VIDEO: Smith's Northport Bill Passed by the House

Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE) spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives today about H.R. 404, his legislation affecting Nebraska’s Northport Irrigation District. H.R. 404 would provide capital repayment authority for members of the Northport Irrigation District under a dated Bureau of Reclamation contract. Following Smith’s remarks, the legislation was passed by the House of Representatives. The bill now heads to the U.S. Senate for consideration.




Remarks as prepared:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to my colleague from Utah for his remarks.

Under federal Reclamation law, irrigation districts which receive water from a Bureau of Reclamation facility typically repay their portion of the capital costs of water projects under long-term contracts. Under its current contract and current law, Northport is exempt from annual capital repayment if this carriage fee exceeded $8,000 per year. Given the carriage fee has greatly exceeded this amount every year since the 1950s, Northport’s capital repayment debt has been stagnant at over $923,000 since 1952.

So long as the debt endures, landowners are subject to burdensome reporting requirements and acreage limitations, and no revenue is generated for the federal government. I introduced this bill to provide members of the Northport Irrigation District early repayment authority under their dated Reclamation contract.

Allowing producers within the Northport Irrigation District to pay off their portion of the contract means the government will receive funds otherwise uncollected and landowners will be relieved of costly constraints which threaten family-owned operations.

For example, at a Water and Power Subcommittee hearing last year, one member of the Northport District testified acreage limitations will prohibit parents who own land in the District from passing down or selling farmland to sons and daughters who also own land in the same District.

As the Chairman mentioned, similar legislation has passed under bipartisan majorities and, according to the CBO, could generate as much as $440,000 in federal revenue. This is a very simple bill which would make a big difference to some family farmers in western Nebraska.

Thank you, I yield back.