Congress reauthorizes Great Lakes cleanup, boosts annual funding to $475M
S. 528 — GLRI Act of 2026 · Filed by Gary Peters (D-MI) · 12 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 11, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
This bill reauthorizes federal funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a program that addresses pollution and ecological damage in the Great Lakes. It increases the annual authorization from the previous level to $475 million per year for fiscal years 2027–2030, allowing the program to continue its cleanup and restoration work.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is reauthorizing and increasing federal appropriations for an existing environmental restoration program. It is a straightforward reauthorization with no riders, carve-outs, or hidden provisions.
What the text implies
- The $475M annual authorization is a ceiling, not a guarantee — actual funding depends on congressional appropriations in each fiscal year.
- The bill does not specify how funds are allocated among the five Great Lakes states or among restoration priorities, leaving implementation discretion to the administering agency.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill authorizes sustained federal funding for environmental restoration of a critical freshwater resource used by millions for drinking water, recreation, and commerce. Continued cleanup of pollution and ecological damage directly benefits public health and environmental quality.
Who stands to gain
- environmental contractors and engineering firms performing restoration work
- state environmental agencies administering Great Lakes programs
Named in the bill
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Federal Water Pollution Control Act, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Great Lakes states (Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania)
Where it stands
12 cosponsors: 9 Democrats, 3 Republicans.
- Feb 11, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Feb 11, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works”
- Apr 15, 2026 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Committee on Environment and Public Works. Hearings held”
- Sep 29, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works discharged by Unanimous Consent”
- Sep 29, 2026 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (text: CR S5184)”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
4 lobbying clients named this bill on 6 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,710,154 in lobbying spend. A filing names 32 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 72% of bills with at least one filing.
Gary Peters, the sponsor, reported $-186,100 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Nature Conservancy — $900,000 on 1 filing
- The Conservation Fund — $400,000 on 2 filings
- National Parks Conservation Association — $290,154 on 2 filings
- Trout Unlimited — $120,000 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 (467 characters) on Sep 28, 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 Dec 2025 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.
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