Senate bill · 104th Congress · Public Law 104-298

Water Desalination Act of 1996

S. 811Introduced May 17, 1995Policy area: Water Resources Development

Became law on Oct 11, 1996.

Sponsor: Sen. Paul Simon D-IL

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Where it went

IntroducedMay 17, 1995
Committee actionMar 28, 1996
Passed SenateMay 3, 1996 · by unanimous consent
Passed HouseSep 24, 1996 · by voice vote
Resolving differencesSep 27, 1996
To the PresidentOct 2, 1996
Became lawOct 11, 1996

Latest action: Oct 11, 1996 — Became Public Law No: 104-298.

Cost and committee reports

Official records Congress.gov attaches to S. 811.

Committee reportsCongress.gov lists 2 committee reports for this bill: S. Rept. 104-254 ↗; H. Rept. 104-790 ↗.
Source: Congress.gov, reported September 16, 1996 ↗
Evidence
Field in the Congress.gov record
committeeReports
Report API records
https://api.congress.gov/v3/committee-report/104/SRPT/254
https://api.congress.gov/v3/committee-report/104/HRPT/790
Congress.gov bill record
S. 811, 104th Congress
Congress.gov API record
https://api.congress.gov/v3/bill/104/s/811
Record last updated by Congress.gov
September 8, 2026
PORKER copy retrieved
September 14, 2026
Stored copy, SHA-256 of the file
34cbb6fe3c2d464a4b3ed172c60f08f8a90f3fd1395d09a1be5ae4f1a4b00729
A committee report is the committee’s own explanation of the bill. PORKER lists it and links to it; reading it is up to you.

Congress.gov’s record for this bill does not list a CBO cost estimate (as of September 8, 2026). Not every bill gets one.

Sent to: Natural Resources Committee, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Environment and Public Works CommitteeBills with a CBO estimate Bills with a committee report See it in the Data Web

From the Congress.gov bill record for S. 811, last updated September 8, 2026. PORKER’s copy was retrieved September 14, 2026 and is refreshed nightly. Open “Evidence” on any line for the record, field and file fingerprint.

Vote results

No recorded roll-call votes on this bill in PORKER’s records (voice votes and unanimous consent are not roll calls; roll-call records start in 2011).

Cosponsors

11 cosponsors — 3 Republicans, 8 Democrats

3 of 11 cosponsors (27%) are from the other party.

Barbara Boxer (D-CA), George Brown (R-CO), Richard Bryan (D-NV), Ben Campbell (R-CO), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Daniel Graham (D-FL), Connie Mack (R-FL), Daniel Moynihan (D-NY), Harry Reid (D-NV), Charles Robb (D-VA).

More from the sponsor

Other 104th Congress bills sponsored by Sen. Paul Simon.

Sponsor’s state and district

Illinois in Congress

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Data as of Sep 29, 2026 · bill record checked by PORKER from Congress.gov · votes from Senate.gov and the House Clerk. PORKER is non-partisan.