H.R. 4562, a bill to authorize early repayment of obligations to the Bureau of Reclamation within the Northport Irrigation District in the state of Nebraska

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

H.R. 4562 would allow individual landowners in the Northport Irrigation District in Nebraska to prepay their share of the cost to build the North Platte Project in Nebraska. Based on information from the Bureau of Reclamation, CBO estimates that enacting the legislation would have an insignificant effect on the federal budget. Because the legislation would affect direct spending, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Enacting H.R. 4562 would not affect revenues.

Currently, the Northport Irrigation District is not making any payment to the bureau on the district’s outstanding obligation of $924,000 that it owes for the irrigation project. Based on information from the bureau, CBO does not expect the district to begin repaying this debt in the next several years.

H.R. 4562 would allow the 25 individual landowners in the district to pay their portion of the balance early. Based on information from the district, about half of those landowners are expected to do so under the bill. CBO estimates that those payments would increase offsetting receipts (which are treated as reductions in direct spending) to the federal government by $440,000 over the 2015-2024 period.

H.R. 4562 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.