Sponsors (3)
The bill shifts control and stronger property protections to States and private landowners (faster review, consent rights, and higher compensation) while reducing federal water jurisdiction and enforcement capacity — a trade-off between local/private control and potentially weaker, uneven protections for water quality and delayed or costlier federal regulation.
State governments regain clearer, primary authority over waters within their borders (reducing federal reach into land and water use).
Homeowners and private landowners get stronger property-right protections: agencies must obtain written consent before collecting water-data, owners can access the data, and may be present during collection, increasing transparency and oversight.
Property owners and developers gain faster judicial review of jurisdictional determinations (local district court within 30 days), reducing regulatory uncertainty for planning and development.
Millions of downstream and local residents could face weaker federal water protections because narrowing jurisdiction (excluding many intermittent channels, disconnected wetlands, banning the significant-nexus test, and treating groundwater as state water) may leave waters unprotected, harming water quality, fisheries, flood control, and drinking-water sources.
Requiring landowner consent, allowing owners to be present during sampling, and restricting federal access may hinder EPA and other agencies’ ability to monitor and enforce clean-water laws, delaying detection and cleanup of pollution.
Mandatory doubled compensation and appraisal requirements could impose very large fiscal liabilities on federal agencies and taxpayers, increasing budgetary unpredictability and diverting funds from other public services or enforcement activities.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Narrows federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction, bars agency rulemaking to expand it, limits inspections on private property, and requires double compensation for property-value losses from federal regulations.
Official title: Amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to clarify the definition of navigable waters, and for other purposes.
Introduced August 5, 2026 by Rand Paul · Last progress August 5, 2026
Redefines federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction to narrow which waters are covered, blocks federal agencies from issuing rules or guidance expanding that coverage, and preserves state authority over waters and land use. The bill also restricts federal entry onto private property for water inspections and requires federal agencies to compensate property owners if a regulation reduces property value, including paying double the independently appraised loss before the regulation takes effect. Overall, the measure shifts regulatory control over many non-navigable, intermittent, ephemeral, or non-contiguous wetlands and streams to states and private landowners, curtails EPA and Army Corps rulemaking and guidance, and creates new property-protection and compensation requirements for federal agencies.