[House Report 113-536]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
113th Congress Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session 113-536
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TO AUTHORIZE EARLY REPAYMENT OF OBLIGATIONS TO THE BUREAU OF
RECLAMATION WITHIN THE NORTHPORT IRRIGATION DISTRICT IN THE STATE OF
NEBRASKA
_______
July 17, 2014.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
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Mr. Hastings of Washington, from the Committee on Natural Resources,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 4562]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred
the bill (H.R. 4562) to authorize early repayment of
obligations to the Bureau of Reclamation within the Northport
Irrigation District in the State of Nebraska, having considered
the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and
recommend that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of H.R. 4562 is to authorize early repayment of
obligations to the Bureau of Reclamation within the Northport
Irrigation District in the State of Nebraska.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
H.R. 4562 gives individual landowners within the Northport
Irrigation District the ability to make accelerated or lump sum
capital repayments to the federal government under its water
contract with the Bureau of Reclamation. In exchange for paying
their part of Northport's debt, the landowners who pay will no
longer be subject to federal acreage limitations and paperwork
requirements. Under federal law, any irrigation district that
receives contracted water from a Bureau of Reclamation facility
must repay its allocated portion of the capital costs of the
federal water project. These repayment costs are typically set
forth in long-term contracts between the irrigation district
and the federal government.
Northport, located in western Nebraska, is one of four
irrigation districts that receive water from the federal North
Platte Project. Water for Northport is conveyed 80 miles from
the Guernsey reservoir through the Tri-State Canal, which is
privately owned and operated by the Farmers Irrigation
District. In return for allowing the water to be conveyed
through the Tri-State canal, Farmers receives compensation in
the form of a ``carriage fee'' from Northport. Pursuant to a
1958 amendment to the Northport/Bureau of Reclamation contract,
if the amount of the carriage fee owed to Farmers by Northport
is more than $8,000 per year, Northport is not obligated to
make its annual capital repayment to the federal government.
According to testimony presented by a Northport official on the
bill, the annual carriage fee can be anywhere from $80,000 to
$100,000. Since carriage fees have been over $8,000 per year
since the early 1950s, Northport's capital repayment debt to
the federal government has been stagnant at over $923,000 for
over six decades. As long as Northport owes the debt, its
landowners are subject to the 960 irrigated acre planting
limitation and paperwork requirements that must be met prior to
getting water each year, as set forth in the Reclamation Reform
Act of 1982 (Public Law 97-293).
There are several landowners within Northport that have
reached retirement age with plans to leave the real estate to
family members who have already accumulated acres. Those
combined acres will take families over the 960 irrigated acre
planting limitation. Several landowners within Northport are
willing to repay their portion of the capital repayment
obligations owed to the federal government to avoid being
subject to the federal requirements in Public Law 97-293;
however federal law prohibits these landowners from making such
accelerated or lump sum payments. This bill allows for such
accelerated or lump sum repayments and is based on two
bipartisan precedents (Section 508 of Public Law 110-229 and
Public Law 109-138). In short, the bill will likely generate
revenue for the federal government while giving farm families
the ability to grow and expand their operations.
COMMITTEE ACTION
H.R. 4562 was introduced on May 1, 2014, by Congressman
Adrian Smith (R-NE). The bill was referred to the Committee on
Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee
on Water and Power. On June 10, 2014, the Subcommittee on Water
and Power held a hearing on the bill. On June 19, 2014, the
Natural Resources Committee met to consider the bill. The
Subcommittee on Water and Power was discharged by unanimous
consent. No amendments were offered and the bill was adopted
and ordered favorably reported to the House of Representatives
by unanimous consent.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1. Early Repayment of Construction Costs
Subsection (a) allows any landowner within the Northport
Irrigation District to repay, at any time, the construction
costs of project facilities allocated to the landowner's land
within Northport, notwithstanding Section 213 of the
Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 (Public Law 97-293).
Subsection (b) stipulates that upon full repayment of all
costs described in subsection (a), the parcels of land shall
not be subject to the ownership and full-cost pricing
limitations under the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 (Public
Law 97-293).
Subsection (c) authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to
provide a certificate of repayment described in section
213(b)(1) of the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 (Public Law 97-
293) upon the request of the landowner who has repaid the costs
described in subsection (a).
Subsection (d) states that nothing in the bill: (1)
modifies any contractual rights under, or amends or reopens,
the reclamation contract between Northport and the United
States; or (2) modifies any rights, obligations, or
relationships between Northport and landowners within Northport
under Nebraska State law.
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.
COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII
1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(2)(B)
of that Rule provides that this requirement does not apply when
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Under clause 3(c)(3) of rule
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section
403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has
received the following cost estimate for this bill from the
Director of the Congressional Budget Office:
H.R. 4562--A bill to authorize early repayment of obligations to the
Bureau of Reclamation within the Northport Irrigation District
in the state of Nebraska
H.R. 4562 would allow individual landowners in the
Northport Irrigation District in Nebraska to prepay their share
of the cost to build the North Platte Project in Nebraska.
Based on information from the Bureau of Reclamation, CBO
estimates that enacting the legislation would have an
insignificant effect on the federal budget. Because the
legislation would affect direct spending, pay-as-you-go
procedures apply. Enacting H.R. 4562 would not affect revenues.
Currently, the Northport Irrigation District is not making
any payment to the bureau on the district's outstanding
obligation of $924,000 that it owes for the irrigation project.
Based on information from the bureau, CBO does not expect the
district to begin repaying this debt in the next several years.
H.R. 4562 would allow the 25 individual landowners in the
district to pay their portion of the balance early. Based on
information from the district, about half of those landowners
are expected to do so under the bill. CBO estimates that those
payments would increase offsetting receipts (which are treated
as reductions in direct spending) to the federal government by
$440,000 over the 2015-2024 period.
H.R. 4562 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Aurora Swanson.
This estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant
Director for Budget Analysis.
2. Section 308(a) of Congressional Budget Act. As required
by clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives and section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget
Act of 1974, this bill does not contain any new budget
authority, spending authority, credit authority, or an increase
or decrease in revenues or tax expenditures. CBO estimates that
provisions in the bill would increase offsetting receipts
(which are treated as reductions in direct spending) to the
federal government by $440,000 over the 2015-2024 period.
3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or
objective of this bill is to authorize early repayment of
obligations to the Bureau of Reclamation within the Northport
Irrigation District in the State of Nebraska.
EARMARK STATEMENT
This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks,
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined
under clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of
the House of Representatives.
COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4
This bill contains no unfunded mandates.
COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5
Directed Rule Making. The Chairman does not believe that
this bill directs any executive branch official to conduct any
specific rule-making proceedings.
Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not
establish or reauthorize a program of the federal government
known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was
not included in any report from the Government Accountability
Office to Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139
or identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program
Information Act (Public Law 95-220, as amended by Public Law
98-169) as relating to other programs.
PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW
This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or
tribal law.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
If enacted, this bill would make no changes in existing
law.