Search

Click here for previous updates

To: Members, Affiliates & Legal Affairs Committee
From:National Office
Date:January/February 1999 (current to March 1, 1999)

The National Office is pleased to provide you with the January / February 1999 Legislative Update. In 1999, the Legislative Update will be forwarded to you monthly and will, as has been the case in the past, feature key legislation during the current session of Congress. This issue of the Legislative Update includes a new feature to assist you in tracking the bills that are of highest interest and priority to your agency. The National Office has added the AMSA Legislative Radar at the front of the Legislative Update to provide you with a quicker glimpse of the latest legislative activity.

106th Congress Turns to Non-Impeachment Business
Following the closure of President Clinton's trial in the Senate and his subsequent acquittal on both articles of impeachment on February 12, the 106th Congress has begun to focus on legislative matters. Though the attention of Congress was focused almost exclusively on the impeachment trial, several bills which are of interest to AMSA's interests have already been introduced since the opening of the new Congress. This issue of the Legislative Update will preview these bills and provide you with a highlight of AMSA's ongoing activities on Capitol Hill on your behalf.

U.S. EPA Budget Proposal Slashes Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) for FY2000
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its proposed FY 2000 budget on February 1. The total budget request of $7.2 billion represents a decrease of $360 million from last year's EPA budget. Most importantly for POTWs, the Agency has proposed a significant reduction in funding for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF), used by many communities to fund local wastewater treatment projects. EPA is requesting $800 million total for the SRF in FY 2000, which is a considerable reduction from last year's $1.35 billion.

Key Members of Congress Support Clean Water, Oppose Further SRF Gutting
The House Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources held its first oversight hearing on EPA's FY 2000 budget proposal on February 10. Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) strongly opposes reductions in the SRF finding it “irresponsible and indefensible to propose dramatic funding cuts in what most observers believe to be our nation's most effective environmental program.” Chairman Boehlert also pointed to the inconsistency in reducing SRF funding while local funding needs are skyrocketing. EPA projects that clean water infrastructure funding needs to be $139.5 billion, although AMSA and the Water Environment Federation (WEF) infrastructure funding study estimates that the total bill could be twice as high. Agreeing with Chairman Boehlert, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bud Shuster proclaimed that “with $139.5 billion in unmet needs for clean water infrastructure nation-wide, we should be increasing, not decreasing our investment in clean water.” Despite opposition, EPA's Assistant Administrator for Water, J. Charles Fox, maintains that the Agency is expected to meet its goal of capitalizing the SRF at an annual average of $2 billion by 2002.

Congress held back-to-back hearings on February 23 and 24 directly focusing on AMSA's funding and other clean water concerns. On February 23, the House Water Resources Subcommittee conducted a hearing on proposals from the National Governors' Association for reauthorizing the Clean Water Act. Chairman Boehlert began the hearing by affirming that the priorities of the Subcommittee are nonpoint source pollution and federal support for state and local clean water infrastructure. Both Boehlert and Ranking Member Robert A. Borski (D-PA) support increased funding opportunities for the SRF but acknowledge the potential problems with budget caps imposed by Congress on the budget process. Governors Parris N. Glendening (MD), Jim Geringer (WY) and George E. Pataki (NY) offered testimony on funding needs, watershed protection, nonpoint source pollution and total maximum daily loads (TMDLs). Each governor urged the subcommittee to provide increased funding for the SRF as a proven program, noting that without enough federal dollars the Clean Water Act's goals cannot be reached. The governors encouraged greater flexibility in nonpoint source control and TMDLs, specifically requesting that states be afforded a 15-year timeline to develop TMDLs for degraded waterbodies. Geringer said that the SRF should revolve at $2.4 billion, $400 million higher that EPA's $2 billion target.

On February 24, the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee heard testimony on EPA's proposed FY 2000 budget. Overall, the Senators were concerned with the creation of new programs, such as the $9.5 billion Better America Bonds program to help local communities purchase open spaces, while existing programs such as the Land & Water Conservation Fund and the SRF are underfunded. Committee Chair John H. Chafee (R-RI) expressed concerns with EPA's decision to cut the SRF by 23 percent when the Agency is showing substantial portions of the nation's water bodies as degraded. Testifying before the Committee, EPA Administrator Carol Browner responded that the Agency has long targeted $2 billion as the revolving level. Browner also touted the authorization of a discretionary set-aside from the SRF for States that opt to use those funds for the control nonpoint source pollution.

AMSA is planning to actively oppose EPA's planned cuts in the SRF program. The National Office is currently preparing a letter urging all Congressional oversight committees to oppose the funding cuts. An upcoming Legislative Alert will distribute the letter and request that AMSA members write their Congressional representatives to voice their opposition. At the same time, AMSA will propose that Congress continue to protect the SRF and to seriously consider the creation of a new grants program to fund the next phase of Clean Water Act projects (see section on Urban Wet Weather Watershed Act of 1999).

EPA is scheduled to next testify before the House and Senate VA, HUD and Independent Agencies Subcommittees on the proposed FY 2000 budget on April 13-14 and April 29, respectively (see table). As it appears that the Subcommittees will not be holding public hearings this year for EPA's budget, AMSA plans to provide written testimony for both April hearings.

AMSA to Press for Creation of Wet Weather Grants Program
AMSA is working with its municipal partners on the concept of a new Federal grants program to directly fund municipal wet weather programs and other watershed efforts. Under the draft Urban Wet Weather Watershed Act of 1999, a municipal wet weather bill drafted by AMSA and several other national organizations (see related article), a total of $6 billion would be used to fund local wet weather initiatives over the course of the next three years. AMSA is currently drafting a letter to Congress urging the major committees to support this idea. The National Office will also be sending a Legislative Alert out to the membership giving member agencies an opportunity to write their Congressional delegations about the wet weather grants program.

At the same time, EPA is calling for a new quasi-grants program to be created out of States' SRF monies. The program is a new initiative to target nonpoint source controls and estuary management projects through a 20 percent set aside from State's SRF capitalization grants. The set aside may be used to fund up to 60 percent of any such projects.

AMSA/WEF to Release Cost of Clean Assessment
AMSA's efforts to inform Congress of the growing funding needs of municipalities will be fortified by the upcoming joint publication of the AMSA/Water Environment Federation (WEF) infrastructure report. The report, The Cost of Clean ... Meeting Water Quality Challenges in the New Millennium, will be released at a press briefing on March 31. Pre-release copies of the report will be distributed to the membership in an upcoming Membership Update. The report projects local funding needs and assesses the declining Federal contribution to local governments which face ever-increasing regulatory demands.

EPA recently initiated a funding analysis of its own to analyze the gaps between Federal funding and local needs, as well as the funding gap for State operating costs. The preliminary estimates of the Agency's gap analysis will be released in May 1999. AMSA is already working collaboratively with EPA on this project by sharing data from the Cost of Clean report with the Agency. EPA's analysis will focus on three areas: wastewater, drinking water, and nonpoint sources. EPA is holding a public meeting on the gap analysis project on March 18-19 in Arlington, VA. For more information, please contact Greg Schaner at 202/296-9836.

AMSA Chairs Water Infrastructure Committee
AMSA's Executive Director has been asked by the Rebuild America Coalition (RAC), of which the Association is a participating member, to chair a Water Infrastructure Committee of the major national water interests. The Committee will focus on crafting a public relations message to be used to strengthen Federal funding for water-related infrastructure projects. The Committee will provide yet another platform for AMSA to voice its concerns about the current lack of Federal financial support for costly wastewater projects. AMSA hosted a kickoff meeting on February 25. Participants expressed wide agreement that a general message is needed to garner support for a stronger federal investment in water infrastructure.

AMSA Leads Effort to Finalize Wet Weather Legislation
AMSA members quickly responded with supportive comments to the December 1998 draft wet weather bill. These comments helped shape the current final draft bill. In early February, AMSA presented the final draft of the Urban Wet Weather Watershed Act of 1999 to the Wet Weather Issues Committee and the Legislative Policy Committee during the Winter Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. The draft bill was also distributed to the membership via Legislative Alert LA 99-2 on February 8 and can be found on AMSA's web site in the Member Pipeline at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/index.cfm. The National Office will be modifying the draft bill based on additional member comments and comments from AMSA's municipal partners. Comments are due by February 22.

By providing Congress with a narrow focus on wet weather issues, AMSA hopes to take advantage of a growing interest in Congress to take on more targeted statutory amendments. AMSA also expects that the collective support of the major municipal interests will increase the likelihood of the bill's success. The following is a highlight of the bill's main features:

  • The establishment of an optional unified wet weather permitting program that addresses the combined effects of all wet weather flows in an individual watershed;
  • The use of best management practices to measure compliance with water quality standards during wet weather events unless EPA develops new wet weather water quality standards;
  • The revision of the total maximum daily load (TMDL) provisions to reflect the need to control nonpoint sources according to their relative contribution to watershed impact;
  • The codification of the Combined Sewer Overflow Control Policy of April 1994;
  • The development of a regulatory program to address the control of sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs);
  • The modification of the municipal stormwater permitting requirements to encourage application of stormwater management measures and prohibiting the application of numeric effluent limitations in municipal stormwater permits; and
  • The creation of a new grant program to supplement the state revolving fund (SRF) loans to provide grant funding for municipal wet weather control projects.

The plan is to finalize the wet weather bill by mid-March.

AMSA/WEF Engage Congress in Funding Request for National Biosolids Partnership
AMSA and WEF are fully engaged in a lobbying campaign to garner FY 2000 funding support for the National Biosolids Partnership in the amount of $1.775 million. A letter signed by AMSA's Executive Committee and numerous members attending February's Winter Conference in Phoenix, Arizona was sent to both Appropriations Subcommittees on February 5. A similar letter from WEF was also sent to the Subcommittees. In addition, AMSA members have been sending their own letters to their Congressional delegations requesting funding support for the Partnership (see Legislative Alert LA 99-1). If you have not already done so, we encourage you to send a letter to or call your Congressional delegation to request their support for the Partnership.

AMSA Unveils New Web-Based Lobbying Tool
The National Office distributed information to the membership on February 12 describing a new web-based lobbying tool for exclusive use by AMSA members (see Member Update MU 99-3). AMSA's Congressional Connection will provide an easy way for members to access Congress through the Member Pipeline at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/index.cfm. From tips on communicating with Members of Congress to daily House and Senate schedules, AMSA's Congressional Connection puts our nation's legislative process at member agencies' fingertips. This new service — which will be showcased at AMSA's National Environmental Policy Forum & 29th Annual Meeting, May 22-26 — allows AMSA members to customize messages to Congress on key Association initiatives and conduct searches to find congressional representatives by ZIP code, state delegation or name. The Connection provides a congressional directory, e-mail forms for congressional correspondence and daily House and Senate schedules for a legislative one-stop shop. For information on how to use this tool now, contact Greg Schaner at 202/296-9836.

AMSA Conducts Clean Water Act Briefing for Senate Staff
At the request of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee, AMSA's National Office conducted a briefing on January 22 for committee staff concerning major Clean Water Act issues facing the Association's members. The briefing focused on AMSA's leading legislative initiatives on wet weather, funding and nonpoint sources, and emphasized key regulatory priorities such as total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) and the Water Quality Standards ANPRM.

The AMSA National Office will continue to provide members with monthly Legislative Updates and as- needed Legislative Alerts. If you have any questions about the legislation profiled in this Update or would like additional information on AMSA legislative issues, please contact Greg Schaner (202/296-9836) at the National Office.

ATTACHMENTS: