Drought Legislation: Comparison of Selected Provisions in H.R. 2898 and S. 1894

Summary

Several western states are experiencing extreme, and in some cases exceptional, drought conditions. The persistence and intensity of the current drought has received considerable attention from Congress. To date, federal legislative proposals to address drought have focused on the federal role in managing water supplies, supporting drought-related projects and programs, and conserving fish species and their habitat.

A number of bills in the 114th Congress include proposals to address drought, including S. 176, S. 1837, S. 1894, H.R. 2898, and H.R. 3045, among others. Two of these bills have received significant attention as potential legislative vehicles for drought proposals and are compared in this report: H.R. 2898 and S. 1894. H.R. 2898, the Western Water and American Food Security Act, was passed by the House on July 17, 2015. The House bill has 11 titles. S. 1894, the California Emergency Drought Relief Act of 2015, was introduced in the Senate on July 29, 2015. The Senate bill includes 4 titles. Both bills address a wide range of drought issues, including those that are specific to the state of California and those that are regional or national in scope.

This report provides a high-level comparison of S. 1894 (as introduced) and H.R. 2898 (as passed by the House). It identifies comparable issue areas addressed in both bills and discusses selected commonalities and differences between those provisions. It also summarizes selected provisions in each bill that are not addressed in the other bill.

Certain issues are addressed in both pieces of legislation. For example, both bills contain multiple sections that focus on water infrastructure and water conveyance in California. These sections include provisions that would address operations of the federal Central Valley Project (CVP) and the California State Water Project (SWP) as they relate to managing water flows and conserving endangered and threatened fish populations (i.e., the Delta smelt and certain salmon species) listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA; 16 U.S.C. §§1531-1543). Some of these provisions would be triggered by drought conditions, whereas others would be permanent changes. Other sections address common goals throughout the West, such as the facilitation of new surface water storage projects.

Although the bills address some common issue areas and include some similar provisions, their approaches often differ in important ways. For instance, S. 1894 provides broad guidance for the Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce to maximize water deliveries in accordance with applicable laws; H.R. 2898 has a similar directive but also includes a number of specific requirements that could alter the current implementation of biological opinions (BiOps) under the ESA.

Outside of common issue areas addressed in both bills, each would also authorize a number of changes that have no obvious corollary in the other bill. For example, H.R. 2898 includes provisions that would alter implementation of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA; P.L. 102-575), which is not addressed in S. 1894. Similarly, S. 1894 contains new authorities related to water reuse and recycling, which are not addressed in H.R. 2898.

Key issues raised by these bills include how to address the management of federal water supply projects in times of drought and how to handle the overall increasing demands for water supplies despite scarce water resources. Congress may also consider whether federal law and its implementation adequately address the balance between competing demands (e.g., fishery conservation and agricultural use) for limited supplies and whether changes are warranted during drought and/or under other circumstances.