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Land and Water Conservation Fund Water Amendments Act of 2025
To amend title 54, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to make financial assistance to States under the Land and Water Conservation Fund available for water quality projects, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill would expand the Land and Water Conservation Fund to include funding for water quality improvement projects. It would allow the Secretary of the Interior to provide financial assistance to states for projects that restore impaired bodies of water by improving natural hydrological systems such as wetlands, marshes, living shorelines, and estuarine areas. States would need to identify impaired water bodies in their comprehensive recreation plans and propose water quality projects to address them. The bill limits funding to projects focused on natural hydrological restoration and requires consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Brian J. Mast’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $236,075
- EDW C LEVY CO $13,200
- NOBLE PROPERTIES $7,600
- EXPEDITED TRAVEL $7,100
- BLUE OWL CAPITAL $6,600
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Brian J. Mast → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Feb 12, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources. · house
- Feb 12, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 12, 2025
Mr. Mast introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To amend title 54, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to make financial assistance to States under the Land and Water Conservation Fund available for water quality projects, 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 “Land and Water Conservation Fund Water Amendments Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO STATES FOR WATER QUALITY PROJECTS.
Section 200305 of title 54, United States Code, is amended—
(1) in subsection (a), in the second sentence, by inserting “and water quality improvement” after “outdoor recreation”;
(2) in subsection (d), by adding at the end the following:
“(5) Water quality.—A comprehensive statewide outdoor recreation plan shall identify—
“(A) any body of water within the boundaries of the State for which a State water quality control plan has been developed pursuant to section 303(d) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1313(d)); and
“(B) any proposed water quality project (as defined in subsection (e)(4)(A)) to be conducted with respect to a body of water that is identified under subparagraph (A).”; and
(3) in subsection (e)—
(A) in the heading, by striking “and Development of Basic Outdoor Recreation Facilities” and inserting “, Development of Basic Outdoor Recreation Facilities, and Conduct of Water Quality Projects”;
(B) in paragraph (1), by striking “and (3)” and inserting “, (3), and (4)”; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
“(4) Water quality projects.—
“(A) Definition of water quality project.—In this paragraph, the term ‘water quality project’ means any project identified in a State water quality control plan developed for the purpose of restoring any body of water that is identified by the State under section 303(d) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1313(d)) as being impaired.
“(B) Financial assistance.—Under paragraph (1), the Secretary may provide financial assistance for the conduct of water quality projects.
“(C) Non-federal share credit.—The Secretary may credit toward the non-Federal share required under subsection (c) funds allocated by a State for the conduct of a water quality project.
“(D) Consultation.—The Secretary shall consult with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in carrying out this paragraph.
“(E) Limitations.—
“(i) In general.—In providing financial assistance to water quality projects under this paragraph, the Secretary shall only provide financial assistance to water quality projects that seek to improve water quality by improving, restoring, remediating, or developing natural hydrological systems, such as—
“(I) wetlands;
“(II) marshes;
“(III) living shorelines;
“(IV) near-shore estuarine waters; or
“(V) any other naturally occurring hydrological features the Secretary determines to be necessary for the purpose of reducing nutrient loads.
“(ii) No reimbursement.—Funds made available for a water quality project under this paragraph may not be used to reimburse the cost of any water quality project that has already been completed or is otherwise fully funded.
“(iii) Effect.—Nothing in this paragraph—
“(I) expands the authority of the Federal Government over nonnavigable waters; or
“(II) authorizes the Secretary to regulate the conduct of water quality projects.”. <all>
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