# 119-hr-9705: To require the Secretary of the Army to issue guidance relating to the review of applications for alteration or temporary or permanent occupation or use of certain hydropower projects, and for other purposes.

119-hr-9705, To require the Secretary of the Army to issue guidance relating to the review of applications for alteration or temporary or permanent occupation or use of certain hydropower projects, and for other purposes., is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Goodlander, Maggie [D-NH-2] (D-NH); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-18).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9705
- As of: 2026-09-18
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-9705
- Congress: 119
- Title: To require the Secretary of the Army to issue guidance relating to the review of applications for alteration or temporary or permanent occupation or use of certain hydropower projects, and for other purposes.
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-07-15
- Sponsor: Rep. Goodlander, Maggie [D-NH-2] (D-NH)
- Cosponsors: 1
- Policy area: Water Resources Development
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-09-18

## Summary

**Standardized completeness rules for non‑Federal hydropower projects.** This bill would require the Secretary of the Army to issue uniform guidance within 1 year to govern section 408 reviews of non‑Federal hydropower projects, setting checklists, required documents, phased design review steps, and escalation procedures for missed deadlines. - Hydropower operators would get a prescribed application checklist, defined completeness criteria, and specified document and formatting requirements so they know what must accompany a section 408 application. - Corps reviewers would be limited to verifying that required materials are submitted and formatted. They would be prohibited from doing detailed technical engineering reviews, judging design adequacy, requesting design changes, or considering factors outside the standardized checklist. - The process side would require phased design reviews with defined scopes, timelines, and terms like “fatal flaw” and “final quality assurance.” It would also create escalation paths to Division or headquarters officials when application deadlines are missed.

## Cosponsors (1)

- Rep. Miller, Carol D. [R-WV-1] (R-WV), 2026-07-15T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- New permit rules for hydropower operators: benefit, low. This bill would require the Secretary of the Army to issue standardized guidance within 1 year. The guidance would create a checklist and clear completeness criteria for section 408 applications for non‑Federal hydropower projects. The checklist would be developed with FERC, the Hydroelectric Desig…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-2725: Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2025
- 119-hr-7481: Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026
- 119-hr-1229: United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025
- 119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act
- 119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-hr-9705 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/9705)

## Related
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [119-hr-2725: Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2725)
- [119-hr-7481: Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7481)
- [119-hr-1229: United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1229)
- [119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7973)
- [119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4669)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9705 (as of 2026-09-18).