AMSA Legislative Update June 2002

The National Office is pleased to provide you with this issue of the Legislative Update, which is current through July 5, 2002. The Legislative Update provides a summary of recent activities that impact AMSA’s membership. For more detailed information regarding AMSA’s position on or activities related to any specific bill, go to the web links at the end of selected news items, or contact AMSA’s National Office at 202/833-AMSA or info@amsa-cleanwater.org.

AMSA members can track congressional action on specific legislation through AMSA’s Bill Tracker. The Tracker provides a direct link from AMSA’s web site to congressional web sites where bill texts and summaries are posted, allowing members to research relevant federal legislation. The site also includes the status and most recent action taken on all federal legislation through a link to the Library of Congress’ “Thomas” web site. To increase the value of this essential resource, the Bill Tracker is routinely updated on the AMSA web site. To bookmark the Bill Tracker, go to http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/legupdate/leg_tracker.cfm.

Clean Water Funding

Support Lacking for Senate Water Investment Act
The Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee passed the Water Investment Act of 2002 (S. 1961) by a vote of 13 to 6 on May 17 but has found little support for the measure in the water and wastewater community. The $35 billion, five-year bill amends the funding provisions of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), ends federal funding after five years, and places new burdens on SRF applicants. Originally introduced as a bipartisan bill, S. 1961 quickly turned partisan during a two day mark up. Senators could not agree on several contentious issues including the formula used to distribute the funds to the states and the inclusion of language that would require workers on SRF-funded projects to receive local prevailing wages under the Davis-Bacon law.

AMSA’s biggest issue with the bill continues to be the requirement that a municipality in “significant noncompliance” with the CWA must enter into “an enforceable administrative or judicial order” in order to become eligible to submit an application for a loan from the state revolving fund.

AMSA also has serious concerns with the capacity development provisions in the bill which would give States responsibility for reviewing and approving local decisions on rate structures, land use, transportation and watershed planning coordination, and asset management plans. In a joint letter to the full Senate AMSA and other municipal organizations, the National Governor’s Association, and state water and wastewater administrators, urged Senators to address these issues before the bill goes to the Senate floor.

Meantime, Senator James M. Jeffords’ (I-VT) EPW Committee staff are completing work on report language to be filed with the bill in the Senate. Senator Robert C. Smith (R-NH) already has put a “hold” on the bill due to the inclusion of the prevailing wage provision. AMSA notes that even if the legislation is enacted, it does not guarantee that the authorized funding levels will be approved by appropriators.

A copy of S. 1961 can be found on AMSA’s web site at: http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/legalrts/la02-1.cfm. AMSA’s original recommended modifications to S. 1961 were fully detailed in Legislative Alert 02-02, available at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/legalrts/la02-2.cfm. More information can be found in AMSA’s February 28 testimony before Senate EPW Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Water delivered by AMSA’s new President Paul Pinault of the Narragansett Bay Commission. A copy of AMSA’s testimony can be accessed at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/advocacy/testimony/5-23-01testimony.cfm.

Committee Still Seeking Cosponsors for House SRF Funding Bill
The House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee continues to solicit support from Members of Congress to become cosponsors on its version of a wastewater infrastructure funding bill. The Water Quality Financing Act of 2002 (H.R. 3930) authorizes $20 billion over five years for the Clean Water SRF. Following a short mark up, the bill was passed unanimously out of the T&I Committee on March 20. The only amendment that was offered and subsequently approved was to make SRF funds subject to prevailing wage rates (Davis Bacon).

The cosponsors of the bill, T&I Committee Chairman Don Young (R-AK) and Ranking Member Jim Oberstar (D-MN), and Water Resources Subcommittee Chairman John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-TN) and Ranking Member Pete DeFazio (D-OR), circulated a “Dear Colleague” letter to House members asking them to support the bill. Committee leaders want to file the bill in the House with a minimum of 80 cosponsors. AMSA member agencies are asked to contact their Representatives during July and urge them to become cosponsors of H.R. 3930. To view a sample letter and to contact your Congressman, go to the March 26 Fax Alert Special Edition, posted on AMSA’s web site at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/faxalerts/032602.cfm.

While AMSA supports H.R. 3930, the Association continues to voice concern over the bill’s provisions that would place new burdens on POTW applicants. The National Office is working with Congress to get clarifying and explanatory language into the bill report which will accompany the legislation to the House floor. The report language will provide further instruction on and interpretation of specific provisions of the bill to the partners in the program, including the EPA, state clean water and financial managers and SRF applicants.

As is the case with the Senate bill, the White House opposes the $20 billion funding level in H.R. 3930. Officials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) have said the authorization levels are not in keeping with the President’s current budget priorities and that they will continue to lobby the bill’s sponsors to drastically reduce the $20 billion price tag.

AMSA Member Testifies on Water Quality Trading
Thomas R. ‘Buddy’ Morgan, AMSA Vice President and General Manager of the Montgomery Water Works and Sanitary Sewer Board, testified at a June 13 hearing on water quality trading before the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. Subcommittee Chairman John J. Duncan (R-TN) called the session to highlight the EPA’s pilot programs that are a part of the Agency’s new proposal to trade water quality credits. Morgan advised subcommittee members that the current regulatory approach that sets separate rules and enforcement actions for clean water, drinking water, stormwater water, combined sewers and air emissions poses a roadblock for successful watershed trading. AMSA is preparing to comment on the EPA proposal. Morgan’s testimony is available at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/faxalerts/061402a.pdf. AMSA’s comments will be posted on the web site upon completion.

