FUTURE Western Water Infrastructure and Drought Resiliency Act
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife.
Furthering Underutilized Technologies and Unleashing Responsible Expenditures for Western Water Infrastructure and Drought Resiliency Act or the FUTURE Western Water Infrastructure and Drought Resiliency Act
This bill addresses water-related resources and infrastructure.
Among other provisions, the bill
reauthorizes through FY2026 the California Bay-Delta program, the Water Availability and Use Science Program, and a water desalination program;
reauthorizes through FY2028 the Fisheries Restoration and Irrigation Mitigation program;
creates various grants for water projects and expands the allowable uses of grants for water recycling and reuse projects;
establishes a funding source for certain water resources development projects in western states;
expands the tax exclusion for energy conservation subsidies provided by public utilities to include certain subsidies for water conservation or efficiency measures and stormwater management measures;
establishes prizes for water technology applications;
requires the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to use specified funds for water control manual updates for forecast-informed water operations projects; and
allows certain funding to be used for the remediation of land formerly used to cultivate marijuana.
The Department of the Interior must, within 10 years, make certain streamgages operational. (Streamgages are fixed structures at streams, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs that measure water level and related streamflow.)
The bill establishes programs related to ecosystem protection and restoration, including programs to (1) incentivize farmers to keep fields flooded during appropriate periods for waterbird habitat creation and maintenance, and (2) prepare drought plans to sustain critically important fisheries.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on May 20, 2021. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on July 5, 2021: Referred to the Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 117th Congress (2021-22), 362 of the 15,242 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Jared Huffman (D-CA) introduced it on May 20, 2021, and 15 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 15 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 20, 2021, 1939 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 1893 days ago, on July 5, 2021.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 117th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2023 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers