Govwatch

Introduced

In Committee

3

Passed One Chamber

4

Passed Both

5

Signed into Law

Sponsor

Cliff Bentz

Republican · OR · Representative

Votes with party: 98.2% (652 recorded votes)

Full profile: /officials/B000668

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

Cosponsors (28)

Members who have signed on to support this bill since introduction. Source: Congress.gov.

Latest Action

The most recent step in the bill's legislative path. Committee Activity below shows referrals and reports; the full action-by-action history including floor proceedings lives at Congress.gov →

Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

2026-06-18

Source: Congress.gov

Committee Activity

Currently in

House Committee on Energy and CommerceReferred To · 2026-06-18

Plain-English Summary

The proposal would update the rules for how the federal government approves and licenses hydropower dams and facilities, making the permitting process faster and more efficient. This would affect hydropower companies, environmental groups, and communities near dams by streamlining the approval timeline and potentially changing how environmental impacts are reviewed. The changes aim to encourage investment in hydropower energy while balancing concerns about environmental protection and public input.

AI-assisted summary generated from the official bill metadata (title, subjects, actions) sourced from Congress.gov. Cached and reviewed. Always verify against the official text linked below.

Subjects

Energy

Full Bill Text

Verbatim text published on Congress.gov via GovInfo. Use Cmd+F / Ctrl+F to search within this excerpt.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 9337 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 9337 To amend the Federal Power Act to modernize the hydropower licensing process, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 18, 2026 Mr. Bentz (for himself, Mr. Fulcher, Mr. Amodei of Nevada, Mr. Hurd of Colorado, Mr. Zinke, Mr. Weber of Texas, Mr. Crank, Mr. Newhouse, Mr. Evans of Colorado, Mr. Baumgartner, Mr. Downing, and Mr. Griffith) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend the Federal Power Act to modernize the hydropower licensing process, 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 ``Hydropower Licensing Affordability Act''. SEC. 2. ENSURING PROPER SCOPE OF FEDERAL RESERVATION LICENSE CONDITIONS. Section 4(e) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 797(e)) is amended, in the first sentence, by inserting ``to reasonably mitigate the direct adverse effect of the applicable project on such reservation, so as to provide'' after ``deem necessary'' in the first proviso. SEC. 3. ENSURING PROPER SCOPE OF PRESCRIBED FISHWAYS. Section 18 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 811) is amended, in the first sentence, by inserting ``to reasonably mitigate the direct adverse effect of the applicable project on the population of a species of fish in the applicable river system'' before the period at the end. <all>

Open clean-text view Read on Congress.gov →

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