Contra Costa Canal Transfer Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 93 To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain land and facilities of the Central Valley Project. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 10, 2019 Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself and Ms. HARRIS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Nat- ural Resources A BILL To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain land and facilities of the Central Valley Project. 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 ‘‘Contra Costa Canal 4 Transfer Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) ACQUIRED LAND.—The term ‘‘acquired 8 land’’ means land in Federal ownership and land 9 over which the Federal Government holds an interest 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S93.IS S93 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 93 IS for the purpose of the construction and operation of 1 the Contra Costa Canal, including land under the ju- 2 risdiction of— 3 (A) the Bureau of Reclamation; 4 (B) the Western Area Power Administra- 5 tion; and 6 (C) the Department of Defense in the case 7 of the Clayton Canal diversion traversing the 8 Concord Naval Weapons Station. 9 (2) CONTRA COSTA CANAL.— 10 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Contra 11 Costa Canal’’ means the Contra Costa Canal 12 Unit of the Central Valley Project, which exclu- 13 sively serves the Contra Costa Water District in 14 an urban area of Contra Costa County, Cali- 15 fornia. 16 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘Contra 17 Costa Canal’’ includes pipelines, conduits, 18 pumping plants, aqueducts, laterals, water stor- 19 age and regulatory facilities, electric sub- 20 stations, related works and improvements, and 21 all interests in land associated with the Contra 22 Costa Canal Unit of the Central Valley Project 23 in existence on the date of enactment of this 24 Act. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S93.IS S93 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 93 IS (C) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘‘Contra Costa 1 Canal’’ does not include the Rock Slough fish 2 screen facility. 3 (3) CONTRA COSTA CANAL AGREEMENT.—The 4 term ‘‘Contra Costa Canal Agreement’’ means an 5 agreement between the District and the Bureau of 6 Reclamation to determine the legal, institutional, 7 and financial terms surrounding the transfer of the 8 Contra Costa Canal, including compensation to the 9 reclamation fund established by the first section of 10 the Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388, chapter 11 1093), equal to the net present value of miscella- 12 neous revenues that the United States would other- 13 wise derive over the 10 years following the date of 14 enactment of this Act from the eligible lands and fa- 15 cilities to be transferred, as governed by reclamation 16 law and policy and the contracts. 17 (4) CONTRACTS.—The term ‘‘contracts’’ means 18 the existing water service contract between the Dis- 19 trict and the United States, Contract No. 175r– 20 3401A–LTR1 (2005), Contract No. 14–06–200– 21 6072A (1972, as amended), and any other contract 22 or land permit involving the United States, the Dis- 23 trict, and Contra Costa Canal. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S93.IS S93 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 93 IS (5) DISTRICT.—The term ‘‘District’’ means the 1 Contra Costa Water District, a political subdivision 2 of the State of California. 3 (6) ROCK SLOUGH FISH SCREEN FACILITY.— 4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Rock 5 Slough fish screen facility’’ means the fish 6 screen facility at the Rock Slough intake to the 7 Contra Costa Canal. 8 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘Rock Slough 9 fish screen facility’’ includes the screen struc- 10 ture, rake cleaning system, and accessory struc- 11 tures integral to the screen function of the 12 Rock Slough fish screen facility, as required 13 under the Central Valley Project Improvement 14 Act (Public Law 102–575; 106 Stat. 4706). 15 (7) ROCK SLOUGH FISH SCREEN FACILITY 16 TITLE TRANSFER AGREEMENT.—The term ‘‘Rock 17 Slough fish screen facility title transfer agreement’’ 18 means an agreement between the District and the 19 Bureau of Reclamation to— 20 (A) determine the legal, institutional, and 21 financial terms surrounding the transfer of the 22 Rock Slough fish screen facility; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S93.IS S93 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 93 IS (B) ensure the continued safe and reliable 1 operations of the Rock Slough fish screen facil- 2 ity. 3 (8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 4 the Secretary of the Interior. 5 SEC. 3. CONVEYANCE OF LAND AND FACILITIES. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 7 date of enactment of this Act, in consideration for the Dis- 8 trict assuming from the United States all liability for the 9 administration, operation, maintenance, and replacement 10 of the Contra Costa Canal, consistent with the terms and 11 conditions set forth in the Contra Costa Canal Agreement 12 and subject to valid existing rights and existing recreation 13 agreements between the Bureau of Reclamation and the 14 East Bay Regional Park District for Contra Loma Re- 15 gional Park and other local agencies within the Contra 16 Costa Canal, the Secretary shall offer to convey and assign 17 to the District— 18 (1) all right, title, and interest of the United 19 States in and to— 20 (A) the Contra Costa Canal; and 21 (B) the acquired land; and 22 (2) all interests reserved and developed as of 23 the date of enactment of this Act for the Contra 24 Costa Canal in the acquired land, including existing 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S93.IS S93 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 93 IS recreation agreements between the Bureau of Rec- 1 lamation and the East Bay Regional Park District 2 for Contra Loma Regional Park and other local 3 agencies within the Contra Costa Canal. 4 (b) ROCK SLOUGH FISH SCREEN FACILITY.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall convey 6 and assign to the District all right, title, and inter- 7 est of the United States in and to the Rock Slough 8 fish screen facility pursuant to the Rock Slough fish 9 screen facility title transfer agreement. 10 (2) COOPERATION.—No later than 180 days 11 after the conveyance of the Contra Costa Canal, the 12 Secretary and the District shall enter into good faith 13 negotiations to accomplish the conveyance and as- 14 signment under paragraph (1). 15 (c) PAYMENT OF COSTS.—The District shall pay to 16 the Secretary any administrative and real estate transfer 17 costs incurred by the Secretary in carrying out the convey- 18 ances and assignments under subsections (a) and (b), in- 19 cluding the cost of any boundary survey, title search, ca- 20 dastral survey, appraisal, and other real estate transaction 21 required for the conveyances and assignments. 22 (d) COMPLIANCE WITH ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS.— 23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Before carrying out the con- 24 veyances and assignments under subsections (a) and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S93.IS S93 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 93 IS (b), the Secretary shall comply with all applicable re- 1 quirements under— 2 (A) the National Environmental Policy Act 3 of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.); 4 (B) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 5 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); and 6 (C) any other law applicable to the Contra 7 Costa Canal or the acquired land. 8 (2) EFFECT.—Nothing in this Act modifies or 9 alters any obligations under— 10 (A) the National Environmental Policy Act 11 of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.); or 12 (B) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 13 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 14 SEC. 4. RELATIONSHIP TO EXISTING CENTRAL VALLEY 15 PROJECT CONTRACTS. 16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act affects— 17 (1) the application of the reclamation laws to 18 water delivered to the District pursuant to any con- 19 tract with the Secretary; or 20 (2) subject to subsection (b), the contracts. 21 (b) AMENDMENTS TO CONTRACTS.—The Secretary 22 and the District may modify the contracts as necessary 23 to comply with this Act. 24 (c) LIABILITY.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S93.IS S93 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 93 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 1 graph (2), the United States shall not be liable for 2 damages arising out of any act, omission, or occur- 3 rence relating to the Contra Costa Canal or the ac- 4 quired land. 5 (2) EXCEPTION.—The United States shall con- 6 tinue to be liable for damages caused by acts of neg- 7 ligence committed by the United States or by any 8 employee or agent of the United States before the 9 date of the conveyance and assignment under section 10 3(a), consistent with chapter 171 of title 28, United 11 States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Federal Tort 12 Claims Act’’). 13 (3) LIMITATION.—Nothing in this Act increases 14 the liability of the United States beyond the liability 15 provided under chapter 171 of title 28, United 16 States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Federal Tort 17 Claims Act’’). 18 SEC. 5. REPORT. 19 If the conveyance and assignment authorized by sec- 20 tion 3(a) is not completed by the date that is 1 year after 21 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall sub- 22 mit to Congress a report that— 23 (1) describes the status of the conveyance and 24 assignment; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S93.IS S93 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 93 IS (2) describes any obstacles to completing the 1 conveyance and assignment; and 2 (3) specifies an anticipated date for completion 3 of the conveyance and assignment. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:41 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S93.IS S93 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS