Quarterly Legislative Update
September, 2002
The following update is
provided by Jill Raynor Lane, WEF Manager of Legislative
Affairs. For questions or comments regarding the update call
703/684-2416 or email jraynorlane@wef.org.
For weekly updates on legislative activities go to This
Week in Washington.
Divided Senate Committee Approves Water Infrastructure
Bill
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
on May 17 approved legislation (S. 1961) authorizing $35
billion in new loan funding for water and wastewater
infrastructure. The final vote was 13-6, with the two
Republicans most involved in drafting the legislation, Sens.
Bob Smith (NH), and Mike Crapo (ID) voting against approval.
In a public voting session on May 16, Smith complained that
the majority had significantly changed what had started out as
a bipartisan bill. Before voting to approve the legislation,
the Committee adopted several amendments, including one
extending the authorization for a $250 million per year wet
weather grants program that was enacted by the last Congress
but never funded. Another amendment adds $5 billion to assist
communities in complying with new arsenic standards for
drinking water.
Several other amendments were rejected
in party-line votes. These included amendments offered by Sen.
George Voinovich (R-OH) that would have eased management and
community planning requirements on communities receiving loan
assistance. In letters to committee chairman Jim Jeffords
(I-VT), the National Governors Association, the Association of
State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators,
and the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators
expressed concern that these and other provisions would be
burdensome to the administration of the drinking water and
wastewater loan programs. The Committee voted along party
lines to reject a Voinovich compromise on the issue of
Davis-Bacon (prevailing wage) requirements that would have
applied the federal wage requirements for only the first round
of SRF funding. Instead, the legislation imposes federal
prevailing wage requirements on all SRF-funded projects.
Republicans said that including Davis-Bacon would be a " deal
killer" on the Senate floor, while Democrats pointed out that
31 states have their own prevailing wage statutes.
With regard to allocating Clean Water Act SRF funds
among states, the legislation provides for a new formula based
on the EPA needs assessment, with some adjustment to allow a
funding "floor" of 0.7 percent of the total amount available
each year for each state. The Committee rejected an
alternative formula offered by Sen. Smith with a 1 percent
floor that would provide slightly more money for smaller
states like New Hampshire. The Committee leadership, in a
redraft of the bill that was the basis for the voting session,
softened a provision that would have required communities in
"significant noncompliace" with the Clean Water Act to obtain
a judicial Consent Decree as a condition of receiving SRF
assistance. The bill now requires that states certify that
assistance to those communities will allow for correction of
compliance problems. The Consent Decree provision, along with
the management conditions, were a major source of concern for
municipal organizations that were otherwise supportive of
efforts to provide new financial assistance.
In
addition to Smith and Crapo, Senators voting against S. 1961
in committee were Voinovich, John Warner (R-VA), Christopher
Bond (R-MO), and James Inhofe (R-OK). Controversy over the
prevailing wage issue, as well as differences over the new
allotment formula, could delay consideration by the full
Senate. The EPW web site is http://epw.senate.gov/
House Clean Water SRF Bill Passes
Committee
Since the March markup of H.R. 3930, key
sponsors of the bill have sent a "Dear Colleague" letter to
all members of the House requesting additional co-sponsors.
Some committee members however, including Rep. Mitch Rogers
(R-MI), believe that the addition of Davis-Bacon to H.R. 3930
may cost the legislation needed votes if it goes before the
full House of Representatives later this year. WEF wrote a
March 18 letter to the House Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee leadership supporting the legislation, stating that
WEF is "particularly supportive of provisions in this
legislation that will allow states to direct funds to projects
that provide the maximum water quality benefit, and to offer
more favorable loan terms to communities of all sizes that
face challenges related to affordability." WEF also posted an
Action Alert on June 26, 2002, asking WEF members to try to
help get co-sponsors for the bill. At this time, there are 77
co-sponsors. The Committee has not yet filed the report for
H.R. 3930.
House Committee Authorizes $220 For Wastewater
Security
The House Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure July 24 authorized $220 million for wastewater
security measures. H.R. 5169 would allocate $200 million in
grants to be made by the Environmental Protection Agency for
wastewater facilities. The grants would assist in the funding
to conduct vulnerability assessments and undertake security
improvements. H.R. 5169 would also authorize $15 million for
technical assistance to small wastewater plants and $5 million
for the improvement of wastewater vulnerability
self-assessment methodologies and tools. No amendments were
offered during the markup of the bill. See http://thomas.loc.gov/ for more
information.
Department of Interior/USGS Water Programs The
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Related
Agencies approved by voice vote a $19.7 billion appropriations
bill, H.R. 5093, for the Dept. of Interior, U.S. Forest
Service, and fuel research programs at the Dept. of Energy on
June 25. Subcommittee Chairman Joe Keen (R-NM) announced that
a bipartisan effort had been made which provides increased
funding for public lands management and energy initiatives
focusing on conservation. The bill includes full funding for
USGS water quality programs that the White House had sought to
eliminate or transfer to the National Science Foundation.
Earlier this year, the Administration requested a $5
million cut for FY 2003 for the National Water Quality
Assessment program and elimination of the Toxic Substance
Hydrology program. The Administration had also sought to drop
the $6 million Water Resources Research Act. In April, WEF and
15 other water quality organizations sent a letter to House
and Senate Appropriations Committee Members opposing the
proposed USGS budget cuts. On July, 17, the bill was
considered on the House floor, adopted, and sent to the Senate
for consideration.
The Senate Appropriations Committee
approved a nearly identical version of the House Interior
Appropriations bill, S 2708, on June 28. The bill is slated to
go to the Senate floor in September.
VA-HUD/EPA Appropriations
The Senate
Appropriations Subcommittee on VA/HUD approved by a voice vote
its FY 2003 appropriations bill for VA/HUD on July 23. The
bill (number pending) allocates $8.3 billion for the
Environmental Protection Agency, $600 million more than the
$7.7 billion requested by the administration for FY 2003. The
legislation would provide $1.45 billion for the clean water
state revolving loan fund, $100 million more than FY 2002, and
$875 million for the drinking water SRF, $25 million more than
for this year. The VA/HUD bill also includes $21 million for
EPA's watershed initiative. The initiative would focus on as
many as 20 high-profile state- and local-level projects
addressing water quality problems on a watershed basis. In the
House, the bill is stalled because of a dispute over the
overall discretionary spending level in the bill and will not
be taken up until after the summer recess.
Energy and Water Appropriations
In its markup of
the energy and water spending bill, the House Energy and Water
Development Appropriations Subcommittee funded the Army Corps
of Engineers at $4.76 billion for FY 2003, $5.86 million more
than requested by the White House and $134 million above the
FY 2002 level. The full Committee will markup the bill after
the summer recess. The Senate will deal with it then as well.
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