Sacramento River Improvement and Vitality for Ecosystem Restoration Act of 2024 or the Sacramento RIVER Act of 2024
This bill authorizes a federal leadership committee to support habitat restoration projects. It also allows revenue from the sale of surplus water to be used for drought resilience investments, extraordinary maintenance activities, and dam safety investments.
Specifically, the bill authorizes the Department of the Interior, upon the request of an eligible entity, to establish the Integrated Water Management Federal Leadership Committee. Eligible entity means an entity or qualified partner sponsoring a habitat restoration project in a watershed in which a Bureau of Reclamation project is located and that receives a grant, cooperative agreement, or other financial assistance agreement from Interior.
Committee members must establish the duties and responsibilities of the committee, which must include facilitating communication and collaboration among federal agencies to support and advance any habitat restoration projects for which an eligible entity requests committee assistance.
Additionally, under current law, revenue from the sale of surplus water must be deposited into the Reclamation Fund and credited to the capital repayment of the associated project. This bill allows revenue that would otherwise be deposited into this fund, upon completion of capital repayment, to be used for additional activities. Specifically, this revenue may be used for drought resilience investments, extraordinary maintenance activities, and dam safety investments.
