[House Report 115-700]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
115th Congress } { Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session } { 115-700
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AUTHORIZING EARLY REPAYMENT OF OBLIGATIONS TO THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION
WITHIN THE NORTHPORT IRRIGATION DISTRICT IN THE STATE OF NEBRASKA
_______
May 22, 2018.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Bishop of Utah, from the Committee on Natural Resources, submitted
the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 4689]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred
the bill (H.R. 4689) 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. 4689 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. 4689 gives individual landowners within the Northport
Irrigation District the ability to make accelerated or lump sum
capital repayments to the federal government. 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 capital repayment 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.\1\ In return for allowing the water to be conveyed
through the Tri-State Canal, Farmers receive compensation 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.\2\ According to a Northport official, the
annual carriage fee can be anywhere from $80,000 to
$100,000.\3\ Since carriage fees have been over $8,000 per year
since the early 1950s, Northport's capital repayment debt to
the federal government has remained at approximately $923,000
for over six decades.\4\ 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 (Title II of Public Law 97-293).
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\1\https://www.usbr.gov/projects/index.php?id=363
\2\https://naturalresources.house.gov/uploadedfiles/wpletter1.pdf
\3\Natural Resources Republican staff conversation with Northport
Irrigation District Board Member George Hall on June 3, 2014.
\4\https://naturalresources.house.gov/uploadedfiles/wpletter1.pdf
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There are several landowners within Northport who have
reached retirement age with plans to leave the real estate to
family members who have already accumulated acres within the
District. Those combined acres will make additional families
subject to 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. The same law, however, prohibits these
landowners from making such accelerated or lump sum payments.
According to a Northport Irrigation District Board member,
approximately 20 of the 65 landowners may use the authorities
granted in H.R. 4689 to repay the federal government.\5\
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\5\Id.
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While the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation
Act (Public Law 114-322) provided prepayment authority to
irrigation districts, this authority did not extend to
individual landowners. Allowing individual landowners the
ability to do this is based on two precedents enacted during
Democratic and Republican Congresses: Section 508 of Public Law
110-229\6\ and ``The Southern Oregon Bureau of Reclamation
Repayment Act of 2005'' (Public Law 109-138),\7\ respectively.
These public laws and H.R. 4689 waive section 213 of the
Reclamation Reform Act of 1982, which prohibits any early
repayment unless the repayment contract between an irrigation
district and the United States allowed for prepayment of the
contract at the time the Reclamation Reform Act was enacted.
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\6\http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-110publ229/html/PLAW-
110publ229.htm
\7\http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-109publ138/html/PLAW-
109publ138.htm
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The House of Representatives passed identical bills in the
114th and 113th Congresses, but the Senate took no action.\8\
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\8\H.R. 404 (114th Congress) and H.R. 4562 (113th Congress).
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COMMITTEE ACTION
H.R. 4689 was introduced on December 19, 2017, 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, Powers and Oceans. On May 8, 2018, the
Natural Resources Committee met to consider the bill. The
Subcommittee was discharged by unanimous consent. No amendments
were offered and the bill was ordered favorably reported to the
House of Representatives by unanimous consent.
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 and the Congressional Budget Act of
1974. With respect to the requirements of clause 3(c)(2) and
(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives
and sections 308(a) and 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of
1974, the Committee has received the enclosed cost estimate for
the bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget Office:
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, May 22, 2018.
Hon. Rob Bishop
Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 4689, a bill to
authorize early repayment of obligations to the Bureau of
Reclamation within the Northport Irrigation District in the
State of Nebraska.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Aurora
Swanson.
Sincerely,
Mark P. Hadley
(For Keith Hall, Director).
Enclosure.
H.R. 4689--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. 4689 would allow individual landowners in the
Northport Irrigation District in Nebraska to repay their share
of the cost of building the North Platte Project. Currently,
the Northport Irrigation District is not making payments to the
Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) on its outstanding debt of $924,000
for the construction of the irrigation project. The district
makes a required annual payment of $3,500 for the cost of
conveying water to the district but does not currently make
payments to pay-off that debt. Using information from the
bureau, CBO does not expect the district to begin repaying this
debt during the next several years.
Although current law permits the district to repay its
share of construction costs early, the district has not done
so, probably because some landowners have not agreed to an
early repayment schedule. Under H.R. 4689, individual
landowners would have limits on acreage that can be irrigated
with BOR-delivered water waived if they make early repayments
to retire their debt obligations to the federal government.
Using information from BOR, CBO expects that about half of
the affected landowners would repay their debt obligations
under the bill. CBO estimates that those payments would
increase offsetting receipts to the federal government, which
are treated as reductions in direct spending, by less than
$500,000 over the 2019-2028 period.
Because enacting H.R. 4689 would affect direct spending,
pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Enacting the bill would not
affect revenues.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 4689 would not increase
net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.
H.R. 4689 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Aurora Swanson.
The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
2. 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. This bill does not contain any
directed rule makings.
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 to existing
law.
[all]