New York-New Jersey Watershed Protection Act of 2025
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill establishes key definitions for the NY-NJ Watershed Restoration Program including the geographic scope of the Watershed (all land draining into NY-NJ Harbor), approved plans (9+ named conservation plans), environmental, establishes the nonregulatory New York-New Jersey Watershed Restoration Program under the Secretary of Interior to coordinate federal, state, tribal, and local restoration and protection activities across the watershed, and establishes the NY-NJ Watershed Restoration Grant Program providing competitive matching grants to state, tribal, and local governments, nonprofits, higher education institutions, and other eligible entities. It relies on reporting requirements, definition changes, compliance mandates, and grants. The main policy areas are Environment & Conservation, Environment, Education, and Housing.
Who Benefits and How
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation could gain revenue opportunities, Environmental justice communities in NY-NJ watershed would be affected, and Tribal governments in the watershed could gain revenue opportunities.
Who Bears the Burden and How
US Fish and Wildlife Service would be affected, Federal government budget could face higher costs, and Secretary of the Interior / USFWS would be affected.
Key Provisions
- Establishes key definitions for the NY-NJ Watershed Restoration Program including the geographic scope of the Watershed (all land draining into NY-NJ Harbor), approved plans (9+ named conservation plans), environmental...
- Establishes the nonregulatory New York-New Jersey Watershed Restoration Program under the Secretary of Interior to coordinate federal, state, tribal, and local restoration and protection activities across the watershed.
- Establishes the NY-NJ Watershed Restoration Grant Program providing competitive matching grants to state, tribal, and local governments, nonprofits, higher education institutions, and other eligible entities.
- Requires the Secretary to submit annual reports to Congress on the implementation of the Act, including descriptions of each activity that received funding in the preceding fiscal year.
- Authorizes $20,000,000 per year for fiscal years 2026-2031 ($120M total). Caps administrative costs at 5%. Requires at least 75% to fund the grant program. Specifies funding shall supplement, not supplant, existing...
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
The bill establishes key definitions for the NY-NJ Watershed Restoration Program including the geographic scope of the Watershed (all land draining into NY-NJ Harbor), approved plans (9+ named conservation plans), environmental, establishes the nonregulatory New York-New Jersey Watershed Restoration Program under the Secretary of Interior to coordinate federal, state, tribal, and local restoration and protection activities across the watershed, and establishes the NY-NJ Watershed Restoration Grant Program providing competitive matching grants to state, tribal, and local governments, nonprofits, higher education institutions, and other eligible entities.
Key Policy Areas
Environment & Conservation, Environment, Education, Housing
Primary Purpose
The bill establishes key definitions for the NY-NJ Watershed Restoration Program including the geographic scope of the Watershed (all land draining into NY-NJ Harbor), approved plans (9+ named conservation plans), environmental, establishes the nonregulatory New York-New Jersey Watershed Restoration Program under the Secretary of Interior to coordinate federal, state, tribal, and local restoration and protection activities across the watershed, and establishes the NY-NJ Watershed Restoration Grant Program providing competitive matching grants to state, tribal, and local governments, nonprofits, higher education institutions, and other eligible entities.
Policy Domains
Whole bill
Identified Gains
- National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
- Environmental justice communities in NY-NJ watershed
- Tribal governments in the watershed
- State and local governments in NY-NJ watershed
- Small, rural, or disadvantaged communities in NY-NJ
Identified Costs
- US Fish and Wildlife Service
- Federal government budget
- Secretary of the Interior / USFWS
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Tonko (for himself, Ms. Malliotakis, Ms. Velázquez, Mr. Fitzpatrick, …
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Congress, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal government budget
US Fish and Wildlife Service faces effects in multiple directions
Positive-direction: Congress, Tribal governments in the watershed
Negative-direction: Federal government budget, Secretary of the Interior / USFWS
Environmental conservation nonprofits, Environmental conservation nonprofits in NY-NJ, Hudson River Estuary Program
Environmental justice communities in NY-NJ watershed, Small, rural, or disadvantaged communities in NY-NJ
NY and NJ state environmental agencies, State and local governments in NY-NJ watershed
Green infrastructure and living shoreline contractors
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
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