Maintaining and Enhancing Hydroelectricity and River Restoration Act of 2025
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Maintaining and Enhancing Hydroelectricity and River Restoration Act of 2025
This bill establishes a new investment tax credit in the amount of 30% of the basis of any hydropower improvement property.
The bill defines hydropower improvement property as property that
adds or improves fish passage at a qualified dam;
maintains or improves the quality of the water retained or released by a qualified dam;
promotes downstream sediment transport and habitat maintenance;
upgrades, repairs, or reconstructs a qualified dam to meet safety and security standards;
improves public uses of, and access to, public waterways impacted by a qualified dam;
removes an obsolete river obstruction; or
places into service an approved remote dam.
Further, written approval for hydropower improvement property must be obtained from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or state or local officials prior to January 1, 2035.
The bill also allows an election to claim the investment tax credit for qualified progress expenses for some types of hydropower improvement property in advance of such property being placed into service. Any investment tax credit amount claimed for qualified progress expenses reduces the amount of the investment tax credit that may be claimed once the hydropower improvement property is placed into service.
The bill authorizes certain entities, including tax-exempt and governmental entities, to treat the investment tax credit for hydropower improvement property as a payment of tax and receive a refund of any overpayment (also known as elective pay).
Finally, the investment tax credit for hydropower improvement property may be transferred (i.e., sold).
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on March 27, 2025. 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 March 27, 2025: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- 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 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 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?
Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced it on March 27, 2025, and 14 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 7 Democrats, 6 Republicans, 1 independent.
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 March 27, 2025, 532 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 532 days ago, on March 27, 2025.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 119th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2027 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
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers