As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on June 18, 2014
S. 1800 would direct the Bureau of Reclamation to assess the maintenance needs of its facilities and submit a report to the designated Congressional committees every two years. Under current law, the bureau gathers and publishes similar information in various reports throughout the year. Under the bill, the bureau would be required to coordinate the timing and analysis of that information, consolidate it, and include some new analysis specified by the bill.
Based on information from the Bureau of Reclamation, CBO estimates that implementing the legislation would cost about $2 million over the 2015-2019 period. Enacting S. 1800 would not affect revenues or direct spending; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
S. 1800 would require the bureau to develop a ranking system to prioritize the rehabilitation needs of facilities that it operates and to work with nonfederal partners that have taken over the operation of certain other facilities to develop a similar system for those facilities. Under current law, the bureau gathers data on its facilities, analyzes the data, and makes the results of its analysis available to the Congress and the public through its budget documents and various other reports throughout the year. Under the bill, the bureau would need to consolidate those results into one report every two years and include the ranking information and the estimated costs of necessary rehabilitation projects.
S. 1800 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no cost on state, local, or tribal governments. Any costs incurred by public entities to comply with the reporting requirements of this legislation would result from participating in a voluntary federal program.
