[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9960 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9960
To require the United States Section of the International Boundary and
Water Commission to obtain input from stakeholders when drafting
certain minutes relating to the Rio Grande, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 11, 2024
Ms. De La Cruz (for herself, Mr. Arrington, and Ms. Granger) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign
Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the United States Section of the International Boundary and
Water Commission to obtain input from stakeholders when drafting
certain minutes relating to the Rio Grande, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Water Delivery Transparency Act''.
SEC. 2. STAKEHOLDER INPUT FOR DRAFTING OF CERTAIN IBWC MINUTES.
(a) In General.--In drafting any minute relating to the covered
treaty, the Commission shall obtain input from stakeholders, including
agricultural producers, government entities, and irrigation districts
in Texas, relating to such minute.
(b) Stakeholder Input.--
(1) Public forums.--
(A) In general.--The Commission shall--
(i) hold at least 5 public forums with the
stakeholders described in subsection (a) during
the input period; and
(ii) ensure that at least 3 of such forums
are held in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
(B) Schedule.--At the onset of drafting a minute
described in subsection (a), the Commission shall set a
schedule for the public forums required under
subparagraph (A).
(C) Publication.--Not later than 30 days before
holding the first forum with stakeholders required
under subparagraph (A), the Commission shall make the
schedule set pursuant to subparagraph (B) publicly
available.
(2) Online submission portal.--The Commission shall
establish, and make publicly available, an online submission
portal through which stakeholders may submit input relating to
a minute described in subsection (a) during the input period.
(c) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date on which the
Commission holds the first forum pursuant to subsection (b)(1), the
Commission shall make publicly available a report that includes--
(1) a summary of all input received from stakeholders
during the input period; and
(2) an executive summary describing how the Commission
interprets and plans to use such input when drafting a minute
described in subsection (a).
(d) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the United
States Section of the International Boundary and Water
Commission, United States and Mexico.
(2) Covered treaty.--The term ``covered treaty'' means the
portion of the Treaty on Utilization of Waters of the Colorado
and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande, signed at Washington
February 3, 1944, that relates to the shared waters of the Rio
Grande.
(3) Input period.--The term ``input period'' means the
period of time beginning on the date on which the Commission
holds the first forum pursuant to subsection (b)(1) and ending
60 days after such date.
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