Emergency Drought Relief Act of 1996
Public Law 104-318 · H.R. 3910 · 104th Congress · began in the House
Signed by Bill Clinton (D) on Oct 19, 1996 · Water Resources Development
Sponsor: Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-TX-27)
Cosponsors (1): Rep. Mac Thornberry
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateUnanimous consent
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Emergency Drought Relief Act of 1996 - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to provide emergency drought relief, in the form of deferred or forgiven principal and interest payments and related relief under specified Federal reclamation contracts, to: (1) the city of Corpus Christi, Texas, and the Nueces River Authority for the Nueces River Reclamation Project (earmarks resulting available funds exclusively for alternative water supply facilities); and (2) the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority to enable construction of additional water supply and conveyance facilities.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Energy and Natural Resources Committee · Senate · discharged from, referred toSubcommittee: Public Lands, Forests, and Mining Subcommittee
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 14 actions.
- Oct 19, 1996Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 104-318.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Oct 10, 1996PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Oct 3, 1996FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
- CommitteeCommittee · Discharged from Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
- Sep 12, 1996CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Public Lands, Forests, and Mining Subcommittee of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
- Sep 11, 1996CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
- Sep 10, 1996FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote.
- FloorFloor · Mr. Gallegly moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
- Sep 4, 1996CommitteeCommittee · Reported by House Natural Resources Committee
- Aug 1, 1996CommitteeCommittee · Markup by House Natural Resources Committee
- Jul 26, 1996CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Natural Resources Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the House
Data notes
Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.