H.R. 4508, a bill to amend the East Bench Irrigation District Water Contract Extension Act to permit the Secretary of the Interior to extend the contract for certain water services

As ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on June 19, 2014

H.R. 4508 would authorize the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Reclamation, to extend the water contract between the United States and the East Bench Irrigation District for six additional years or until a new long-term contract is executed, whichever is earlier. Based on information from the Bureau of Reclamation, CBO estimates that enacting the legislation would not affect the federal budget. Enacting H.R. 4508 would not affect revenues or direct spending; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.

The Bureau of Reclamation supplies irrigation water from the Clark Canyon Dam and Reservoir project to the East Bench Irrigation District under an interim contract negotiated in 2006 after the original contract expired. Although the interim contract expired at the end of 2013, both the bureau and the district continue to operate under the terms of the expired contract and expect to do so until a new contract is executed.

H.R. 4508 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.

On June 26, 2013, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S. 1965, a bill to amend the East Bench Irrigation District Water Contract Extension Act to permit the Secretary of the Interior to extend the contract for certain water services, as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resource on June 18, 2014. The text of the two pieces of legislation is identical, and the CBO cost estimates are the same.