Orland Project Water Management Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4970 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4970

To amend the Reclamation States Emergency Drought Relief Act of 1991 to
facilitate the transfer of water from the Orland Project to the Central
                            Valley Project.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            August 15, 2025

 Mr. LaMalfa introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

To amend the Reclamation States Emergency Drought Relief Act of 1991 to
facilitate the transfer of water from the Orland Project to the Central
                            Valley Project.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Orland Project Water Management
Act''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO RECLAMATION STATES EMERGENCY DROUGHT RELIEF ACT OF
              1991.

    Section 104 of the Reclamation States Emergency Drought Relief Act
of 1991 (43 U.S.C. 2214) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as subsections
        (c) and (d) respectively;
            (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the following:
    ``(b) Exception.--The Secretary may make available, upon the
request of the Orland Unit Water Users Association and through the
programs and authorities established under this title, water from the
Orland Project to the Sacramento Canal Unit of the Central Valley
Project at any time, without regard to water year type, if the
Secretary determines that such action is consistent with the purposes
of the Central Valley Project.''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Rules of Construction.--Nothing in this section may be
construed to--
            ``(1) be a new or supplemental benefit for the purposes of
        the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 (43 U.S.C. 390aa et seq.);
            ``(2) affect any valid or vested water right in existence
        as of the date of the enactment of this subsection;
            ``(3) affect any application for water rights pending
        before the date of the enactment of this subsection; or
            ``(4) result in any redirected impacts to the Orland
        Project from a temporary contract for the supply of water
        executed under this section.''.
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