H.R. 5762
New York-New Jersey Watershed Protection Act of 2025
Sponsor: Paul Tonko
27 cosponsors
- Analilia Mejia
- Herbert C. Conaway, Jr.
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
- Bonnie Watson Coleman
- Brian K. Fitzpatrick
- Daniel S. Goldman
- Donald Norcross
- Frank Pallone, Jr.
- George Latimer
- Grace Meng
- Gregory W. Meeks
- Jefferson Van Drew
- John W. Mannion
- Josh Gottheimer
- Josh Riley
- LaMonica McIver
- Laura Gillen
- Michael Lawler
- Mikie Sherrill
- Nellie Pou
- Nicole Malliotakis
- Nydia M. Velázquez
- Patrick Ryan
- Ritchie Torres
- Robert Menendez
- Thomas H. Kean, Jr.
- Thomas R. Suozzi
Official summary
Written by the Congressional Research Service.
New York-New Jersey Watershed Protection Act of 2025
This bill establishes programs to restore and protect the New York-New Jersey Watershed. The watershed is composed of all land area the surface water of which drains into the New York-New Jersey Harbor, the waters contained within that land area, and associated estuaries.
Specifically, the bill requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to establish the New York-New Jersey Watershed Restoration Program, a nonregulatory program, to coordinate restoration and protection activities among government entities and conservation partners throughout the watershed.
The bill also establishes the New York-New Jersey Watershed Restoration Grant Program, a voluntary grant and technical assistance program, to provide competitive matching grants to certain entities to implement restoration and protection activities for the watershed. The federal government may not maintain ownership of any land acquired under the bill except for the purpose of promptly transferring ownership to grant recipients.
The bill ceases to have force or effect on October 1, 2031.
Text of the bill
(a) In general. There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this Act $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2031, of which not more than 5 percent shall be used for administrative costs of carrying out this Act.
(b) Grant program. Of the amounts made available to carry out this Act for each fiscal year, the Secretary shall use not less than 75 percent to carry out the grant program, including for technical assistance relating to the grant program.
(c) Supplement, not supplant. Amounts made available to carry out this Act for each fiscal year shall supplement, and not supplant, funding for other activities conducted by the Secretary in the Watershed.