Congress quietly extends Colorado River conservation pilot two more years
H.R. 231 — Colorado River Basin System Conservation Extension Act of 2025 · Filed by Harriet Hageman (R-WY) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 7, 2025 · Reported out
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What it does
This bill extends the Colorado River System conservation pilot program by two years, moving its authorization deadline from 2024 to 2026 and its sunset date from 2025 to 2027. The program funds water conservation projects in the Colorado River Basin; the bill simply keeps it alive longer without changing how it works or how much money it receives.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole function is to extend an existing federal pilot program for water conservation in the Colorado River Basin by two years. It is a routine reauthorization with no policy changes, no new funding, and no structural modifications.
What the text implies
- Extension assumes continued federal appropriations at current or similar levels; if Congress does not fund the program in FY2026–2027, the authorization extension alone will not deliver water conservation benefits.
- The bill does not address underlying Colorado River allocation disputes or drought conditions; it preserves the status quo but does not resolve structural water-scarcity challenges facing the basin.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill extends a water conservation program that helps manage a critical shared resource (the Colorado River) serving millions of people across seven states. Continuation of conservation efforts supports long-term water security and drought resilience for ordinary citizens and agricultural/municipal users dependent on the river.
Named in the bill
Colorado River Basin, Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015, Section 206, House Committee on Natural Resources
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Republicans.
- Jan 7, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 7, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
- Jan 23, 2025 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Hearings Held”
- 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 (Amended) by Unanimous Consent”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $950,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 48 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Harriet Hageman, the sponsor, reported $669,573 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Nature Conservancy — $900,000 on 1 filing
- Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership — $50,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (543 characters) on Aug 16, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress quietly extends Colorado River conservation pilot two more years” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr231 Report an error
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