Dam Safety Improvement Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6985 To amend the National Dam Safety Program Act to expand eligibility for the rehabilitation of high hazard potential dam program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 22, 2020 Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend the National Dam Safety Program Act to expand eligibility for the rehabilitation of high hazard potential dam program, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Dam Safety Improve- 4 ment Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. REHABILITATION OF HIGH HAZARD POTENTIAL 6 DAMS. 7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 2 of the National Dam 8 Safety Program Act (33 U.S.C. 467) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Jun 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6985.IH H6985 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6985 IH (1) by striking paragraph (10); 1 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (11) and (16) 2 as paragraphs (10) and (17), respectively; 3 (3) in paragraph (4)— 4 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 5 (i) in clause (iii)— 6 (I) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end 7 and inserting ‘‘or’’; 8 (II) by striking the clause des- 9 ignation and inserting ‘‘(iii)(I)’’; and 10 (III) by adding at the end the 11 following: 12 ‘‘(II) if the dam is in a State that by 13 law requires an emergency action plan to 14 comply with FEMA guidelines and to be 15 approved by an authorized State agency, 16 the dam— 17 ‘‘(aa) was identified as having an 18 emergency action plan in the inven- 19 tory of dams maintained under section 20 6 before the State required the emer- 21 gency action plan to comply with 22 FEMA guidelines and to be approved 23 by an authorized State agency; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Jun 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6985.IH H6985 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6985 IH ‘‘(bb) as of the date on which, for 1 each fiscal year, funds for assistance 2 under section 8A are distributed 3 under subsection (g)(2) of that sec- 4 tion, has an updated emergency action 5 plan that— 6 ‘‘(AA) is in conformance 7 with State law; and 8 ‘‘(BB) is pending approval 9 by the authorized State agency; 10 and’’; and 11 (ii) in clause (iv)(II), by inserting be- 12 fore the period at the end ‘‘, as determined 13 by the Administrator, in consultation with 14 the Board’’; and 15 (B) in subparagraph (B)(i), by striking 16 ‘‘dam;’’ and inserting ‘‘dam under a hydro- 17 power project with an authorized installed ca- 18 pacity of greater than 1.5 megawatts;’’; 19 (4) by inserting after paragraph (10) (as so re- 20 designated) the following: 21 ‘‘(11) RECIPIENT.—The term ‘recipient’ means 22 the entity applying for, receiving, and distributing to 23 subrecipients the assistance under section 8A.’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Jun 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6985.IH H6985 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6985 IH (5) by inserting after paragraph (15) the fol- 1 lowing: 2 ‘‘(16) SUBRECIPIENT.—The term ‘subrecipient’, 3 with respect to a project at a dam for which the as- 4 sistance under section 8A is sought, means an entity 5 that— 6 ‘‘(A) receives the assistance for the project 7 from a recipient; and 8 ‘‘(B)(i) if the owner of the dam is a gov- 9 ernmental organization or a nonprofit organiza- 10 tion, is the owner; or 11 ‘‘(ii) if the owner of the dam is not a gov- 12 ernmental organization or a nonprofit organiza- 13 tion, is a governmental organization or non- 14 profit organization seeking the assistance on be- 15 half of the owner.’’. 16 (b) REHABILITATION OF HIGH HAZARD POTENTIAL 17 DAMS.—Section 8A of the National Dam Safety Program 18 Act (33 U.S.C. 467f–2) is amended— 19 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘non-Federal 20 sponsors’’ and inserting ‘‘recipients’’; 21 (2) in subsection (c)— 22 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ‘‘non- 23 Federal sponsor’’ and inserting ‘‘recipient’’; and 24 (B) in paragraph (2)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Jun 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6985.IH H6985 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6985 IH (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 1 ‘‘non-Federal sponsor’’ and inserting ‘‘re- 2 cipient’’; 3 (ii) in subparagraph (B)— 4 (I) in the subparagraph heading, 5 by striking ‘‘PROJECT GRANT’’ and in- 6 serting ‘‘GRANT’’; 7 (II) by striking ‘‘a project grant 8 agreement with the non-Federal spon- 9 sor’’ and inserting ‘‘a grant agree- 10 ment with the recipient’’; and 11 (III) by inserting ‘‘for which the 12 grant is provided’’ after ‘‘the project’’; 13 (iii) by striking subparagraph (C) and 14 inserting the following: 15 ‘‘(C) GRANT ASSURANCE.—As part of a 16 grant agreement under subparagraph (B), the 17 Administrator shall require that each sub- 18 recipient for the applicable project provides an 19 assurance that the subrecipient will carry out a 20 plan for maintenance of the dam to be rehabili- 21 tated under the grant agreement during the ex- 22 pected life of the dam.’’; and 23 (iv) in subparagraph (D), in the mat- 24 ter preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘A 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Jun 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6985.IH H6985 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6985 IH grant provided under this section shall not 1 exceed the lesser’’ and inserting ‘‘A sub- 2 recipient that receives assistance from a 3 grant provided under this section shall not 4 receive, for any 1 dam, assistance that ex- 5 ceeds the lesser’’; 6 (3) in subsection (d)— 7 (A) in paragraph (2)— 8 (i) in the paragraph heading, by strik- 9 ing ‘‘NON-FEDERAL SPONSOR’’ and insert- 10 ing ‘‘SUBRECIPIENT’’; 11 (ii) in the matter preceding subpara- 12 graph (A), by striking ‘‘To receive’’ and all 13 that follows through ‘‘shall’’ and inserting 14 ‘‘To receive assistance, a subrecipient 15 shall’’; 16 (iii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 17 ‘‘participate in, and comply with,’’ and in- 18 serting ‘‘demonstrate that the community 19 in which the dam is located participates in, 20 and complies with,’’; 21 (iv) in subparagraph (B), in the mat- 22 ter preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘have’’ 23 and inserting ‘‘not later than 2 years after 24 the development of criteria for such a plan 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Jun 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6985.IH H6985 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6985 IH by the Administrator, in consultation with 1 the Board, under paragraph (3), dem- 2 onstrate that the applicable local or Tribal 3 government has’’; and 4 (v) in subparagraph (C), by striking 5 ‘‘50-year period’’ and inserting ‘‘expected 6 life of the dam’’; and 7 (B) by adding at the end the following: 8 ‘‘(3) HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN CRITERIA.— 9 The Administrator shall develop criteria for hazard 10 mitigation plans under paragraph (2)(B). 11 ‘‘(4) RECOVERY OF FUNDS.—In the event that 12 a grant is awarded under this section for which re- 13 quired activities may be completed after the date on 14 which the grant is awarded, the Administrator may 15 seek to recoup the amounts awarded under the grant 16 if those activities are not completed within the appli- 17 cable time period.’’; 18 (4) in subsection (e)— 19 (A) in paragraph (1)— 20 (i) in the matter preceding subpara- 21 graph (A), by striking ‘‘non-Federal spon- 22 sor’’ and inserting ‘‘subrecipient’’; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Jun 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6985.IH H6985 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6985 IH (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 1 ‘‘1 year’’ each place it appears and insert- 2 ing ‘‘2 years’’; and 3 (B) in paragraph (3)— 4 (i) in the paragraph heading, by strik- 5 ing ‘‘TECHNICAL’’ and inserting ‘‘PLAN 6 CRITERIA AND TECHNICAL’’; and 7 (ii) by striking ‘‘The Administrator 8 may provide’’ and inserting ‘‘The Adminis- 9 trator, in consultation with the Board, 10 shall provide criteria and may provide’’; 11 and 12 (5) in subsection (i)(1), in the matter preceding 13 subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘non-Federal spon- 14 sor’’ and inserting ‘‘subrecipient’’. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Jun 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6985.IH H6985 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS