Bureau of Reclamation Transparency Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1268 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 14, 2019 Mr. GOSAR (for himself, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. GIANFORTE, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. HICE of Georgia, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. HUNTER, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. MEAD- OWS, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mrs. RODGERS of Washington, Mr. MULLIN, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, and Mr. TIPTON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:18 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1268.IH H1268 amozie on DSK9F9SC42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1268 IH (1) ASSET.— 1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘asset’’ 2 means any of the following assets that are used 3 to achieve the mission of the Bureau to man- 4 age, develop, and protect water and related re- 5 sources in an environmentally and economically 6 sound manner in the interest of the people of 7 the United States: 8 (i) Capitalized facilities, buildings, 9 structures, project features, power produc- 10 tion equipment, recreation facilities, or 11 quarters. 12 (ii) Capitalized and noncapitalized 13 heavy equipment and other installed equip- 14 ment. 15 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘asset’’ in- 16 cludes assets described in subparagraph (A) 17 that are considered to be mission critical. 18 (2) ASSET MANAGEMENT REPORT.—The term 19 ‘‘Asset Management Report’’ means— 20 (A) the annual plan prepared by the Bu- 21 reau known as the ‘‘Asset Management Plan’’; 22 and 23 (B) any publicly available information re- 24 lating to the plan described in subparagraph 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:18 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1268.IH H1268 amozie on DSK9F9SC42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1268 IH (A) that summarizes the efforts of the Bureau 1 to evaluate and manage infrastructure assets of 2 the Bureau. 3 (3) MAJOR REPAIR AND REHABILITATION 4 NEED.—The term ‘‘major repair and rehabilitation 5 need’’ means major nonrecurring maintenance at a 6 Reclamation facility, including maintenance related 7 to the safety of dams, extraordinary maintenance of 8 dams, deferred major maintenance activities, and all 9 other significant repairs and extraordinary mainte- 10 nance. 11 (4) RECLAMATION FACILITY.—The term ‘‘Rec- 12 lamation facility’’ means each of the infrastructure 13 assets that are owned by the Bureau at a Reclama- 14 tion project. 15 (5) RECLAMATION PROJECT.—The term ‘‘Rec- 16 lamation project’’ means a project that is owned by 17 the Bureau, including all reserved works and trans- 18 ferred works owned by the Bureau. 19 (6) RESERVED WORKS.—The term ‘‘reserved 20 works’’ means any building, structure, facility, or 21 equipment— 22 (A) that is owned by the Bureau; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:18 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1268.IH H1268 amozie on DSK9F9SC42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1268 IH (B) for which operations and maintenance 1 are performed, regardless of the source of fund- 2 ing— 3 (i) by an employee of the Bureau; or 4 (ii) through a contract entered into by 5 the Commissioner. 6 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 7 the Secretary of the Interior. 8 (8) RECLAMATION.—The term ‘‘Reclamation’’ 9 means the Bureau of Reclamation. 10 (9) BUREAU.—The term ‘‘Bureau’’ means the 11 Bureau of Reclamation. 12 (10) COMMISSIONER.—The term ‘‘Commis- 13 sioner’’ means the Commissioner of Reclamation. 14 (11) TRANSFERRED WORKS.—The term ‘‘trans- 15 ferred works’’ means a Reclamation facility at which 16 operations and maintenance of the facility is carried 17 out by a non-Federal entity under the provisions of 18 a formal operations and maintenance transfer con- 19 tract or other legal agreement with the Bureau. 20 SEC. 3. ASSET MANAGEMENT REPORT ENHANCEMENTS 21 FOR RESERVED WORKS. 22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 23 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 24 to Congress an Asset Management Report that— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:18 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1268.IH H1268 amozie on DSK9F9SC42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1268 IH (1) describes the efforts of the Bureau— 1 (A) to maintain in a reliable manner all re- 2 served works at Reclamation facilities; and 3 (B) to standardize and streamline data re- 4 porting and processes across regions and areas 5 for the purpose of maintaining reserved works 6 at Reclamation facilities; and 7 (2) expands on the information otherwise pro- 8 vided in an Asset Management Report, in accord- 9 ance with subsection (b). 10 (b) INFRASTRUCTURE MAINTENANCE NEEDS AS- 11 SESSMENT.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Asset Management Re- 13 port submitted under subsection (a) shall include— 14 (A) a detailed assessment of major repair 15 and rehabilitation needs for all reserved works 16 at all Reclamation projects; and 17 (B) to the maximum extent practicable, an 18 itemized list of major repair and rehabilitation 19 needs of individual Reclamation facilities at 20 each Reclamation project. 21 (2) INCLUSIONS.—To the maximum extent 22 practicable, the itemized list of major repair and re- 23 habilitation needs under paragraph (1)(B) shall in- 24 clude— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:18 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1268.IH H1268 amozie on DSK9F9SC42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1268 IH (A) a budget level cost estimate of the ap- 1 propriations needed to complete each item; and 2 (B) an assignment of a categorical rating 3 for each item, consistent with paragraph (3). 4 (3) RATING REQUIREMENTS.— 5 (A) IN GENERAL.—The system for assign- 6 ing ratings under paragraph (2)(B) shall be— 7 (i) consistent with existing uniform 8 categorization systems to inform the an- 9 nual budget process and agency require- 10 ments; and 11 (ii) subject to the guidance and in- 12 structions issued under subparagraph (B). 13 (B) GUIDANCE.—As soon as practicable 14 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 15 retary shall issue guidance that describes the 16 applicability of the rating system applicable 17 under paragraph (2)(B) to Reclamation facili- 18 ties. 19 (4) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Except as provided 20 in paragraph (5), the Secretary shall make publicly 21 available, including on the internet, the Asset Man- 22 agement Report required under subsection (a). 23 (5) CONFIDENTIALITY.—The Secretary may ex- 24 clude from the public version of the Asset Manage- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:18 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1268.IH H1268 amozie on DSK9F9SC42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1268 IH ment Report made available under paragraph (4) 1 any information that the Secretary identifies as sen- 2 sitive or classified, but shall make available to the 3 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the 4 Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of 5 the House of Representatives a version of the report 6 containing the sensitive or classified information. 7 (c) UPDATES.—Not later than 2 years after the date 8 on which the Asset Management Report is submitted 9 under subsection (a) and biennially thereafter, the Sec- 10 retary shall update the Asset Management Report, subject 11 to the requirements of section 4(b)(2). 12 (d) CONSULTATION.—To the extent that such con- 13 sultation would assist the Secretary in preparing the Asset 14 Management Report under subsection (a) and updates to 15 the Asset Management Report under subsection (c), the 16 Secretary shall consult with— 17 (1) the Secretary of the Army (acting through 18 the Chief of Engineers); and 19 (2) water and power contractors. 20 SEC. 4. ASSET MANAGEMENT REPORT ENHANCEMENTS 21 FOR TRANSFERRED WORKS. 22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall coordinate 23 with the non-Federal entities responsible for the operation 24 and maintenance of transferred works in developing re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:18 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1268.IH H1268 amozie on DSK9F9SC42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1268 IH porting requirements for Asset Management Reports with 1 respect to major repair and rehabilitation needs for trans- 2 ferred works that are similar to the reporting require- 3 ments described in section 3(b). 4 (b) GUIDANCE.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—After considering input from 6 water and power contractors of the Bureau, the Sec- 7 retary shall develop and implement a rating system 8 for transferred works that incorporates, to the max- 9 imum extent practicable, the rating system for major 10 repair and rehabilitation needs for reserved works 11 developed under section 3(b)(3). 12 (2) UPDATES.—The ratings system developed 13 under paragraph (1) shall be included in the up- 14 dated Asset Management Reports under section 15 3(c). 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:18 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1268.IH H1268 amozie on DSK9F9SC42PROD with BILLS