WASHINGTON – A bill introduced by Senate Democrats would increase funding for state revolving funds, permanently reauthorize a program to provide low-cost loans for water projects, and remove the cap on private-activity bonds for water and wastewater projects.
The Testing, Removal and Updated Evaluations of Lead Everywhere in America for Dramatic Enhancements that Restore Safety to Homes, Infrastructure and Pipes Act of 2016 (True Leadership Act S.2821), would provide more than $70 billion in federal funding over the next decade to improve drinking water quality and reduce lead exposure in homes, the lawmakers said.
Introduced Wednesday by Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., and 29 co-sponsors, the bill would increase federal funding for both the Environmental Protection Agency's clean water and drinking water state revolving fund programs that provide grants to states, which the states then match by at least 20%.
Federal funds for the drinking water SRF would increase beginning in fiscal 2017 to $3.13 billion, $3.6 billion in fiscal 2018, $4.14 billion in fiscal 2019, $4.8 billion in fiscal 2020, and $5.5 billion in fiscal 2021.
Federal funding for the clean water SRF would increase to $5.18 billion in fiscal 2017, $5.96 billion in 2018, $6.85 billion in fiscal 2019, $7.88 billion in fiscal 2020, and $9.06 billion in fiscal 2021.
The total budget for SRFs in fiscal 2016 was $2.3 billion.
In his proposed fiscal 2017 budget, President Obama proposed cutting clean water SRF by $414 million, but increasing drinking water SRF by $197 million. Obama's fiscal 2017 budget request proposes $3.1 billion through 2020 and $7.7 billion through 2025 for "water, sewage and hazardous waste disposal facilities," according to the Office of Management and Budget.
The bill's 29 co-sponsors include: Sens. Richard Durbin, D-Ill.; Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.; Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md.; Jack Reed, D-R.I.; Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.; Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; and Gary Peters, D-Mich. The measure was referred to the Senate Finance Committee.
A provision from Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., would permanently reauthorize the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) and provide $1.36 billion per year for it through 2030. Lawmakers said increased WIFIA funding would lower the cost of infrastructure investments and increase the availability of lower-cost capital for larger infrastructure projects, effectively providing relief for local governments.
Introduced as a pilot program in 2014, WIFIA authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency to make low interest loans from the Treasury Department for drinking water and wastewater projects.
In a summary of the bill, legislators cited an EPA study from 2013 that found a need for more than $384 billion in public water system infrastructure funding through 2030.
The sponsors of the bill said current water infrastructure funding "only provides a fraction of the need," and that permanent reauthorization of WIFIA would help offset a differential.
"We can and must immediately do more as a country to better protect our waters and our kids, and the True Leadership Act will help us do exactly that," Cardin said.
The bill would also establish a new federal grant program that would provide funding to state and local governments to reduce lead in tap water, and establish mandatory testing of lead in water systems.
A provision from Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., would remove the cap on government private-activity bonds for water and wastewater projects, which he said would stimulate private-sector investment in water infrastructure projects.
Lawmakers said removing the cap would allow municipalities with private water systems to access more private-activity bonds, which would provide low-cost capital for infrastructure projects.
Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works members have also previously said this would help close the gap between available funds and local needs.
"As a result of this cap, privately operated water systems are limited in the amount of low-cost capital they can secure to make investments to their water infrastructure," legislators wrote in the summary of the bill. "This is exacerbated by the fact that water projects are often multi-year, expensive endeavors that are hard to scale down."
The introduction of the legislative package came the same day that Michigan's attorney general announced criminal charges against two Michigan Department of Environment Quality employees and one Flint employee for their roles in the city's water crisis.
Bipartisan legislation proposed in February by Sens. Stabenow, Peters and Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., would have provided $220 million of federal funds to Flint, as well as any other community experiencing a water crisis. Sponsors of that measure added it as an amendment to the long-stalled Energy Modernization Act of 2015, but agreed to remove it following weeks of disagreement among legislators that stalled the energy legislation.
That proposed measure would provide $70 million to back loans made under WIFIA. Boxer, also a co-sponsor of the Flint bill, said this week that federal funding should be allocated to state revolving funds and WIFIA to aid areas with the greatest water and wastewater infrastructure needs.
Flint has faced lead contamination in its drinking water for the nearly two years since its water supply was changed from Lake Huron and the Detroit River to the Flint River.
"Incidents like the recent crisis in Flint underscore the dangers that can result when the safety of our drinking water and state of our water infrastructure is not made a priority," officials said in a release announcing their bill on Wednesday.
The True Leadership Act also follows a Senate hearing held earlier this month that stressed the need for increased federal funding to help state and local governments improve water and wastewater infrastructure. Inhofe said during that hearing he expected water infrastructure legislation to be introduced as soon as the end of April.
