PWSR Toolkit Home > Study > Introduce Designation Bill in Congress

If your study demonstrated eligibility and suitability for a PWSR designation (including affirmative local votes), a bill will need to be introduced and passed by Congress to achieve designation into the national system. Designation bills can be introduced by sponsors in Congress before or after NPS completes its WSR Study Report for your river study.

It's important to keep your full Congressional delegation involved in and informed of your study as it progresses. At the conclusion of your local study, you will want your delegation to sponsor designation bills in the House and Senate. Invite your Congressional representatives to attend your public meetings and events and offer to meet with staff at their regional offices to provide updates periodically. If members of your delegation were not involved with the Study Bill for your river, you’ll need to spend more time describing the PWSR program and WSR designation, as well as your river’s resources and local support for PWSR designation.

River designation bills introduced in Congress for recent PWSR designations are listed in this TABLE. If bills don’t pass within the 2-year session when introduced, bill sponsors will need to reintroduce bills in the subsequent Congressional session. The status and progress of bills that have been introduced can be tracked online on Congress.gov, including assignments to committees, hearings, committee reports, amendments, and other actions.

PWSR designation bills are assigned to House and Senate subcommittees that will typically schedule hearings on the bills. Bill sponsors and National Park Service representatives will provide testimony on the bills at hearings, and often a representative of the local study committee is asked to provide testimony as well. Testimony can be provided in person, via videoconference, or submitted in writing, depending on the format of the hearing (see an EXAMPLE OF TESTIMONY given during a Senate subcommittee hearing on the York River designation bill in 2021 – this was read during a hearing videoconference, with written testimony submitted in advance). Subcommittee members have the opportunity to ask questions of those providing testimony at the hearings.

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