Water for Tomorrow Act of 2020
Latest action. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 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 and Power. Hearings held. With printed Hearing: S.Hrg. 116-375.
Water for Tomorrow Act of 2020
This bill provides assistance for water resources development and ecosystem protection and restoration projects in western states.
Specifically, among other things, the bill requires the Department of the Interior to provide assistance to water supply projects that would contribute to a safe, adequate water supply for domestic, agricultural, environmental, municipal, or industrial use. Interior must also award grants to help disadvantaged communities with populations of 60,000 or less meet specified drinking water standards or address a significant decline in quantity or quality of drinking water. Further, the bill reauthorizes through FY2026 the rural water supply program, reauthorizes through FY2025 the cooperative watershed management program, permanently reauthorizes certain water management improvement grants, and modifies provisions related to funding for water recycling and reuse projects.
Additionally, the bill requires Interior to award grants for habitat restoration projects that improve watershed health to entities with water or power delivery authority. Interior may also enter into agreements to fund aquatic ecosystem restoration and protection projects if they are likely to improve the quality of the environment by improving fish passage. Further, the bill requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop, and update every three years, a plan to sustain the survival of critically important fisheries within western states during future periods of extended drought.
The bill also requires Interior to incorporate information from emerging technologies for snowpack measurement when determining water supply allocations and to study the projected impact of climate change on the safety of Bureau of Reclamation dams.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on July 2, 2020. 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 22, 2020: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power. Hearings held. With printed Hearing: S.Hrg. 116-375.
- 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 116th Congress (2019-20), 344 of the 14,345 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?
Kamala Harris (D-CA) introduced it on July 2, 2020. No cosponsors are recorded.
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 July 2, 2020, 2261 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2241 days ago, on July 22, 2020.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 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