Bill: To establish a federally declared Floodway for the Colorado River below Davis Dam, FEBRUARY 25, 1985

... m)TH CONGRESS

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RECtJVtJ)

To establish :i federally declared Floodway for the Colorado RiYer below DaYis

Dam.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 25, 1985

Mr. CHENEY (for himself and Mr. MILLER of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs

A BILL

To establish a federally declared Flood,Ya.y for the Colorado River below Davis Dam.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of

Representa-2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SHORT TITLE

4 SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the "Colorado 5 River Flood way Protection Act".

6 FINDINGS AND PURPOSES

7 SEC. 2. (a) FINDINGS.-The Congress finds

that-8 (1) there are multiple purposes established by law 9 for the dams and other control structures administered 10 by the Secretary of the Interior on the Colorado River;

1 (2) the maintenance of the Colorado River Flood-2 way established in this Act is essential to accomplish

3 these multiple purposes;

4 (3) developments within the Floodway are and

5 will continue to be vulnerable to damaging flows;

6 (4) certain Federal programs which subsidize or 7 permit development within the Floodway threaten

8 human life, health, property, and natural resources;

9 and

10 (5) there is a need for coordinated Federal, State, 11 and local action to limit Floodway development and re-12 · store the Floodway.

13 (b) PuRPOSE.-The Congress declares that the purpose 14 of this Act is to establish the Colorado River Floodway, as

15 designated and described further in this Act, so as to provide

16 benefits to river users and to minimize the loss of human life, 17 protect health and safety, and minimize damage to property

18 and natural resources by restricting future Federal

expendi-19 tures and financial assistance, except public health funds, 20 which have the effect of encouraging deYelopment within the 21 Colorado River Floodway.

22 DEFINITIONS

23 SEC. 3. (a) The term "Committees" refers to the Com-24 mittee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the United States 25 House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and

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1 (b) The term "financial assistance" means anv form of 2 loan, grant, guaranty, insurance, payment, rebate, subsidy, or 3 any other form of direct or indirect Federal assistance other 4

than-5 (1) general revenue-sharing grants made under 6 section 102 of the State and Local Fiscal Assistance 7 Amendments of 1972 (31 U.S.C. 1221);

8 (2) deposit or account insurance for customers of 9 banks, savings and loan associations, credit unions, or 10 similar institutions;

11 (3) the purchase of mortgages or loans by the 12 Government National Mortgage Association, the Fed-13 eral National Mortgage Association, or the Federal 14 Home Loan Mortgage Corporation;

15 (4) assistance for environmental studies, plans, 16 and assessments that are required incident to the issu-1 7 ance of permits or other authorizations under Federal 18 law; and

19 (5) assistance pursuant to programs entirely unre-20 lated to deYelopment, such as any Federal or federally 21 assisted Public Assistance Program or any Federal 22 Old-Age, Survivors, or Disability Insurance Program. 23 Such term also includes flood insurance described in sections 24 1322(a) and (b) of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968,

1 as amended (42 U.S.C. 4028) on and after the dates on 2 which the provisions of those sections become effective.

3 (c) The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of the

4 Interior.

5 (d) The term "water district" means any public agency

6 providing water service, including water districts, county 7 water districts, public utility districts, and irrigation districts.

8 (e) the term "Floodway" means the Colorado River

9 Floodway established in section 5 of this Act.

10 COLORADO RIVER FLOODWAY TASK FORCE

11 SEC. 4. (a) Under the leadership and coordination of the

12 Secretary there shall be a Colorado River Floodway Task 13 Force, which shall include representatives

of-14 (1) each State and Indian reservation in which the

15 Floodway is located;

16 (2) each county in which the Floodway is located;

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17 (3) each water district in which the Floodway is

18 located;

19 (4) the cities of Needles, Parker, Blythe, Bullhead

20 City, and Yuma;

21 (5) the Army Corps of Engineers;

22 (6) the Federal Emergency Management Agency

23 (FEMA);

24 (7) the Department of Agriculture; and

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1 (b) the task force shall prepare recommendations

con-2 cerning the management of land within the Colorado River 3 Floodway, which recommendations shall deal

with-4 (1) the means to restore and maintain the

Flood-5 way specific in section 5 of this Act, including, but not

6 limited to, specified instances where land transfers or

7 relocations, or other changes in land management,

8 might best effect the purposes of this Act; and

9 (2) the necessity for additional Floodway

manage-10 ment legislation at local, State, and Federal levels.

11 (c) The task force shall exist for at least one year after

12 the date of enactment of this Act, or until such time as the 13 Secretary has filed with the Committees the maps described

14 in subsection 5(b)(2).

15 COLORADO RIVER FLOODWAY

16 SEC. 5. (a) There is established the Colorado River

17 Floodway as identified and generally depicted on maps that 18 are to be submitted by the Secretary.

19 (b)(l) Within one year after the date of enactment of this

20 Act, the Secretary, in consultation with the seven Colorado 21 River Basin States and any other interested parties

shall-22 (i) complete a study of the tributary floodflows

23 downstream of Davis Dam; and

24 (ii) define the specific boundaries of the Colorado

25 River Floodway so that the Floodway can

accommo-26 date a flow of forty thousand cubic feet per second (cfs)

1 m the Colorado River immediately below Davis Dam 2 plus the one-in-one-hundred-year frequency inflow from 3 below Davis Dam to the Southerly International 4 Boundary between the United States of America and 5 the Republic of Mexico.

6 (2) As soon as practicable after the determination of the 7 Floodway boundary pursuant to this subsection, the Secre-8 tary shall prepare and file with the Committees maps depict-9 ing the Colorado River Floodway, and each such map shall 10 be considered a standard map to be adhered to by all agen-11 cies and shall have the same force and effect as if included in 12 this Act, except that correction of clerical and typographical 13 errors in each such map may be made. Each such map shall 14 be on file and available for public inspection in the Office of 15 the Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, Department 16 of the Interior, and in other appropriate offices of the Depart-17 ment.

18 (3) The Secretary shall provide copies of the Colorado 19 River Floodway maps to (A) the chief executive officer of 20 each State, county municipality, water district, Indian tribe, 21 or equivalent jurisdiction in which the Floodway is located, 22 (B) each appropriate Federal agency, including agencies 23 which regulate Federal financial institutions, and (C) each 24 federally insured financial institution which serves the geo-25 graphic area as one of its primary markets.

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1 (c)(l) The Secretary shall conduct, at lea.st once every 2 five years, a review of the Colorado River Floodway and 3 make, after notice to and in consultation ,vith the appropriate 4 officers referred to in paragraph (3) of subsection (b), and 5 others, such minor and technical modifications to the bound-6 aries of the Floodway as are necessary solely to reflect 7 changes that have occurred in the size or location of any 8 portion of the floodplain as a result of natural forces, and as 9 necessary pursuant to subsection (b) of section (7) of this Act. 10 (2) If, in the case of any minor and technical modifica-11 tion to the boundaries of the Floodway made under the au-12 thority of this subsection, an appropriate chief executive offi-13 cer of a State, county, municipality, water district, Indian 14 tribe, or equivalent jurisdiction, to which notice was given in 15 accordance with this subsection files comments disagreeing 16 with all or part of the modification and the Secretary makes a 1 7 modification which is in conflict with such comments, the 18 Secretary shall submit to the chief executive officer a written 19 justification for his failure to make modifications consistent 20 ,vith such comments or proposals.

21 LIMITATIONS ON FEDERAL EXPENDITURES AFFECTING

22 THE FLOODWAY

23 SEC. 6. (a) Except as provided in section 7, no new 24 expenditures or new financial assistance may be made a,·ail-25 able under authority of any Federal law for any purpose 26 within the Floodway established under section 5 of this Act.

1 (b) An expenditure or financial assistance made ava il-2 able, under authority of Federal law shall, for purposes of 3 this Act, be a new expenditure or new financial assistance

4

if-5 (1) in any case with respect to which specific

ap-6 propriations are required, no money for construction or

7 purchase purposes was appropriated before the date of

8 the enactment of this Act; or

9 (2) no legally binding commitment for the

expend-10 iture or financial assistance was made before such date

11 of enactment.

12 EXCEPTIONS

13 SEC. 7. Notwithstanding section 6, the appropriate

Fed-14 eral officer, after consultation with the Secretary, may make 15 Federal expenditures or financial assistance available within 16 the Colorado River Floodway

for-17 (a) any dam, channel, or levee construction,

oper-18 ation or maintenance for the purpose of flood control,

19 water conservation, power, or water quality;

20 (b) other remedial or corrective actions, including

21 but not limited to drainage facilities essential to assist

22 in controlling adjacent high ground water conditions

23 caused by flood flows:

24 (c) the maintenance, replacement, reconstruction,

25 repair, and expansion, of federally assisted and publicly

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1 2 3 4-,

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bridges), or facilities: Provided, That, no such expan-sion shall be permitted

unless-(1) the expansion is designated and built in accordance with the procedures and standards es-tablished in section 650.101 of title 23, Code of

Federal Regulations, et seq. as they may be

amended from time to time; and

(2) the boundaries of the Floodway are

ad-justed to account for changes in flows caused,

di-rectly or indidi-rectly, by the expansion;

(d) military activities essential to national security;

(e) any of the following actions or projects, but

only if the Secretary finds that the making available of

expenditures or assistance therefor is consistent with

the purposes of this Act:

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(1) Projects for the study, management, pro-tection and enhancement of fish and wildlife re-sources and habitats, including, but not limited to, acquisition of fish and wildlife habitats and related

lands, stabilization projects for fish and wildlife

habitats, and recreational projects.

(2) The establishment, operation, and

mainte-nance of air and water na ,·igation aids and

de-vices, and for access thereto.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

(3) Projects under the Land and Water Con-servation Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 4601-4 through 11).

(4) Scientific research, including but not lim-ited to aeronautical, atmospheric, space, geologic, marine, fish and wildlife and other research, de-velopment, and applications.

(5) Assistance for emergency actions essen-tial to the saving of lives and the protection of property and the public health and safety, if such actions are performed pursuant to sections 305 and 306 of the Disaster Relief Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5145 and 5146) and are limited to actions that are necessary to alleviate the emergency. Disaster assistance under the provisions of the Disaster Relief Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-288, as amended) may also be provided with respect to persons resident within the floodway, or struc-tures or public infrastructure in existence or sub-stantially under construction therein, on the date ninety days. after the date of enactment of this Act: Provided, That, such persons, or with re-spect to public infrastructure the State or local political entity which owns or controls such infra-structure, has purchased flood insurance for

struc-11

1 tures or infrastructures under the National Flood

2 Insurance Program, if eligible, and had taken

pru-3 dent and reasonable steps, as determined by the

4 Secretar:·, to minimize damage from future floods

5 or operations of the Floodway established in the

6 Act.

7 (6) Other assistance for public health

pur-8 poses, such as mosquito abatement programs.

9 (7) Nonstructural projects for riverbank

stabi-10 lization that are designed to enhance or restore

11 natural stabilization svstems.

12 (8) Publicly financed, owned, and operated

13 compatible recreational developments such as re-14 gional parks, golf courses, docks, and

boat-launch-15 mg ramps.

16 (9) Compatible agricultural uses that do not

1 7 involve permanent crops and include only a

mini-18 mal amount of permanent facilities in the

Flood-19 \\·av.

20 CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE

21 SEC. 8. The Dire.ctor of the Office of Management and

22 Budget shall, on behalf of each Federal agency concerned,

23 make written certification that each agency has complied

24 with the provisions of this Act during each fiscal year

begin-25 ning after September 30, 198-t-. Such certification shall be

26 submitted on an annual basis to the United States House of HR 1246 1H

1 Representatives and the United States Senate on or before 2 January 15 of each fiscal year.

3 PRIORITY OF LAWS

4 SEC. 9. Nothing contained in this Act shall be construed 5 to alter, amend, repeal, modify, interpret, or be in conflict 6 with the provisions of the Colorado River Compact (45 Stat. 7 1057), the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact (63 Stat. 8 31), the Water Treaty of 1944 with the United Mexican 9 States (Treaty Series 994, 59 Stat. 1219), the Flood Control 10 Act of 1944 (58 Stat. 887), the decree entered by the Su-11 preme Court of the United States in Arizona versus Califor-12 nia, et al. (376 U.S. 340), the Boulder Canyon Project Act 13 (45 Stat. 1057), the Boulder Canyon Project Adjustment Act 14 (54 Stat. 774; 43 U.S.C. 618a), the Colorado River Storage 15 Project Act (70 Stat. 105; 43 U.S.C. 620), or the Colorado 16 River Basin Project Act (82 Stat. 885; 43 U.S.C. 1501). 1 7 Furthermore, nothing contained in this Act shall be construed 18 as indicating an intent on the part of the Congress to change 19 the existing relationship of other Federal laws to the law of a 20 State, or a political subdivision of a State, or to relieYe any 21 person of any obligation· imposed by any law of any State, or 22 political subdivision of a State. No provision of this Act shall 23 be construed to invalidate any proYision of State or local law 24 unless there is a direct conflict between such provision and 25 the law of the State, or political subdiYision of the State, so

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1 gcther. Inconsistencies shall be reYie\\'ed by the task force,

2 and the task force shall make recommendations concerning 3 such local laws. This Act shall in no \\'ay be interpreted to 4 interfere with a State's right to protect, rehabilitate, pre-5 serve, and restore lands within its established boundary.

