Don Bacon

Maintaining and Enhancing Hydroelectricity and River Restoration Act

This bill establishes a new investment tax credit in the amount of 30% of the basis of any hydropower improvement property.

The bill defines hydropower improvement property as property that

• adds or improves fish passage at a qualified dam;

• maintains or improves the quality of the water retained or released by a qualified dam;

• promotes downstream sediment transport and habitat maintenance;

• upgrades, repairs, or reconstructs a qualified dam to meet safety and security standards;

• improves public uses of, and access to, public waterways impacted by a qualified dam;

• removes an obsolete river obstruction; or

• places into service an approved remote dam.

Further, written approval for hydropower improvement property must be obtained from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or state or local officials prior to January 1, 2032.

The bill also allows an election to claim the investment tax credit for qualified progress expenses for some types of hydropower improvement property in advance of such property being placed into service. Any investment tax credit amount claimed for qualified progress expenses reduces the amount of the investment tax credit that may be claimed once the hydropower improvement property is placed into service.

The bill authorizes certain entities, including tax-exempt and governmental entities, to treat the investment tax credit for hydropower improvement property as a payment of tax and receive a refund of any overpayment (also known as elective pay).

Finally, the investment tax credit for hydropower improvement property may be transferred (i.e., sold).

America's National Churchill Museum National Historic Landmark Act

This bill designates the America’s National Churchill Museum, including the Winston Churchill Memorial, located at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, as the America’s National Churchill Museum National Historic Landmark. (Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave a speech titled The Sinews of Peace, also widely known as the Iron Curtain Speech, at the college in 1946.)

The bill permits the Department of the Interior to enter into cooperative agreements with public and private entities for the purposes of protecting historic resources at the landmark and providing educational and interpretive facilities for the public. Interior may provide technical and financial assistance to partner entities.

The bill also directs Interior to conduct a special resource study to evaluate the national significance of the landmark and to determine the suitability and feasibility of designating it as a unit of the National Park System. The study must consider alternatives to that designation for the preservation, protection, and interpretation of the landmark, and must include cost estimates associated with identified alternatives.

Occupational Therapy Mental Health Parity Act

This bill requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to conduct outreach on Medicare coverage of occupational therapy services to treat substance use or mental health disorders.

This concurrent resolution directs the President to remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Venezuela unless a declaration of war or authorization to use military force for such purpose has been enacted.