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Contracting Policies 



Urban Coalition Position: 



• New contracts should be allowed only if the Secretary determines sufficient water is 

 available after all existing environmental (including completion of the programmatic 

 Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) required under Section 3409) and contractual 

 obligations have been met. 



• Interim contracts should continue without mandatory renegotiation and renewal every two 

 years, but a finite ending date should be specified relative to completion of the PEIS (eg 

 within two years of filing Notice of Completion of the PEIS). 



• Long-term contracts should be renewed on a non-discretionary basis for successive 25 

 year periods upon request by contracting districts, provided the terms and conditions of 

 those contracts, including price and quantity, are renegotiated at each renewal. In addition 

 to any other appropriate environmental review, an assessment of the impacts of renewal 

 including the impact on availability of urban water supplies should be performed for each 

 25 year renewal. 



• The contract renewal surcharge should be eliminated, but decreases in revenues to the 

 Restoration Fund should be offset by increases in other Restoration Fund payments. 



Comparison with H.R 1906: 



H.R. 1906 proposes to reduce contract uncertainty by guaranteeing contract 

 renewal for 25 year terms. The Urban Coalition supports this change but requires that 

 contract renewal must remain subject to negotiation of terms and conditions to reflect 

 changing environmental and urban circumstances over time. H.R. 1906 is consistent with the 

 Urban Coalition position in eliminating contract renewal surcharges, but resulting reductions 

 in Restoration Fund revenues must be compensated. 



Water Transfers 



Urban Coalition Position: 



• Transfers, exchanges and banking arrangements that could have been accomplished prior 

 to enactment of the CVPIA and that result in good water management should not be 

 inhibited or rendered ineffeaive by administrative requirements. 



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