The Corps regulatory program is funded as a congressionally appropriated line item in the annual Federal budget.  Section 214 of WRDA 2000, as amended allows for additional funding from by non-federal public entities or a public-utility company, natural gas company, or railroad carrier to augment the budget of the Corps.  Non-federal public entities are comprised of state and local governmental agencies and Indian tribal governments. They include, but are not limited to, local transportation agencies, port authorities, flood and storm water management agencies, and governmental economic development agencies.  The Corps would establish separate accounting to track the receipt and expenditure of these funds. 

Activities for which funds will be expended:  Funds would be expended primarily on the labor and overhead of regulatory personnel processing permit applications by partners.  Such permit processing activities could include, but not be limited to, the following:  development of regional general permits and letters of permission associated with actions covered by a habitat conservation plan, application completeness review, jurisdictional determinations, site visits, preparation of public notices, preparation of correspondence, meetings, consultation with other agencies, public interest review, distribution of public notices, analysis of alternatives, compensatory mitigation proposal reviews, preparation of environmental assessments, and preparation of permit decision documents. 

To ensure funds received from a from non-Federal public entities and public-utility companies will not impact impartial decision-making, the following procedures have been established:

1. All final permit decisions for cases where these funds are used must be reviewed and approved by a non-funded decision maker at least by one level above the staff evaluator, unless the decision maker is the District Commander.  For example, if the decision maker is the Chief of the Regulatory Division, then the reviewer would be the District Commander.
2. The Corps will not eliminate any procedures or decisions that would otherwise be required for that type of project and permit application under consideration.
3. The Corps will comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
4. Funds will only be expended to provide priority review of the non-Federal entity’s or public-utility company’s permit application.

The San Francisco District point of contact for WRDA agreements is James Mazza,  Chief of the Regulatory Division.

A list of active WRDA agreements are compiled on the USACE-Regulatory-HQ Page for WRDA 214.

A list of projects authorized under these WRDA agreements can be found on the Permit Decision Page.  To see projects specific to the San Francisco District, you will need to choose the “SPN-San Francisco District” option in the Filter by District dropdown menu.

Federal Guidelines

The January 19, 2018, Implementation Guidance for the Use of Funding Agreements within the Regulatory Program can be found on the following USACE webpage: https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getfile/collection/p16021coll5/id/1306