Sponsors (3)
The bill increases and stabilizes federal funding and capacity for watershed restoration—prioritizing tribes and disaster‑affected communities—but does so at added federal cost and administrative complexity and may favor better‑resourced applicants or shift money away from long‑term projects.
Local governments, nonprofits, and rural communities will get more predictable federal support because the bill authorizes $40 million per year for FY2027–FY2031 for watershed restoration and resilience projects.
Nonprofits, local governments, and community groups will be able to access larger, multi-year first‑phase grants (up to $50,000/year for at least 3 years, and up to $150,000 for up to 2 additional years), giving more stable funding for local watershed projects.
Grant recipients (and applicants) can use funds for grant writing, project management, and technical assistance, improving the capacity of organizations to plan and deliver projects.
Taxpayers may face higher costs or other federal priorities could be displaced because the bill expands spending by about $40 million per year.
Larger grants and permitted use of funds for capacity-building and grant writing could advantage well-resourced organizations with proposal expertise and disadvantage smaller community groups lacking grant-writing experience.
Continuous enrollment and multiple application windows may increase administrative burden for the agency and for applicants, complicating program management and oversight.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Broadens Cooperative Watershed Management Program to include Indian tribes, adds disaster‑need priority, adjusts grant sizes/durations, expands allowable uses, and authorizes $40M/year for FY2027–FY2031.
Makes targeted changes to the Cooperative Watershed Management Program to explicitly include Indian tribes as eligible stakeholders and priority recipients, creates a new priority for applicants facing drought, wildfire, or other natural disasters, expands permissible uses of grant funds (including grant writing, project management, and technical assistance), adjusts first‑phase and continuation grant amounts and durations, requires continuous enrollment with multiple application windows per year, and authorizes dedicated annual funding of $40 million for FY2027–FY2031.
Official title: To reauthorize the Cooperative Watershed Management Program, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 18, 2026 by Juan Ciscomani · Last progress March 18, 2026