Sponsor
David Schweikert
Representative · R-AZ
Representative · R-AZ
The bill standardizes Colorado River shortage allocations under a single federal rule and authority—improving predictability and protecting some smaller users—but shifts larger cuts onto some senior users, reduces state flexibility, and raises economic and litigation risks for agricultural communities.
Residents and water users in Arizona, California, and Nevada gain a single, clear federal pro‑rata shortage rule and a centralized trigger authority (Secretary of the Interior), creating predictable, basin‑wide allocation decisions and reducing intergovernmental legal uncertainty.
Smaller and newer water users (e.g., newer farms, small agricultural users, some communities) are protected from being cut off entirely because shortages are allocated pro‑rata rather than strictly by seniority.
Farmers, agricultural workers, and rural communities could face larger water reductions and greater economic harm than under prior rules, threatening farm revenues, jobs, and local economies.
State governments lose flexibility to honor locally negotiated, state‑law shortage‑sharing arrangements and established water right practices, constraining tailored local solutions.
Parties with senior or state‑based water rights (including some states and long‑standing users) may mount constitutional or state‑law legal challenges to the uniform federal pro‑rata rule, creating litigation risk and uncertainty.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
During Secretary-declared Colorado River shortages affecting the CAP, consumptive diversions by AZ, CA, and NV are cut pro rata by apportionment and statutory preference for present perfected rights is removed.
Official title: To amend the Colorado River Basin Project Act to provide for the equitable distribution of Colorado River water for the lower basin States, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 14, 2026 by David Schweikert · Last progress January 14, 2026
Rewrites federal law governing how shortages of mainstream Colorado River water are shared among Arizona, California, and Nevada for deliveries through the Central Arizona Project. Under the change, when the Secretary of the Interior declares a shortage or reduction, each State’s consumptive diversion would be cut pro rata based on its base annual apportionment, and statutory preference for present perfected (senior) water rights would be removed. The change replaces the current shortage-allocation language with a straightforward proportional reduction across the three States, shifting allocation rules away from a seniority-based preference and toward equal proportional reductions tied to apportionments.