{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senate-committee-advances-bipartisan-padilla-bill-to-support-desalination-and-safe-drinking-water/", "Senate Committee Advances Bipartisan Padilla Bill to Support Desalination and Safe Drinking Water", "2026-09-30", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "CA", "Alex Padilla", "P000145", "www.padilla.senate.gov", "padilla", "https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 Today, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources advanced U.S. Senator Alex Padilla\u2019s (D-Calif.) bipartisan bill to reauthorize desalination projects and research. Padilla\u2019s Desalination Reauthorization Act cleared committee by voice vote, along with a bipartisan amendment that was also adopted by voice vote.\n\n\u201cAccess to safe and clean drinking water is a human right, and investments in desalination projects provide promising pathways to meet our water needs,\u201d said Senator Padilla. \u201cThe bill will help strengthen investments into desalination research and development so that every American can access safe, clean water. This is a critical step in addressing California\u2019s water crisis and building new pathways for water security across the country.\u201d\n\nThe legislation would extend the programmatic approval of the Bureau of Reclamation to fund desalination projects, which would otherwise expire this year. If the programmatic approval expired, Congress would need to pass a separate bill in order to authorize each new desalination project, which could substantially delay desalination projects and increase their costs. These projects, including the Doheny desalination plant in Orange County, help the Southwest counter drought by providing a drought-proof contribution to our water supply.\n\nIn addition, the legislation would authorize Reclamation to support advanced pilots to test new desalination technologies like OceanWell, which uses the ocean pressure at depths of approximately 1,400 feet to reduce the energy costs of desalination, and can also minimize desalination\u2019s effects on marine life. OceanWell is working with Las Virgenes Water District in Ventura County to test its technology off the Southern California coast.\n\nSpecifically, this bill would:\n\nReauthorize the Bureau of Reclamation\u2019s authority to provide grants for desalination projects, which is on track expire this year;\n\nAmend the programmatic approval to extend to public/private partnerships to build desalination projects;\n\nDirect that Reclamation cannot administratively impose a maximum funding amount that each desalination project can receive, which would allow large desalination plants to receive the full 25% federal cost-share; and\n\nAmend the desalination and water purification research program to advance pilot projects, which cover the gap in developing new technologies known as the \u201cValley of Death\u201d between small-scale pilots that test a laboratory concept and commercially viable projects.\n\nThe bipartisan amendment that the committee adopted would increase the maximum level of federal grants for desalination research to institutions of higher education like the University of California from $1 million to $2.5 million.\n\nIn addition to Padilla, the bill is cosponsored by Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas).\n\nPadilla has long been a strong advocate for ensuring access to safe, reliable water throughout California and across the country. Earlier this year, as severe droughts, warming temperatures, limitations on groundwater pumping, and outdated infrastructure compound California\u2019s water scarcity issues, Padilla introduced a pair of bills to help address growing water supply challenges in California and the American West. His MORE WATER Act advanced out of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources by voice vote and now heads to the Senate for a full vote.\n\n###", 1, "2026-10-01T11:23:28Z", "2026-10-01T11:25:15Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senate-committee-advances-bipartisan-padilla-bill-to-support-desalination-and-safe-drinking-water/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8045020513236523, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}