United States HR 6422: American Water Stewardship Act

Bill Text

I 
119THCONGRESS 
1
STSESSION 
H. R. 6422 
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to reauthorize certain 
EPA geographic programs, and for other purposes. 
IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  
DECEMBER4, 2025 
Mr.  S
TAUBER(for  himself  and  Ms.  MCDONALDRIVET)  introduced  the  fol-
lowing  bill;  which  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Transportation  and  
Infrastructure 
A  BILL  
To  amend  the  Federal  Water  Pollution  Control  Act  to  reau-
thorize  certain  EPA  geographic  programs,  and  for  other  
purposes. 
Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Water Stew-4
ardship Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. GREAT LAKES RESTORATION INITIATIVE. 6
Section 118(c)(7)(J)(i)(VI) of the Federal Water Pol-7
lution  Control  Act  (33  U.S.C.  1268(c)(7)(J)(i)(VI))  is  8
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amended  by  striking  ‘‘fiscal  year  2026’’  and  inserting  1
‘‘each of fiscal years 2026 through 2031’’. 2
SEC. 3. LONG ISLAND SOUND. 3
Section  119(h)  of  the  Federal  Water  Pollution  Con-4
trol  Act  (33  U.S.C.  1269(h))  is  amended  by  striking  5
‘‘2023’’ and inserting ‘‘2031’’. 6
SEC. 4. COLUMBIA RIVER BASIN RESTORATION. 7
Section  123(d)(6)  of  the  Federal  Water  Pollution  8
Control  Act  (33  U.S.C.  1275(d)(6))  is  amended  by  strik-9
ing ‘‘and 2021’’ and inserting ‘‘through 2031’’. 10
SEC. 5. SAN FRANCISCO BAY RESTORATION PROGRAM. 11
Section  125  of  the  Federal  Water  Pollution  Control  12
Act (33 U.S.C. 1276a) is amended— 13
(1)    in    the    section    heading,    by    striking    14
‘‘
GRANT’’; and 15
(2) in subsection (e)— 16
(A)  in  the  subsection  heading,  by  striking  17
‘‘G
RANTPROGRAM’’  and  inserting  ‘‘PROGRAM 18
I
MPLEMENTATION’’; 19
(B)  in  paragraph  (1),  by  striking  ‘‘or  other  20
means  to  State  and  local  agencies,  special  dis-21
tricts,  and  public  or  nonprofit  agencies’’  and  in-22
serting  ‘‘interagency  agreements,  contracts,  or  23
other  funding  mechanisms  to  Federal,  State,  24
and  local  agencies,  special  districts,  public  or  25
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nonprofit  agencies,  and  other  public  or  private  1
entities’’; and 2
(C)  by  striking  paragraph  (2)  and  insert-3
ing the following: 4
‘‘(2)   M
AXIMUM    AMOUNT.—Amounts   provided   5
for  a  project,  activity,  or  study  under  this  section  6
shall  not  exceed  an  amount  that  is  equal  to  75  per-7
cent  of  the  total  cost  of  such  project,  activity,  or  8
study. 9
‘‘(3)    A
SSISTANCETONON-FEDERALENTI-10
TIES.—Not  less  than  25  percent  of  the  cost  of  any  11
project,  activity,  or  study  carried  out  using  amounts  12
provided  to  a  non-Federal  entity  under  this  section  13
shall be provided from non-Federal sources.’’. 14
SEC. 6. NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM. 15
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 320 of the Federal Water 16
Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1330) is amended— 17
(1)  in  subsection  (a)(2)(B),  by  striking  ‘‘and  18
Pensacola  and  Perdido  Bays,  Florida’’  and  inserting  19
‘‘Pensacola  and  Perdido  Bays,  Florida;  and  Mis-20
sissippi Sound, Mississippi’’; and 21
(2)  in  subsection  (i)(1),  in  the  matter  preceding  22
subparagraph  (A),  by  striking  ‘‘2026’’  and  inserting  23
‘‘2031’’. 24
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(b) INELIGIBILITYWITHRESPECT TOFISCALYEARS 1
2026 
AND2027.—With  respect  to  the  amendment  made  2
by  subsection  (a)(1),  the  Administrator  of  the  Environ-3
mental  Protection  Agency  may  not  use  for  the  implemen-4
tation  of  that  amendment,  including,  with  respect  to  Mis-5
sissippi Sound, Mississippi, convening a management con-6
ference,  developing  or  carrying  out  a  comprehensive  con-7
servation   and   management   plan,   or   providing   grants   8
under  section  320  of  the  Federal  Water  Pollution  Control  9
Act (33 U.S.C. 1330)— 10
(1)  any  amounts  appropriated  to  carry  out  the  11
national  estuary  program  under  that  section  for  fis-12
cal year 2026; or 13
(2)   unless   the   total   amount   appropriated   to   14
carry  out  that  program  for  fiscal  year  2027  is  at  15
least  $850,000  more  than  the  total  amount  appro-16
priated  to  carry  out  that  program  for  fiscal  year  17
2024,  any  amounts  appropriated  to  carry  out  that  18
program for fiscal year 2027. 19
SEC.   7.   COASTAL