H.R. 302 — Water Rights Protection Act

This section defines key terms for the Act, including "Secretary," meaning, as applicable, the Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior, and "water right," meaning any surface water, groundwater, or water storage use filed, permitted, certificated, confirmed, decreed, adjudicated, or otherwise recognized by a judicial proceeding or by the State in which the user acquires possession of the water or puts the water to beneficial use, including water rights of federally recognized Indian Tribes.

This section directs the Secretary, in developing any rule, policy, directive, management plan, or similar federal action relating to the issuance, renewal, amendment, or extension of permits, approvals, licenses, leases, allotments, easements, rights-of-way, or other land use or occupancy agreements, to (1) recognize states' longstanding authority over evaluating, protecting, allocating, regulating, permitting, and adjudicating water use and coordinate with states to ensure such actions are consistent with, and impose no greater restrictions or requirements than, applicable state water law; and (2) not assert connections between surface water and groundwater inconsistent with state water law or take actions adversely affecting state authority to permit beneficial water use or adjudicate water rights, state definitions of beneficial use, priority of water rights, or terms of use, or other state rights or obligations under state law.

This section prohibits the Secretary from conditioning the issuance, renewal, amendment, or extension of any permit, approval, license, lease, allotment, easement, right-of-way, or other land use or occupancy agreement on (1) the transfer of any water right (including joint or sole ownership) to the United States or any impairment of title or interest recognized under state law, federal or state adjudication, decree, judgment, or interstate compact; (2) requiring any water user (including any federally recognized Indian tribe) to apply for or acquire a water right in the name of the United States under state law; or (3) limiting the date, time, quantity, location of diversion or pumping, or place of use of a state water right beyond applicable state water law limitations, or modifying state-established terms and conditions for groundwater withdrawal, guidance and reporting procedures, or conservation and source protection measures.

This section provides that nothing in the Act (1) interferes with existing or future Bureau of Reclamation contracts under federal reclamation law (i.e., the Reclamation Act of 1902 and related acts); (2) affects implementation of the Endangered Species Act of 1973; (3) limits or expands existing or future federal reserved water rights on lands administered by the Secretary; (4) limits or expands authorities under sections 4(e), 10(j), or 18 of the Federal Power Act (i.e., concerning license conditions for fish and wildlife, project reservations, and water quality); (5) limits or expands existing or future reserved water rights or treaty rights of federally recognized Indian tribes; (6) limits the Secretary's ability, through state procedures, to acquire, use, enforce, or protect federally held state water rights; or (7) affects allocations or limitations in interstate water compacts or Supreme Court decrees interpreting them.