Sec. 3. Watershed pilots

515 words·~2 min read·/bill/117/s/3539/is/section-3

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act and subject to subsection (h), the Secretary shall establish a total of not less than 2 and not more than 5 watershed pilots in a Reclamation State. Management and responsibility for each watershed pilot shall be led by the Secretary. The Secretary shall designate a management team for the watershed pilot, which shall be composed of representatives appointed by the Secretary. In establishing and carrying out a watershed pilot, the Secretary and the management team shall consult with— State, local, and Tribal representatives; nongovernmental organizations, including water and irrigation districts; private sector representatives; and such other individuals or entities as the Secretary and the management team determine to be appropriate.

Not later than 1 year after the date on which a watershed pilot is established, the management team for the applicable watershed pilot shall develop and implement a 5-year plan for carrying out the watershed pilot. A plan shall incorporate— advance watershed analytics to establish milestones, outcome targets, an implementation plan, and a timeline for achieving the milestones, targets, and full implementation; a coordinated cross-agency funding strategy that will— achieve the milestones and outcome targets established under subparagraph

(A)in an effective and flexible manner by efficiently and quickly delivering Federal financial sources to qualifying projects; leverage amounts made available under sections 4(c)(4) and 7 with existing Federal financial sources; use Federal financial sources and amounts from the Fund to leverage and attract investments from private or philanthropic sources to accelerate greater outcomes-based results; and concentrate Federal financial source commitments from multiple agencies in a watershed pilot during the period of the watershed pilot; annually updated progress tracking against milestones and targets; and such other information as the Secretary determines to be relevant to achieve outcomes on an accelerated timeline. A plan shall be reviewed annually by the management team. On adoption of each plan, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives a notification that the watershed pilot has been established and the plan has been adopted. Not later than 30 days after the date on which the Secretary and the management team for a watershed pilot verify outcomes from the qualifying project, the Secretary and the management team for the watershed pilot shall disburse amounts from Federal financial sources, including amounts made available under sections 4(c)(4) and 7, to a qualifying project, through pay-for-performance contracts, at agreed upon outcome prices. Not later than 1 year after the date on which a watershed pilot is established, the Secretary and the management team for the watershed pilot shall set and publish minimum per-unit outcome prices. The Secretary and the management team for each watershed pilot shall use advance watershed analytics throughout the planning, implementation, measuring, and monitoring of outcomes within the watershed pilot. The Secretary, following notification of the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives, shall approve the establishment of more than 5 watershed pilots under this section.