OCR Text |
Show appropriate representatives of the Colorado River Basin States and members of the Congressional delegations of those States, (2) to closely follow all events in the Congress related to H. R. 4671 or similar legislation and keep the Commissioners and their advisers currently advised, (3) to cooperate with all necessary and interested parties and agencies in attaining the enactment of reasonable and practicable legislation that will accomplish the major purposes of H. R. 4671 and at the same time protect the rights of the Upper Basin States to their future consumptive-uses of Colorado River System water by implementing the intent and purposes of and operations under the Colorado River Storage Project Act (70 Stat. 105). Hearings In 1966 On Committee Print No. 19 On February 22, 1966 the Upper Colorado River Commission made minor changes in the draft of legislation dated February 8, 1966 Recommended Revision of H. R. 4671, and prepared another version dated February 22, 1966. This draft represented the product of the negotiations among the seven States as of that date. The February 22, 1966 draft was furnished to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the House of Representatives, and it was on this draft bill, printed by the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs as Committee Print No. 19, that the hearings of May, 1966 were held. It was April, 1966 before most details of the language of H. R. 4671 could be finally drafted and cleared with State officials and agencies in the seven Colorado River Basin States. As late as July there were several details of the legislation still being negotiated. Due to the heavy schedule of the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee hearings did not begin until May 9, 1966. The hearings by the House Committee were extensive and time consuming. They were followed in June and July by extended "mark-up" sessions by the Subcommittee on Irrigation and Reclamation and the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. Several amendments were added to the bill during these "mark-up" sessions. One of these was an amendment to the title changing it to "A Bill to authorize the construction, operation and maintenance of the Colorado River Basin Project and for other purposes" instead of referring to a Lower Colorado River Basin Project. Amendment of Title II of H. R. 4671 Near the close of the "mark-up" by the full Committee, the Subcommittee Chairman offered an amendment to modify Title II 41 |