To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct facilities to provide water for irrigation, municipal, domestic, military, and other uses from the Santa Margarita River, California, and for other purposes.
Received in the Senate.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 36 · Passed House amended · Oct 4, 2004
(Sec. 2) Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain facilities to provide water for irrigation, municipal, domestic, military, and other uses for the Fallbrook Public Utility District, San Diego County, from the Santa Margarita River, California.
Authorizes Project construction only after determining that: (1) the District has entered into a contract to repay to the United States specified costs, with interest; (2) the authorized California officer or agency has granted water use permits to the Bureau of Reclamation for the benefit of the Department of the Navy and the District; (3) the District has agreed that it will not assert against the United States any prior right it may have to water in excess of the quantity deliverable under this Act and will share water (as specified in section 4); and (4) the Secretary has determined that the Project has economic and engineering feasibility.
(Sec. 3) Limits Navy Department responsibility for Project costs.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Read full official summaryShow less
(Sec. 4) Directs that, except as otherwise agreed between the parties, the Navy Department and the District participate in the water impounded by the Project on the basis of equal priority with 60 percent of the Project's yield allotted to the Secretary of the Navy and 40 percent allotted to the District. Authorizes: (1) temporary contracts for the delivery of excess water by the Navy Department; and (2) modification of rights and obligations by agreement between the parties.
(Sec. 5) Directs that the District's general repayment obligation be determined by the Secretary of the Interior consistent with the Water Supply Act of 1958, but, for purposes of calculating interest and determining the time when the District's repayment obligation to the United States commences, deems the pumping and treatment of Project groundwater to be equivalent to the first use of water from a water storage project.
(Sec. 6) Authorizes the Secretary to transfer the Project's care, operation, and maintenance to the District or a mutually agreed upon third party under specified conditions.
(Sec. 7) Makes the laws of California the basis of all Federal rights pertaining to the use of water under this Act.
(Sec. 8) Directs that, unless otherwise agreed by the Secretary of the Navy, the Project: (1) shall be operated in a manner which allows the free passage of all of the water to which the United States is entitled either as a result of its acquisition of the lands comprising Camp Joseph H. Pendleton and adjoining naval installations and the water rights as a part of those acquisitions, or through actual use or prescription, or both, since the date of any acquisition; and (2) shall not be administered in any way which will impair or deplete the quantities of water to which the United States would be entitled had the Project not been built.
(Sec. 9) Authorizes appropriations.
(Sec. 10) Sets forth reporting requirements by the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of the Navy.
Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H7967-7968)
Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote.(text: CR H7967-7968)
DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 4389.
Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H7967-7969)
Mr. Gibbons moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 441.
Committee on Armed Services discharged.
Committee on Armed Services discharged.
House Committee on Armed Services Granted an extension for further consideration ending not later than Oct. 4, 2004.
Reported by the Committee on Resources. H. Rept. 108-718, Part I.
Reported by the Committee on Resources. H. Rept. 108-718, Part I.
Subcommittee Hearings Held.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Water and Power.
Referred to the Committee on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Bill text & related measures
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Jun 6, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Explore the bill from different angles
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Neutral evidence review
Objective
Analyze H.R.4389 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
View full prompt & sources
Fairness and public impact
Progressive lens
Examine H.R.4389 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
View full prompt & sources
Institutions and government scope
Conservative lens
Examine H.R.4389 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
View full prompt & sources
Individual rights and government power
Liberty lens
Examine H.R.4389 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.