6 SEP ARABILITY

7 SEC. 10. If any provision of this Act or the application 8 thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, the 9 remainder of the Act and the application of such proYision to 10 other persons not similarly situated or to other circumstances 11 shall not be affected thereby.

12 REPORTS TO CONGRESS

13 SEC. 11. Before the close of the one-year period begin-14 ning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 15 shall prepare and submit to the Committees a report regard-16 ing the Colorado River Floodway, the results of the task 17 force's work, and the Secretary's recommendations with re-18 spect to the objectives outlined in section 4(b) of this Act. 19 AMENDMENTS REGARDING FLOOD INSURANCE

20 SEC. 12. (a) The National Flood Insurance Act of 1968

21 (42 U.S.C. 4028) is amended by adding the following section: 22 "SEC. 1322. (a) Owners of existing National Flood In-23 surance Act policies ,Yith respect to structures located within 24 the Floodwa y established under section 5 of the Colorado

:25 RiYrr Floodway Protection Act hall hnn' the right to renc"· :?G and trnnsfcr such policies. O\\'ncrs of cxi::-::ting structures

1 cated within said Floodway on the date of enactment of the 2 Colorado River Floodway Protection Act who have not ac-3 quired National Flood Insurance Act policies shall have the 4 right to acquire policies with respect to such structures for 5 six months after the Secretary of the Interior files the Flood-6 way maps required by section 5(b)(2) of the Colorado River 7 Floodway Protection Act and to renew and transfer such 8 policies.

9 (b) No new flood insurance coverage may be provided 10 under this title on or after a date ninety days after the enact-11 ment of the Colorado River Floodway Protection Act for any 12 new construction or substantial improvements of structures 13 located within the Colorado River Floodway established by 14 section 5 of the Colorado River Floodway Protection Act. 15 (c) The Secretary of the Interior may by rule after 16 notice and comment pursuant to section 553 of title 5, United 17 States Code, establish temporary Flood,vay boundaries to be 18 in effect until the maps required by section 5(b)(2) of the Col-19 orado River Floodway Protection Act are filed, for the pur-20 pose of enforcing subsection (b) and (d) of this section.

21 (d) A federally insured financial institution may make 22 loans secured by structures ,Yhich are not eligible for flood 23 insurance by reason of this section: Provided, That such insti-24 tution shall determine whether such lands or structures

se-15

1 curing the loan are within the Floodway prior to making such 2 a loan.".

3 FEDERAL LEASES

4 SEC. 13. (a) No lease of lands owned in whole or in part 5 by the United State and within the Colorado RiYer Flood-6 way shall be granted after the date of enactment of this Act 7 unless the Secretary determines that such a lease would be 8 consistent with the operation and maintenance of the Colora-9 do River Floodway.

10 (b) No existing lease of lands owned in whole or in part 11 by the United States and within the Colorado River Flood-12 way shall be extended beyond the date of enactment of this

13 Act or the stated expiration date of its current term, which-14 ever is later, unless the lessee agrees to take reasonable and 15 prudent steps determined to be necessary by the Secretary to 16 minimize the inconsistency of operation under such lease with 17 the operation and maintenance of the Colorado River Flood-18 way.

19 (c) No lease of lands owned in whole or part by the 20 United States between Hoover Dam and Davis Dam below 21 eleYation 655.0 feet on Lake Mohave shall be granted unless 22 the Secretan· determines that such lease would be consistent 23 with the operation of Lake l\IohaYe.

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1 NOTICES AND EXISTING LAWS

2 SEC. 14. (a)(l) Nothing in this Act shall alter or affect

3 in any way the provisions of section 702c of title 33, United 4 States Code.

5 (2) The Secretary shall provide notice of the provisions

6 of section 702c of title 33, United States Code, and this Act 7 to all existing and prospective lessees of lands leased by the 8 United States and within the Colorado River Floodway.

9 AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS

10 SEC. 15. There is authorized to be appropriated to the

11 Department of the Interior such sums as are necessary to 12 discharge its duties to implement sections 4 through 11 of 13 this Act.