Bill extends permits for a water power project.

What it does

This bill changes a 1986 law about the Kaweah water power project. It raises the number of permit renewals from 3 to 7. It removes Southern California Edison Company's name from the law. The project can keep running much longer without a new Congress vote.

Who it affects

The bill affects whoever runs the Kaweah water power project. It affects people who use power from the project. It may affect how much the public can check on the project.

One thing to notice

The bill extends permits for many years without a new nature review. Removing the company's name may let a new operator take over without public bidding.

From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.

Where it stands

• Feb 6, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Feb 6, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources and Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
• Feb 12, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
• Feb 12, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by Unanimous Consent”
• Jul 14, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3226)”
• Jul 14, 2025 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Westerman moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

1 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 2 reports from Dec 2025 to Jun 2026.

Those reports show $160,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 2 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.

More groups named this bill than 0% of bills with any report.

David Valadao, who sponsored the bill, received $1,996,402 from PACs for the 2026 election.

• Saltchuk Resources, Inc. — $160,000 in 2 reports

Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.

Words to know

• water power project — A plant that makes power using flowing water.
• permits — Official papers that let a company do something.
• renew — To extend or continue something for another time period.
• lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
• PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
• sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.