HR 3657 United States House · 119th Congress

Hydropower Licensing Transparency Act

This bill requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to submit annual reports to Congress about pending hydropower license applications. Specifically, FERC must report on licenses where licensees notified them at least 3 years prior but haven't received new licenses yet, including details like notification dates, docket numbers, application status, and upcoming proceedings. The reports aim to increase transparency in the relicensing process for existing hydropower facilities. This directly affects FERC (which must provide the reports) and Congress (which receives them), with no direct impact on hydropower operators or the licensing outcome itself.

Tags: Government Transparency

Bill status passed both 4 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

May 2025

Committee Review

Sep 2026

House Passage

Jul 2025

Senate Passage

Sep 2026

President

Introduced May 29, 2025 Last action Sep 16, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Engrossed in House → Enrolled Bill · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill moved from its House-engrossed form to its final enrolled form with no substantive policy changes. The differences are entirely formatting and presentation: addition of GPO metadata headers, the standard 'Be it enacted' preamble language, reformatting of the statutory text into a single quoted block, and addition of signature lines for the Speaker and Vice President.

TECHNICAL

Added GPO metadata headers including Congress number (119th), session date, and public domain notice.

Added standard enrolled bill preamble language ('Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives...').

Reformatted the statutory text from a multi-line legislative draft layout into a single quoted paragraph block, consistent with enrolled bill presentation.

Added signature lines for the Speaker of the House and the Vice President/President of the Senate at the end of the bill.

Introduced in House → Engrossed in House · 6 edits · Jul 14, 2025

MODERATE

The bill was renamed from the 'Hydropower Relicensing Transparency Act' to the 'Hydropower Licensing Transparency Act,' reflecting a significant expansion in scope. The annual report requirement now covers not only new licenses filed by existing licensees but also subsequent licenses where the normal relicensing process was waived, and original licenses sought by citizens, associations, corporations, States, Indian Tribes, or municipalities. A new requirement mandates that report data be disaggregated by license type.

Scope change

Scope expanded from covering only new licenses filed by existing licensees to also covering subsequent licenses where relicensing requirements were waived, and original licenses sought by non-licensee parties (citizens, associations, corporations, States, Indian Tribes, municipalities).

SCOPE

The bill title changed from 'Hydropower Relicensing Transparency Act' to 'Hydropower Licensing Transparency Act,' signaling a broader scope beyond just relicensing.

The annual report now must cover subsequent licenses for which sections 14 and 15 of the Federal Power Act have been waived (licenses that skip the standard relicensing process).

The annual report now must cover original licenses under section 4(e) where a citizen, association, corporation, State, Indian Tribe, or municipality has notified the Commission of intent to file an application at least 3 years before the report is due.

REQUIREMENT

The list of parties whose ongoing or completed actions must be described in the report was expanded to include citizens, associations, corporations, States, Indian Tribes, and municipalities, not just existing licensees and government agencies.

A new subsection (c) requires that all information in the annual report be disaggregated by whether it relates to a new license, a subsequent license under section 15, or an original license under section 4(e).

TECHNICAL

The provision was moved from being added as a new subsection (g) of Section 15 of the Federal Power Act to being inserted as a standalone new section 37 after section 36.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Sep 16, 2026

Upper · Passed

Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.

upper

Sep 16, 2026

Upper · Passed

Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.

upper

Sep 16, 2026

Upper · Passed

Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources discharged by Unanimous Consent.

upper

Jun 10, 2026

Upper · Passed

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.

upper

Jul 15, 2025

Committee

Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

upper

Jul 14, 2025

Introduced

On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3221-3222)

lower

Jul 14, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3221-3222)

lower

Jul 14, 2025

Introduced

Mr. Latta moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.

lower

Jul 10, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Energy and Commerce. H. Rept. 119-193.

lower

Jun 25, 2025

Introduced

Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 47 - 0.

lower

Jun 25, 2025

Lower · Passed

Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held

lower

Jun 5, 2025

Lower · Passed

Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee by Voice Vote.

lower

Jun 5, 2025

Lower · Passed

Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held

lower

Jun 3, 2025

Committee

Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy.

lower

May 29, 2025

Committee

Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

lower

May 29, 2025

Introduced

Introduced in House

lower

1 primary · 3 co-sponsors