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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3737 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3737
To amend the Reclamation States Emergency Drought Relief Act of 1991 to
provide financial and technical assistance to eligible entities for the
conduct of innovative approaches to voluntary water partnership
agreements among multiple water users and projects conducted by
individual agricultural entities, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 29, 2026
Mr. Padilla introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Reclamation States Emergency Drought Relief Act of 1991 to
provide financial and technical assistance to eligible entities for the
conduct of innovative approaches to voluntary water partnership
agreements among multiple water users and projects conducted by
individual agricultural entities, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Growing Resilient Operations from
Water Saving and Municipal-Agricultural Reciprocally-beneficial
Transactions Act'' or the ``GROW SMART Act''.
SEC. 2. PROJECT PLANNING IN SUPPORT OF INNOVATIVE VOLUNTARY WATER
SHARING AGREEMENTS AND VOLUNTARY USE OF WATER-THRIFTY
CROPS.
Title II of the Reclamation States Emergency Drought Relief Act of
1991 (43 U.S.C. 2221 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 201
the following:
``SEC. 201A. PROJECT PLANNING IN SUPPORT OF INNOVATIVE VOLUNTARY WATER
SHARING AGREEMENTS AND VOLUNTARY USE OF WATER-THRIFTY
CROPS TO PREPARE FOR AND RESPOND TO DROUGHT.
``(a) In General.--The Secretary, in order to prepare for and
respond to drought conditions, may, using funds made available to carry
out this title and under subsection (g), provide to qualified
applicants technical and financial assistance to provide planning
support for the implementation of voluntary projects incorporating
innovative approaches that--
``(1)(A) keep agricultural land in production; and
``(B) support income and employment levels in rural
communities;
``(2) provide affordable water supplies, redundant water
supplies, shared storage, or other benefits; and
``(3) rely over the long term on sources other than Federal
funding for implementation.
``(b) Description of Innovative Approach.--An innovative approach
referred to in subsection (a)--
``(1) shall--
``(A) be new; or
``(B) lack a well-established track record in the
applicable area;
``(2) shall include an approach that--
``(A) insulates agricultural water users from the
risk of crop failures or water shortages through
voluntary financial, water storage, or water sharing
agreements between at least 1 party described in
subsection (c)(1)(A)(i) and 1 party described in
subsection (c)(1)(A)(ii);
``(B) brings water-saving commodities or practices
into production; or
``(C) involves voluntary methods for reducing
agricultural consumptive water use, including--
``(i) hydroponics;
``(ii) agrovoltaics;
``(iii) agroforestry;
``(iv) innovative irrigation technologies,
including gravity-powered drip irrigation and
automated high-efficiency surface irrigation;
``(v) root-zone-based irrigation management
systems;
``(vi) implementation of regenerative
agricultural practices that decrease net water
consumption; or
``(vii) concentration of crop production on
a reduced irrigated acreage that results in an
equal or greater financial return; and
``(3) shall not include an approach that--
``(A) fallows agricultural land for--
``(i) the majority of the growing season in
the applicable area; or
``(ii) in the case of a drought-year
agreement, is reasonably anticipated to result
in fallowing for the majority of years under
the drought-year agreement; or
``(B) involves crops in the applicable area (other
than crops using an approach described in paragraph
(2)) that are--
``(i) widely used or planted; or
``(ii) well understood in terms of yield,
cost, and other key production factors.
``(c) Qualified Applicants.--
``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (3), to
qualify for financial or technical assistance under this
section, an applicant shall--
``(A) propose a voluntary partnership among--
``(i) 1 or more agricultural entities
(including irrigation districts); and
``(ii) 1 or more--
``(I) State, municipal, or other
community water providers;
``(II) industrial or commercial
entities, including data centers;
``(III) States, State agencies, or
subdivisions of a State; or
``(IV) nonprofit conservation
organizations; and
``(B) submit to the Secretary an application signed
by at least 1 party described in subparagraph (A)(i)
and 1 party described in subparagraph (A)(ii).
``(2) No limits on participation of tribal entities.--Each
of the parties described in clauses (i) and (ii) of paragraph
(1)(A) may be Tribal entities.
``(3) Projects without voluntary partnerships.--
``(A) In general.--Notwithstanding paragraph (1),
the Secretary may award to a State, State agency, or
subdivision of a State, Indian Tribe, or agricultural
entity that is not in a voluntary partnership with
other entities described in paragraph (1)(A) a portion
of the financial assistance authorized under this
section for the planning or conduct of a voluntary
project that--
``(i) uses an innovative approach described
in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (b); or
``(ii) with respect to a voluntary project
conducted by a State, State agency, or Indian
Tribe, would advance other long-term efforts to
reverse declining--
``(I) groundwater supplies; or
``(II) freshwater inflows to inland
lakes.
``(B) Priority consideration.--The Secretary shall
give priority consideration to an application for
financial assistance under this paragraph for which the
following thresholds have been met or are projected to
be met:
``(i) In the case of an application from an
agricultural entity or subdivision of a State,
a reduction of 40 percent or more in the annual
water supply of the agricultural entity or
subdivision of the State, due to factors
outside the control of the agricultural entity
or subdivision of the State.
``(ii) In the case of an application from a
State, State agency, or Indian Tribe, a
reduction of 40 percent or more in--
``(I) groundwater supplies; or
``(II) freshwater inflows to inland
lakes.
``(d) Application Requirements.--The Secretary shall ensure that
applications for financial or technical assistance under this section--
``(1) shall be limited to--
``(A) a brief description of why the proposed
approach to be provided assistance is consistent with
this section and the priorities described in subsection
(e); and
``(B) any basic information on the applicant that
the Secretary determines to be necessary; and
``(2) shall not require any preparation of supporting
reports by the applicant or other entities.
``(e) Priority.--The Secretary shall prioritize applications for
financial or technical assistance under this section based on--
``(1) for projects involving a voluntary partnership under
subsection (c)(1), whether the proposed project would dedicate
a portion of the water saved in the project area to increase
water supplies for--
``(A) other members of the water district within
which the project is located; or
``(B) in the case of a project not within a water
district, other members of the municipality, Indian
Tribe, acequia, or other community unit within which
the project is located;
``(2) the extent to which the proposed approach is
innovative in terms of--
``(A) the practices implemented or the crops
planted;
``(B) the financial or other aspects of the
voluntary partnership among the agricultural entities
and municipal or industrial entities or nonprofit
conservation organizations; or
``(C) a combination of the factors described in
subparagraphs (A) and (B);
``(3) the extent to which the proposed approach is
preliminarily estimated to reduce consumptive agricultural
water use compared to existing practices while keeping
agricultural land in production;
``(4) the extent to which the proposed approach is
preliminarily estimated to support income and employment levels
in the relevant agricultural community compared to existing
practices (whether due to increased yields, lower input costs,
or other factors);
``(5) the assessment of the Secretary of the likelihood
that the proposed approach is likely to be successfully
implemented as proposed;
``(6) whether the voluntary water sharing agreements among
the agricultural entities and municipal or industrial entities
or nonprofit conservation organizations are proposed for a
period of not less than 10 years;
``(7) the likelihood of the project to sustain the project
long-term without the need for additional Federal funding after
the project demonstration phase; and
``(8) such other factors as the Secretary determines to be
appropriate, consistent with subsection (c)(3).
``(f) Cost-Sharing Requirement.--
``(1) In general.--The Federal share of activities provided
financial assistance under this section shall not exceed 75
percent of the cost of the activities.
``(2) Waiver.--The Secretary may waive the cost-sharing
requirement under paragraph (1) for Tribal entities.
``(g) Funding.--
``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, the Secretary may use not more than 10 percent of the
amounts made available under section 9504(e) of the Omnibus
Public Land Management Act of 2009 (42 U.S.C. 10364(e)) to
carry out this section.
``(2) Authorization of appropriations.--In addition to any
amounts otherwise made available to carry out this title and
amounts made available under paragraph (1), there is authorized
to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this section
$5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2028 through 2034.''.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S380)
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