To prohibit the conditioning of any permit, lease, or other use agreement on the transfer of any water right to the United States by the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedAdditional sponsors: Mr. Owens and Mr. Kennedy of Utah
Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with an amendment
Committee on Agriculture discharged; committed to the Committee of the …
Ms. Maloy (for herself, Mr. Moore of Utah, Mr. Fulcher, …
Summary
What This Bill Does
Prevents Interior and Agriculture departments from requiring water right transfers as condition for permits on federal lands. Affirms state authority over water allocation and requires federal coordination with state water law.
Who Benefits and How
- Water rights holders protected from federal pressure to transfer rights
- States maintain authority over water permitting and adjudication
- Ranchers and land users on federal lands keep water rights separate from permits
Who Bears the Burden and How
- Federal land agencies lose leverage to acquire water rights through permit conditions
- Environmental interests may lose federal water protection mechanisms
Key Provisions
- No conditioning permits, leases, or agreements on water right transfers
- Federal actions must be consistent with state water law
- Recognizes tribal water rights
- Agencies cannot assert surface-groundwater connections beyond state law
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Prohibits federal agencies from conditioning permits on water rights transfers and affirms state water law authority
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Protect water rights holders from federal acquisition pressure"
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Interior or Agriculture
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Surface, ground, or storage water use recognized by state or court including tribal rights
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology