I
98TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION f\ Ur.~ ? 11984
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UP~ :.R COLORADO • RI\'':, C?' :··:11SSION SALT 1 ,_1,.>_ l.,I fY, UTAH To address the problems caused by the 1983 flood along the Colorado RiYerFlood way.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
AUGUST 8 (legislative day, AUGUST 6), 1984
Mr. DECONCINI introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To address the problems caused by the 1983 flood along the Colorado River Floodway.
1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representa-2 lives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
3 That this Act may be cited as the "Colorado River Floodway
4 Task Force Act of 1984".
5 FINDINGS AND PURPOSE
6 SEC. 2. (a) The Congress finds
that-7 (1) there are multiple statutory uses and purposes 8 for the dams and other control structures administered 9 by the Secretary of the Interior on the Colorado River;
1 (2) the maintenance of the Colorado River Flood-2 way is essential to efficient operation of control
struc-3 tures, such as Hoover Dam, on the Colorado River to
4 the benefit of all users of the river or the water of the
5 nver;
6 (3) that present development in the floodway may
7 affect the efficient operation of the river; and
8 (4) that property damage occurred in 1983 in the
9 floodway and damage may occur again in the future.
10 (b) The purpose of this Act is
to-11 (1) establish a task force to study and report to
12 Congress on possible solutions to the problems caused
13 by the 1983 flood along the Colorado River Floodway
14 and the problems of development along the floodway;
15 (2) make recommendations as to whether
individ-16 uals affected by the 1983 flood should be compensated
17 or relocated outside the floodway by the United States;
18 and
19 (3) authorize the Secretary of the Interior to
im-20 plement the recommendations made pursuant to clause
21 (2).
22 ESTABLISHMENT OF TASK FORCE
23 SEC. 3. (a) There is established the Colorado River
24 Floodway Task Force (hereafter in this Act referred to as the 25 "Task Force").
1 (b) The Task Force shall be composed of 40 members as
2 follows:
3 (1) the Secretary of the Interior or his designee,
4 who shall act as Chairman;
5 (2) representatives from each of the five Indian
6 reservations in which the Colorado River Floodway is
7 located-.the Yuma Indian Reservation, the Colorado
8 River Indian Reservation, the Chemehuevi Valley
9 Indian Reservation, the Fort Mohave Indian
Reserva-10 tion, and the Cocopah Indian Reservation;
11 (3) representatives from each of the seven
coun-12 ties in which the floodway is located-Yuma County,
13 Mohave County, and La Paz County in Arizona, Clark
14 County in Nevada, San Bernardino County, Riverside
15 County, and Imperial County in California;
16 (4) representatives from each of the ten
mumci-17 palities in which the floodway is located-Yuma,
18 Parker, Lake Havasu City, Bullhead City, Riviera,
19 Topock, and Golden Shores in Arizona, Laughlin in
20 Nevada, '\Vinterha':en, Blythe, and Needles in
Califor-21 ma;
22 (5) one representative from the following Federal
23 agencies:
24 (A) Bureau of Reclamation;
1 2
3
(C) Fish and Wildlife Service;
(D) Army Corps of Engineers;
(E) Federal Emergency Management
4 Agency; and
5 (F) Department of Agriculture; and
6 (6) two private citizens from each State appointed 7 by the Governors of Arizona, Nevada, and California. 8 (7) the Governor, or his authorized representative
9
10
11
from Arizona, California and Nevada.
(8) a representative from the Colorado River Wildlife Council; and
12 (9) one representative of all law enforcement 13 agencies on the Colorado River.
14 (c)(l) A vacancy in the Task Force shall be filled in the 15 manner in which-the original appointment was made.
16 (2) Members of the Task Force shall be appointed to 17 serve for the life of the Task Force.
18 (3-HAi Each member of the Task Force who is not an 19 officer or employee of the United States shall be compensated 20 at a rate equal to the daily equivalent of the annual rate of 21 basic pay prescribed for grade GS-18 of the General Sched-22 ule under section 5332 of title 5, United States Code, for 23 each day (i~cluding traveltime) during which such members
24 are engaged in the actual performance of the duties of the
25 Task Force. All members of the Task Force who are officers
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1 or employees of the United States shall serve without addi-2 tional compensation.
3 (B) While away from their homes or regular places· of
4 business in the performance of services for the Task Force, 5 all members of the Commission shall be allowed travel ex-6 penses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates au-7 thorized for employees of agencies under sections 5au-702 and 8 5703 of title 5, United States Code.
9 (d)(l) Twenty-one members of the Task Force shall
con-10 stitute a quorum, but a lesser number may hold hearings.
11 (2) The Task Force shall meet at the call of the
Chair-12 man or a majority of its members.
13 (e)(l) The Chairman of the Task Force, without regard
14 to the civil service laws, rules, and regulations, is authorized 15 to appoint and fix the compensation of a staff director and 16 such other additional personnel as may be necessary to
1 7 enable the Task Force to carry out its functions.
18 (2) Any Federal employee may be detailed to the Task
19 Force without reimbursement, and such detail shall be with-20 out interruption or loss of civil service status or privilege.
21 (3) The Task Force may procure temporary and
inter-22 mittent services under section 3109(b) of title 5, United 23 States Code, at rates for individuals which do not exceed the 24 daily equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay prescribed for
6
1 GS-18 of the General Schedule under section 5332 of such 2 title.
3 (f)(l) The Task Force may, for the purpose of carrying
4 out this Act, hold such hearings, sit and act at such times and 5 places, take such testimony, and receive such evidence, as
6 the Task Force considers appropriate. _
7 (2) The Task Force may secure directly irom any
de-8 partment or agency of the United States information neces-9 sary to enable the Task Force to carry out this Act. Upon 10 request of the Chairman of the Task Force, the head of such 11 department or agency shall furnish such information to the 12 Task Force.
13 (3) The Task Force may accept, use, and dispose of gifts
14 or donations of services or property.
15 (4) The Task Force may use the United States mails· in
16 the I same manner and under the same conditions as other 1 7 departments and agencies of the United States.
18 (5) The Administrator of General Services shall provide
19 to the Task Force on a reimbursable basis such administra-20 tive and support services as the Task Force may request.
21 DUTIES
22 SEC. 4. (a) The Task Force
shall-23 (1). review past operation of the dams along the
24 Colorado River in terms of flood control, power
gen-25 eration, and water storage;
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1 (2) examme damage to property 111 the floodway
2 during 1983 and the potential for damage in the 3 future;
4 (3) make recommendations to Congress
on-5 (A) the size of the floodway below Hoover 6 Dam, broken up into the various reaches of the
7 river;
8 (B) future construction and Federal expendi-9 tures within the floodway;
10 (C) development of recreation facilities and 11 fish and wildlife enhancement within the floodway 12 to replace existing development or in place of 13 future development; and
14 (D) the necessity for additional floodway 15 management legislation at local, State, and Fed-16 eral levels; and
17 (E) the necessity of an emergency plan co-18 ordinating the activities of all public safety agen-19 cies to expedite aid and assistance to victims of 20 future floods.
21 (4) make recommendations to the Secretary of the 22 Interior
on-23 (A) any compensation that would be appro-24 priate to be paid by the Secretary to individuals 25 living within the floodway who suffered economic
1 losses as a result of the flooding along the
Colora-2 do River Floodway in 1983 and a procedure for
. 3 paying such compensation; and
4 (B) relocation of any individual living within
5 the floodway that would be appropriate as a result
6 of the consequences of the 1983 flood or in
antici-7 pation of possible future floods and procedures for
8 handling such relocations including the possibility
9 of land exchanges.
10 (b)(l) Based on the recommendations of the Task Force
11 under subsection (a)(4)(A), the Secretary of the Interior is 12 authorized to compensate individuals who suffered economic 13 losses caused by the flooding along the Colorado River 14 Floodway in 1983. Such compensation shall be paid within 15 two years after the date of enactment of this Act. Any indi-16 vidual receiving compensation under this paragraph shall 17 waive all right to any additional compensation from the 18 United States.
19 (2) Any individual who suffered economic losses as a
20 result of the flooding along the Colorado River Floodway in 21 1983 who has not waived any right to compensation pursu-22 ant to clause (1) may bring an action in the United States 23 Court of Claims for claims against the United States based 24 on the 1983 flood any time two years after the date of enact-25 ment of this Act and prior to three years after the date of
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1 enactment. Jurisdiction is conferred on the Court of Claims
2 to hear, determine, and render judgment upon such claims 3 and award damages arising out of economic losses suffered as 4 a result of the 1983 flood.
5 (c) Based on the recommendations of the Task Force
6 under subsection (a)(4)(B), the Secretary of the Interior is
7 authorized to relocate ar.y individual living ·within the
flood-8 way who was either adversely affected by the 19flood-83 flood or 9 who is in jeopardy of flooding in the future.
10 FINAL REPORT
11 SEC. 5. Not later than one year after the date of
enact-12 ment of this Act, the Task Force shall transmit to the Presi-13 dent and to the Congress a report containing a detailed state-14 ment of the study conducted by the Task Force under this 15 Act and the recommendations of the Task Force with respect 16 to the matters specified in section 4, including any 1 7 recommendations for legislation the Task Force considers
18 appropriate.
19 TERMINATION
20 SEC. 6. The Task Force shall terminate one year after
21 the date of enactment of this Act.
22 AUTHORIZATION
23 SEC. 7. (a) For fiscal years 1985 and 1986, there are
24 authorized to be appropriated $2,000,000 to carry out the
25 prov1s10ns of this Act except for subsections (b) and (c) of
10
1 (b) For fiscal years 1985, 1986, and 1987 there are 2 authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to 3 carry out the provisions of subsections (b) and (c) of section 4.
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