H.R. 1261 — Land and Water Conservation Fund Water Amendments Act of 2025

This section establishes the short title as the “Land and Water Conservation Fund Water Amendments Act of 2025.”

This section revises the Land and Water Conservation Fund State Assistance Program under 54 U.S.C. § 200305 to allow financial assistance for water quality improvement projects in addition to outdoor recreation projects. It requires each State’s comprehensive statewide outdoor recreation plan to identify: (1) any body of water within the State for which a water quality control plan has been developed under section 303(d) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. § 1313(d)); and (2) any proposed water quality project to be conducted for that body of water. This section also expands the definition of eligible projects by adding a new category of “water quality projects” and renaming the subsection heading to include the conduct of those projects. As background, the State Assistance Program provides grants to States for outdoor recreation planning and facility development, with a non-Federal matching share required under subsection (c). Under the new paragraph, a water quality project is a project identified in a State water quality control plan developed to restore a body of water that the State has identified under 33 U.S.C. § 1313(d) as impaired. This section authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to provide financial assistance for water quality projects and to credit State funds allocated for such projects toward the non-Federal share required under subsection (c). It also requires the Secretary to consult with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in carrying out the new authority. This section limits eligible water quality projects to those that improve water quality by improving, restoring, remediating, or developing natural hydrological systems, including wetlands, marshes, living shorelines, near-shore estuarine waters, and other naturally occurring hydrological features the Secretary determines are necessary to reduce nutrient loads. It prohibits use of these funds to reimburse the cost of a project that has already been completed or is otherwise fully funded and specifies that the new authority does not expand Federal authority over nonnavigable waters or authorize the Secretary to regulate water quality projects.