S. 291

111 S291 IS: Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program Amendment Act of 2025
 U.S. Senate
 2025-01-29
 text/xml
 EN
 Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
 II  119th CONGRESS  1st Session  S. 291  IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES   January 29, 2025   Mr. Padilla  (for himself,  Ms. Cortez Masto ,  Mr. Schiff ,  Ms. Rosen , and  Mr. Kelly ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the  Committee on Energy and Natural Resources    A BILL
To establish an interest-bearing account for the non-Federal contributions to the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program, and for other purposes.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the   Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program Amendment Act of 2025  .
2.
Interest-bearing fund
Section 9402 of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 ( Public Law 111–11 ; 123 Stat. 1328) is amended by adding at the end the following:
(c)
Interest-Bearing account for non-Federal contributions
(1)
Definitions
In this subsection:
(A)
Agreement
The term  Agreement  means the agreement entitled the  Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program Funding and Management Agreement  and dated April 4, 2005.
(B)
Fund
The term  Fund  means the Non-Federal Funding Account for the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program established by paragraph (2).
(C)
Non-Federal contribution
The term  non-Federal contribution  means an amount contributed by a State Party for the non-Federal cost share described in section 8 of the Agreement.
(D)
State party
The term  State Party  has the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Agreement.
(2)
Establishment
There is established in the Treasury of the United States a fund, to be known as the  Non-Federal Funding Account for the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program , consisting of—
(A)
any amounts deposited in the Fund under paragraph (3); and
(B)
any interest earned on investment of amounts in the Fund under paragraph (4).
(3)
Deposits to fund
(A)
In general
Pursuant to section 8.4 of the Agreement, the Secretary of the Treasury shall deposit in the Fund—
(i)
any unexpended non-Federal contributions provided before the date of enactment of this subsection; and
(ii)
any non-Federal contributions provided on or after the date of enactment of this subsection.
(B)
Availability of amounts; expenditure
Amounts deposited in the Fund under subparagraph (A) and any interest on those amounts in the Fund shall be made available to the Secretary, without further appropriation, for expenditure—
(i)
as provided in the Program Documents; and
(ii)
in accordance with this section.
(4)
Investment of amounts
(A)
In general
The Secretary of the Treasury may invest any portion of the Fund that is not, as determined by the Secretary, required to meet the current needs of the Fund.
(B)
Requirement
Investments under subparagraph (A) may be made only in interest-bearing obligations of the United States.
(5)
Transfers of amounts
(A)
Transfer of previously contributed funds
The amounts required to be deposited in the Fund under paragraph (3)(A)(i) shall be transferred from the general fund of the Treasury to the Fund not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this subsection.
(B)
Transfer of future contributed funds
As soon as practicable after the date on which amounts described in paragraph (3)(A)(ii) are contributed, those amounts shall be transferred to the Fund.
(C)
Responsibility of State Parties
In accordance with the Agreement, on deposit of amounts in the Fund under paragraph (3), the State Parties shall not be responsible for any losses due to investment of those amounts the Fund.
 .