees of the Bureau of Reclama- 24 tion or through a contract entered into by the Bu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jan 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S40.IS S40 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 40 IS reau of Reclamation, regardless of the source of 1 funding for the operations and maintenance. 2 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 3 the Secretary of the Interior. 4 (8) TRANSFERRED WORKS.—The term ‘‘trans- 5 ferred works’’ means a Reclamation facility at which 6 operations and maintenance of the facility is carried 7 out by a non-Federal entity under the provisions of 8 a formal operations and maintenance transfer con- 9 tract or other legal agreement with the Bureau of 10 Reclamation. 11 SEC. 3. ASSET MANAGEMENT REPORT ENHANCEMENTS 12 FOR RESERVED WORKS. 13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 14 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 15 to Congress an Asset Management Report that— 16 (1) describes the efforts of the Bureau of Rec- 17 lamation— 18 (A) to maintain in a reliable manner all re- 19 served works at Reclamation facilities; and 20 (B) to standardize and streamline data re- 21 porting and processes across regions and areas 22 for the purpose of maintaining reserved works 23 at Reclamation facilities; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jan 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S40.IS S40 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 40 IS (2) expands on the information otherwise pro- 1 vided in an Asset Management Report, in accord- 2 ance with subsection (b). 3 (b) INFRASTRUCTURE MAINTENANCE NEEDS AS- 4 SESSMENT.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Asset Management Re- 6 port submitted under subsection (a) shall include— 7 (A) a detailed assessment of major repair 8 and rehabilitation needs for all reserved works 9 at all Reclamation projects; and 10 (B) to the extent practicable, an itemized 11 list of major repair and rehabilitation needs of 12 individual Reclamation facilities at each Rec- 13 lamation project. 14 (2) INCLUSIONS.—To the extent practicable, 15 the itemized list of major repair and rehabilitation 16 needs under paragraph (1)(B) shall include— 17 (A) a budget level cost estimate of the ap- 18 propriations needed to complete each item; and 19 (B) an assignment of a categorical rating 20 for each item, consistent with paragraph (3). 21 (3) RATING REQUIREMENTS.— 22 (A) IN GENERAL.—The system for assign- 23 ing ratings under paragraph (2)(B) shall be— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jan 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S40.IS S40 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 40 IS (i) consistent with existing uniform 1 categorization systems to inform the an- 2 nual budget process and agency require- 3 ments; and 4 (ii) subject to the guidance and in- 5 structions issued under subparagraph (B). 6 (B) GUIDANCE.—As soon as practicable 7 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 8 retary shall issue guidance that describes the 9 applicability of the rating system applicable 10 under paragraph (2)(B) to Reclamation facili- 11 ties. 12 (4) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Except as provided 13 in paragraph (5), the Secretary shall make publicly 14 available, including on the Internet, the Asset Man- 15 agement Report required under subsection (a). 16 (5) CONFIDENTIALITY.—The Secretary may ex- 17 clude from the public version of the Asset Manage- 18 ment Report made available under paragraph (4) 19 any information that the Secretary identifies as sen- 20 sitive or classified, but shall make available to the 21 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 22 Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of 23 the House of Representatives a version of the report 24 containing the sensitive or classified information. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jan 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S40.IS S40 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 40 IS (c) UPDATES.—Not later than 2 years after the date 1 on which the Asset Management Report is submitted 2 under subsection (a) and biennially thereafter, the Sec- 3 retary shall update the Asset Management Report, subject 4 to the requirements of section 4(b)(2). 5 (d) CONSULTATION.—To the extent that such con- 6 sultation would assist the Secretary in preparing the Asset 7 Management Report under subsection (a) and updates to 8 the Asset Management Report under subsection (c), the 9 Secretary shall consult with— 10 (1) the Secretary of the Army (acting through 11 the Chief of Engineers); and 12 (2) water and power contractors. 13 SEC. 4. ASSET MANAGEMENT REPORT ENHANCEMENTS 14 FOR TRANSFERRED WORKS. 15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall coordinate 16 with the non-Federal entities responsible for the operation 17 and maintenance of transferred works in developing re- 18 porting requirements for Asset Management Reports with 19 respect to major repair and rehabilitation needs for trans- 20 ferred works that are similar to the reporting require- 21 ments described in section 3(b). 22 (b) GUIDANCE.— 23 (1) IN GENERAL.—After considering input from 24 water and power contractors of the Bureau of Rec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jan 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S40.IS S40 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 40 IS lamation, the Secretary shall develop and implement 1 a rating system for transferred works that incor- 2 porates, to the maximum extent practicable, the rat- 3 ing system for major repair and rehabilitation needs 4 for reserved works developed under section 3(b)(3). 5 (2) UPDATES.—The ratings system developed 6 under paragraph (1) shall be included in the up- 7 dated Asset Management Reports under section 8 3(c). 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jan 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S40.IS S40 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS