Water Resources Development Act of 2013 - Title I: Water Resource Projects - Sets forth policy with respect to the authorization, review, and funding of water resources projects authorized by Congress and undertaken by the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps).
Title II: Water Resources Policy Reforms - Requires the Secretary of the Army (Secretary) to increase and grant priority funding for : (1) continuing authority programs, (2) ecosystem restoration projects, and (3) new studies for flood and hurricane damage reduction projects.
Grants priority to hydropower development at dams constructed by the Corps.
Authorizes non-federal interests (defined as including states, local governments, federally-recognized Indian tribes, and nonprofit entities) to act as project managers for flood and hurricane damage reduction projects and to conduct feasibility studies for water resources projects.
Imposes time and cost limitations on feasibility studies for water resources projects.
Revises requirements for water resource development project deauthorizations.
Sets forth reporting and review requirements for: (1) water storage pricing formulas, (2) vegetation management policy, (3) restoration of flood and hurricane storm damage reduction projects, (4) dredging operations, (5) invasive species protection, (6) wetlands conservation, and (7) dam repair.
Title III: Project Modifications - Amends the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2009 to allow a designee of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources to modify the Chatfield Reservoir Project.
Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 (WRDA of 2007) to authorize the Secretary to reimburse members of the Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee for travel expenses.
Requires the Secretary to include specific project recommendations in the report on the study of flood and storm damage risk reduction in the areas affected by Hurricane Sandy.
Directs the Secretary to consult with other federal agencies, conservation districts, the Yellowstone River Conservation District Council, and Montana in carrying out the Lower Yellowstone Project.
Deauthorizes specified water resources projects in: (1) Somerset County, Maryland; (2) Deal Island, Maryland; (3) Georges River, Maine; and (4) Warwick Cove, Rhode Island.
Amends the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act of 1998 to repeal a prohibiting against the Secretary constructing the Oak Way or Sky Top detention structures in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, as part of the flood control project for the Green Brook Sub-Basin of the Raritan River Basin.
Authorizes the Secretary to reassign unused irrigation storage within a reservoir on the Red River Basin to municipal and industrial water supply if the non-federal interest has already contracted for a share of such supply on the same reservoir.
Adds shore protection and erosion control as purposes of the project for Point Judith Harbor of Refuge, Narragansett, Rhode Island.
Title IV: Water Resources Studies - Sets conditions on the Secretary initiating new studies to determine the feasibility of carrying out water resources development projects or watershed and river basin assessments.
Requires new authorization from Congress before any project evaluated in such a study is constructed.
Title V: Regional and Nonproject Provisions - Directs the Secretary to plan, design, and construct projects for aquatic ecosystem restoration within the coastal waters of the northeastern United States from Virginia to Maine.
Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1996 to include Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia in the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Restoration and Protection Program.
Requires the Secretary to develop a comprehensive Chesapeake Bay restoration plan to guide the implementation of the restoration projects.
Removes wastewater treatment and water supply facilities from the eligible projects list.
Requires projects carried out on federal lands to be carried out at the expense of the federal agency that owns the land. Permits the agency to accept non-federal contributions for the work.
Amends the WRDA of 2007 to reauthorize appropriations for the Rio Grande environmental management program, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into interagency agreements with the Secretary of State to involve the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission in the program.
Amends the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 to increase the authorization of appropriations for Lower Columbia River and Tillamook Bay ecosystem restoration, Oregon and Washington.
Directs the Secretary to establish a McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System Advisory Committee to provide information and recommendations to the Corps relating to the efficiency, reliability, and availability of the operations of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River navigation system, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Authorizes the Secretary to establish a program to prevent and manage aquatic invasive species in the Columbia River Basin in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.
Directs the Secretary to establish a program to: (1) monitor soil moisture and the snowpack in the Upper Missouri River Basin to help reduce flood risk and improve river and water resource management, (2) restore and maintain existing mid- and high-elevation snowpack monitoring sites operated under the SNOTEL program of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and (3) operate streamflow gauges and related interpretive studies in the Upper Missouri River Basin under the cooperative water program and the national streamflow information program of the United States Geological Service (USGS).
Directs the Secretary to establish a program to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather events on communities, water users, and fish and wildlife located in and along the headwaters of the Columbia, Missouri, and Yellowstone Rivers in Idaho and Montana by carrying out river, stream, and floodplain protection and restoration projects.
Title VI: Levee Safety - National Levee Safety Program Act - Directs the Secretary to establish a national levee safety program that includes:
Directs the Secretary to provide grants to states and Indian tribes to establish levee safety programs, conduct levee inventories, and carry out the requirements of this title. Requires the levee safety programs to meet certain guidelines issued by the Secretary.
Directs the Secretary to provide grants to states, Indian tribes, and local governments to conduct flood mitigation activities that reduce flood risk. Allows grant funds to be used to rehabilitate levees, but not levees that are federally operated and maintained.
Requires the Secretary to establish a National Levee Safety Advisory Board.
Title VII: Inland Waterways - Establishes project delivery requirements for the Inland Waterways System, including requiring project management training and risk-based cost estimates for qualifying projects.
Authorizes the Chief of Engineers to carry out pilot projects to evaluate processes or procedures for the study, design, or construction of qualifying projects.
Revises the duties of the Inland Waterways User Board by requiring the Board to provide advice and recommendations to Congress regarding commercial navigation features and components of U.S. inland waterways and harbors and a long-term capital investment program. Requires the Chief of Engineers to communicate at least quarterly to such Board on the status of the study, design, or construction of such features or components.
Establishes requirements regarding a 20-year program for making capital investments on inland and intracoastal waterways.
Requires the Comptroller General to report on the efficiency of collecting the fuel tax for the Inland Waterways Trust Fund.
Title VIII: Harbor Maintenance - Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund Act of 2013 - Requires: (1) the total budget resources made available from such Fund each fiscal year to equal the level of receipts plus interest credited to such Fund for that fiscal year, and (2) such amounts to be used only for harbor maintenance programs.
Requires the Chief of Engineers, in allocating amounts from such Fund, to prioritize high-use deep draft projects for which construction is completed.
Revises the non-federal share of the cost of operation and maintenance of a deep-draft harbor to 50% of the excess of the cost of the operation and maintenance of such project over the cost that the Secretary determines would be incurred if such project had a depth of 50 feet (currently, 45 feet).
Defines operation and maintenance activities that are eligible for the federal cost share.
Title IX: Dam Safety - Dam Safety Act of 2013 - Amends the National Dam Safety Program Act to require the head of a federal agency, on request, to provide a state dam safety agency with information on the condition and provisions for emergency operations of any dam the failure of which would affect the state.
Directs the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to carry out a nationwide public awareness and outreach program to assist the public in preparing for, mitigating, responding to, and recovering from dam incidents.
Authorizes appropriations for the National Dam Safety Program for FY2014-FY2018.
Title X: Innovative Financing Pilot Projects - Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2013 - Authorizes the Secretary and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide financial assistance to carry out pilot projects to develop critical water resources infrastructure, including:
Specifies activities that are eligible for assistance and project eligibility criteria.
Authorizes the Secretary or the EPA Administrator to: (1) enter into agreements to make secured loans to finance eligible project costs, (2) establish fees to cover the costs of making such secured loans, and (3) provide a loan guarantee in lieu of making a secured loan if the budgetary cost of such guarantee is substantially the same as that of a secured loan.
Requires the Secretary or the EPA Administrator to establish a uniform system to service the federal credit instruments made available under this title. Authorizes the Secretary or the EPA Administrator to: (1) collect and spend fees at a level that is sufficient to cover the costs of services of experts in the field of municipal and project finance and the costs of servicing such instruments, (2) appoint a financial entity to assist in servicing such instruments, and (3) retain the services of organizations and entities with expertise in such field for such assistance.
Authorizes appropriations for FY2014-FY2018 to carry out this title.
Title XI: Extreme Weather - Requires the Secretary to enter into enter into an arrangement with the National Academy of Sciences to carry out a study and make recommendations relating to options for reducing risk to human life and property from extreme weather events.
Requires the Comptroller General to submit a study of the strategies used by the Corps for the comprehensive management of water resources in response to floods, storms, and droughts.
Authorizes the Secretary to carry out: (1) a watershed assessment in a major disaster area to identify specific flood risk reduction, hurricane and storm damage reduction, or ecosystem restoration project recommendations that will help to rehabilitate damaged infrastructure and reduce risks to human life and property from future natural disasters; and (2) one or more small projects identified under such assessment that the Secretary would otherwise by authorized to carry out under specified Acts. Requires such an assessment to be initiated within two years after the declaration of a major disaster. Authorizes appropriations for FY2014-FY2018.
| Action Date | Type | Text | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-10-31 | Floor | See also H.R. 3080. | Senate |
| 2013-05-15 | Floor | Held at the desk. | House floor actions |
| 2013-05-15 | Floor | Received in the House. | House floor actions |
| 2013-05-15 | Floor | Message on Senate action sent to the House. | Senate |
| 2013-05-15 | Vote | Passed Senate with amendments by Yea-Nay Vote. 83 - 14. Record Vote Number: 124. (text: CR S3454-3496) | Senate |
| 2013-05-15 | Floor | Cloture motion on the measure withdrawn by unanimous consent in Senate. (consideration: CR S3447) | Senate |
| 2013-05-15 | Floor | Considered by Senate. (consideration: CR S3444-3496) | Senate |
| 2013-05-14 | Floor | Considered by Senate. (consideration: CR S3397-3400, S3400-3421) | Senate |
| 2013-05-09 | Floor | Cloture motion on measure presented in Senate. (consideration: CR S3319; text: CR S3319) | Senate |
| 2013-05-09 | Floor | Considered by Senate. (consideration: CR S3294-3304, S3308-3319) | Senate |
| 2013-05-08 | Floor | Considered by Senate. (consideration: CR S3217-3228, S3240-3248) | Senate |
| 2013-05-07 | Floor | The committee substitute was withdrawn by Unanimous Consent. | Senate |
| 2013-05-07 | Floor | Measure laid before Senate by motion. (consideration: CR S3110-3138, S3139-3152; text of measure as reported in Senate: CR S3110-3138) | Senate |
| 2013-05-07 | Floor | Motion to proceed to consideration of measure agreed to in Senate by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S3110) | Senate |
| 2013-05-06 | Floor | Cloture motion on the motion to proceed to measure withdrawn by unanimous consent in Senate. (consideration: CR S3079) | Senate |
| 2013-04-25 | Floor | Cloture motion on the motion to proceed to measure presented in Senate. (consideration: CR S3020; text: CR S3020) | Senate |
| 2013-04-25 | Floor | Motion to proceed to consideration of measure made in Senate. (consideration: CR S3020) | Senate |
| 2013-04-22 | Calendars | Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 44. | Senate |
| 2013-04-22 | Committee | Committee on Environment and Public Works. Reported by Senator Boxer with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 113-13. | Senate |
| 2013-03-20 | Committee | Committee on Environment and Public Works. Ordered to be reported with amendments favorably. | Senate |
| 2013-03-18 | IntroReferral | Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. | Senate |
| 2013-03-18 | IntroReferral | Introduced in Senate | Library of Congress |