Repurposing Assets to Increase Long-term Water Availability and Yield Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1600 To require that certain funds provided by the Department of Transportation for high-speed rail development in the State of California that are re- scinded or otherwise reimbursed be made available to the Secretary of the Interior for water storage projects, and to the Secretary of Agri- culture for nitrate contamination reduction grants and new well construc- tion grants. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 7, 2019 Mr. MCCARTHY (for himself, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. COOK, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, and Mr. NUNES) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To require that certain funds provided by the Department of Transportation for high-speed rail development in the State of California that are rescinded or otherwise reim- bursed be made available to the Secretary of the Interior for water storage projects, and to the Secretary of Agri- culture for nitrate contamination reduction grants and new well construction grants. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1600.IH H1600 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1600 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Repurposing Assets 2 to Increase Long-term Water Availability and Yield Act’’ 3 or the ‘‘RAILWAY Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN FUNDS DEDICATED FOR 5 HIGH-SPEED RAIL DEVELOPMENT IN THE 6 STATE OF CALIFORNIA. 7 (a) TREATMENT OF FUNDS.—Notwithstanding any 8 other law, the covered funds described in subsection (b) 9 shall be immediately deposited as follows: 10 (1) 90 percent of funds in the Reclamation 11 Water Storage Account which shall be made avail- 12 able to the Secretary of the Interior for water stor- 13 age projects authorized pursuant to section 4007 of 14 the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Na- 15 tion Act (Public Law 114–322) (43 U.S.C. 390b 16 note). 17 (2) 5 percent of funds in the Rural Water and 18 Waste Disposal Program Account which shall be 19 made available to the Secretary of Agriculture for 20 grants under section 306F of the Consolidated Farm 21 and Rural Development Act. 22 (3) 5 percent of funds in the Rural Water and 23 Waste Disposal Program Account which shall be 24 made available to the Secretary of Agriculture for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:17 Apr 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1600.IH H1600 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1600 IH grants under section 306G of the Consolidated Farm 1 and Rural Development Act. 2 (b) COVERED FUNDS.—The covered funds are the 3 following: 4 (1) The Federal funds received by the Depart- 5 ment of Transportation as a result of the Depart- 6 ment of Transportation’s termination and de-obliga- 7 tion of Cooperative Agreement No. FR–HSR–0118– 8 12–01–01 between the Federal Railroad Administra- 9 tion and the California High-Speed Rail Authority, 10 notwithstanding the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 11 2010 (Public Law 111–117). 12 (2) The Federal funds that are recovered by the 13 Department of Transportation relating to Coopera- 14 tive Agreement No. FR–HSR–0009–10–01–06 be- 15 tween the Federal Railroad Administration and the 16 California High-Speed Rail Authority, notwith- 17 standing the American Recovery and Reinvestment 18 Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–5). 19 (3) Any funds determined to be offsets by the 20 Federal Railroad Administration or the Department 21 of Transportation, consistent with Cooperative 22 Agreement No. FRA–HSR–0009–10–01–06. 23 (c) COST SHARE FOR WATER STORAGE PROJECTS.— 24 Funds made available pursuant this Act shall not count 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1600.IH H1600 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1600 IH toward the cost-share provisions of section 4007 of the 1 Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act. 2 SEC. 3. NITRATE CONTAMINATION REDUCTION GRANTS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of the Consolidated 4 Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1922–1936c) 5 is amended by inserting after section 306E the following: 6 ‘‘SEC. 306F. NITRATE CONTAMINATION REDUCTION 7 GRANTS. 8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 9 grants in accordance with this section to public or private 10 nonprofit entities for projects designed to reduce the level 11 of nitrates in, or remove nitrates from, drinking water in 12 a rural community where the level of nitrates in drinking 13 water exceeds applicable Federal or State standards. 14 ‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—Grants made under this sec- 15 tion may be used— 16 ‘‘(1) for waterline extensions from existing sys- 17 tems, laying of new waterlines, repairs or mainte- 18 nance to an existing system, digging of new wells or 19 development of other sources of water designed to 20 replace sources of drinking water with high levels of 21 nitrates, equipment replacement, and hook-up fees; 22 and 23 ‘‘(2) in the case of a project designed to benefit 24 a rural community outside the jurisdiction of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1600.IH H1600 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1600 IH grantee, to maintain existing water supplies of the 1 grantee that will be reduced as a result of the 2 project. 3 ‘‘(c) RURAL COMMUNITY.—In this section, the term 4 ‘rural community’ does not include— 5 ‘‘(1) any area in any city or town with a popu- 6 lation in excess of 10,000 inhabitants according to 7 the most recent decennial census of the United 8 States; or 9 ‘‘(2) any area with a median household income 10 in excess of the State nonmetropolitan median 11 household income. 12 ‘‘(d) FULL FUNDING.—Grants under this section 13 shall be made in an amount equal to 100 percent of the 14 costs of the projects conducted under this section. 15 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION.—Subsection (h) of section 306A 16 shall apply with respect to the administration of applica- 17 tions for grants under this section.’’. 18 (b) REPEAL.—Effective 5 years after the date of the 19 enactment of this Act, section 306F of the Consolidated 20 Farm and Rural Development Act, as added by the 21 amendment made by subsection (a), is repealed. 22 SEC. 4. NEW WELL CONSTRUCTION GRANTS. 23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of the Consolidated 24 Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1922–1936c) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1600.IH H1600 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1600 IH is further amended by inserting after section 306F the 1 following: 2 ‘‘SEC. 306G. NEW WELL CONSTRUCTION GRANTS. 3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 4 grants in accordance with this section to public or private 5 nonprofit entities for projects designed to supply drinking 6 water to rural communities in which a significant number 7 of dwellings with private drinking water wells have wells 8 that are not producing water. 9 ‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—Grants made under this sec- 10 tion may be used— 11 ‘‘(1) for waterline extensions from existing sys- 12 tems, laying of new waterlines, repairs or mainte- 13 nance to an existing system, digging of new wells or 14 development of other sources of water designed to 15 replace sources of drinking water with high levels of 16 nitrates, equipment replacement, and hook-up fees; 17 and 18 ‘‘(2) in the case of a project designed to benefit 19 a rural community outside the jurisdiction of the 20 grantee, to maintain existing water supplies of the 21 grantee that will be reduced as a result of the 22 project. 23 ‘‘(c) RURAL COMMUNITY.—In this section, the term 24 ‘rural community’ does not include— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1600.IH H1600 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1600 IH ‘‘(1) any area in any city or town with a popu- 1 lation in excess of 10,000 inhabitants according to 2 the most recent decennial census of the United 3 States; or 4 ‘‘(2) any area with a median household income 5 in excess of the State nonmetropolitan median 6 household income. 7 ‘‘(d) FULL FUNDING.—Grants under this section 8 shall be made in an amount equal to 100 percent of the 9 costs of the projects conducted under this section. 10 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION.—Subsection (h) of section 306A 11 shall apply with respect to the administration of applica- 12 tions for grants under this section.’’. 13 (b) REPEAL.—Effective 5 years after the date of the 14 enactment of this Act, section 306G of the Consolidated 15 Farm and Rural Development Act, as added by the 16 amendment made by subsection (a), is repealed. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:55 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1600.IH H1600 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS