43 U.S.C. § 407 — Reclamation Water Settlements Fund

This section sets up a special fund and controls how money moves in and out of it. (a) Establishment. The Treasury creates the "Reclamation Water Settlements Fund." It holds two kinds of money: amounts deposited under subsection (b), and interest earned on the Fund's investments under subsection (d). (b) Deposits to Fund. Each year from 2020 through 2029, the Secretary of the Treasury must deposit $120,000,000 into the Fund, if that much is available, taking it from revenue that would otherwise go into the fund created by section 391. This money does not need a separate appropriation from Congress, and it comes on top of money appropriated under any other law. (c) Expenditures from Fund. For fiscal years 2020 through 2034, the Secretary may normally spend up to $120,000,000 per year from the Fund, plus interest earned. If the Fund did not use its full $120,000,000 in an earlier year, the Secretary may spend more than $120,000,000 in a later year using that leftover amount. The Secretary may spend this money only to carry out a settlement agreement, approved by Congress, that resolves litigation involving the United States — where the settlement requires the Bureau of Reclamation to help fund or build water supply infrastructure, or a project that either fixes a water delivery system to save water, or restores fish and wildlife habitat connected to an existing federal reclamation project. The law then sets spending priorities, in this order: - First priority, split four ways: (i) the Navajo-Gallup water supply project — the Secretary must spend what is needed to pay the federal share and finish the project's water infrastructure, if funding through other appropriations looks insufficient; spending is normally capped at $500,000,000 through 2029, though that cap can be exceeded if it doesn't reduce money available for the other three priorities. (ii) Other New Mexico settlements — the Aamodt and Abeyta water rights cases, capped at $250,000,000, but only if Congress approves those settlements and the deadline to implement them hasn't passed. (iii) Montana settlements — water rights agreements with the Blackfeet Tribe, Crow Tribe, or Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes, capped at $350,000,000 through 2029 (with a similar exception allowing more if it doesn't shortchange the other priorities), again only if Congress approves them in time. (iv) An Arizona settlement — an agreement with the Navajo Nation over water rights in the Lower Colorado River basin, capped at $100,000,000 through 2029, with the same kind of exception, and again contingent on Congressional approval in time. - Any money not needed for those four priorities can be used for other approved settlement purposes. - Reversion: if the New Mexico, Montana, or Arizona settlements are not approved by Congress by December 31, 2019, the money reserved for them stops being reserved. It goes back into the general Fund for the Secretary to use for any authorized purpose. (d) Investment of amounts. The Secretary must invest whatever part of the Fund is not needed to cover current withdrawals. Interest and profits from selling or redeeming those investments go back into the Fund. (e) Transfers of amounts. The Treasury must transfer money into the Fund at least once a month, based on the Secretary of the Treasury's estimates. If an earlier estimate was too high or too low, later transfers are adjusted to correct it. (f) Termination. On September 30, 2034, the Fund ends. Whatever money is left, and not already committed, goes back to the appropriate Treasury fund.