Bioterrorism Bill Signed into Law
The House and Senate in late May passed H.R. 3448 which became Public Law Number 107-188 when President Bush signed it on June 12. The Bioterrorism Preparedness Act of 2001 will require water systems serving over 100,000 people to conduct and complete vulnerability assessments by March 31, 2003. Systems serving between 50,000 and 100,000 people will have until December 31, 2003 to comply with the bill’s provisions; systems serving populations greater than 3,300 but less that 50,000 will have to comply by June 30, 2004. The bill authorizes $160 million for assessments at nearly 8,000 water systems. Completed assessments must be filed with EPA which will be required to secure the information. Systems also will be required to file emergency response plans six months after completing their vulnerability assessments.

Legislation Forthcoming to Fund Wastewater Security Measures
Congressional conferees on H.R. 3448, in report language filed with The Bioterrorism Preparedness Act of 2001, directed the House and Senate authorizing committees to quickly develop comparable legislation to address security at publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). Over the past two months, AMSA members and staff have held a series of briefings for House and Senate staff. AMSA Wastewater Infrastructure Security Task Force (Task Force) Chair Jack Farnan, General Superintendent, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, and AMSA President Paul Pinault, Executive Director, Narragansett Bay Commission, on June 12 discussed the security needs of municipal wastewater treatment agencies and the associated costs to municipalities.

AMSA has subsequently provided T&I Committee staff with written recommendations on POTW security funding needs. AMSA’s Task Force assisted in the development of the recommendations, which suggest funding levels of $200 million in fiscal year 2003 for immediate countermeasures and security upgrades identified through vulnerability assessments, as well as $1 million a year for the next five years to support the continued improvement of AMSA’s Vulnerability Self Assessment Tool (VSAT™), due to be released in late July. A number of other significant recommendations were made in the document which can be reviewed by AMSA members at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/faxalerts/062102b.pdf.

AMSA anticipates that a wastewater security funding bill will be introduced in the House after the Fourth of July recess. AMSA is hopeful that language in the House bill will be acceptable to staff of the Senate EPW Committee so that wastewater security funding legislation can move in both chambers before the end of this year’s legislative session. Authorizing legislation is only half of the equation, however. If legislation passes this year, appropriators will have to find the money in a tight budget to fund the security program.

Mercury Bill

Bill Banning Mercury Thermometers Approved by Committee
The Senate EPW Committee has approved S. 351, the “Mercury Reduction and Disposal Act of 2002.” The bill phases out mercury thermometers, directs EPA to establish a national mercury thermometer collection and exchange program, and creates a Federal task force to make recommendations regarding the long-term management of surplus mercury. AMSA had suggested to the bill’s sponsor, Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), that the purpose of the proposed task force be expanded beyond surplus mercury to include a national strategy to deal with all aspects of mercury pollution. While the bill was not amended to include the expanded task force, AMSA was recognized as a supporter of the legislation in the Committee’s news release announcing the bill’s passage. To date, there is no companion legislation in the House. Go to AMSA’s Bill Tracker to read a copy of S. 351.

Budget and Appropriations

The U.S. government will not go into default after June 28 as a result of the House’s narrowly passed June 27 bill to raise the debt limit. The Senate had passed similar legislation weeks ago. In other last minute action prior to the Fourth of July recess, movement on a supplemental spending bill for this fiscal year (2002) stalled just hours before lawmakers left town. At issue are differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill as well as veto threats by White House budget chief Mitch Daniels related to the high price tags of the bills which exceed the President’s spending limitations. While the proposals provide for increased spending for military installations and homeland security, they also provided legislators with an opportunity to add money to the budgets of their favorite programs. Work will resume on the bills when Congress returns to Washington on July 9.

EPA Budget for 2003 Unscheduled
Congress began work on fiscal year 2003 appropriations bills just prior to the Fourth of July recess. However, mark up of the VA-HUD-Independent Agencies appropriations bills in the House and the Senate has not yet been scheduled. EPA’s $7.7 billion proposed budget for fiscal year (FY) 2003 was sent to Congress in early February. The administration is asking lawmakers to approve $1.212 billion for the Clean Water SRF (CWSRF), a decrease of $138 million from FY 2002, and $850 million for the Drinking Water SRF (DWSRF), the same amount enacted by Congress last year. EPA’s proposed budget also requests $124 million in new funding, out of a total EPA investment of $133.4 million, in homeland security, including $16.9 million to conduct drinking water system vulnerability assessments on small to mid-sized systems. The administration’s proposed budget also would zero out federal funding for the CWSRF in 2006, according to Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on VA-HUD and Independent Agencies. Neither Mikulski’s subcommittee nor its House counterpart, chaired by Rep. James Walsh (R-NY), have indicated when they will take up EPA’s FY 2003 appropriations request. With elections in November and fewer than 25 legislative days left this session, Members may find themselves back in Washington for a lame-duck session to address outstanding appropriations bills.

National Biosolids Partnership Seeks Support
AMSA’s request of $1.5 million to fund the activities of the National Biosolids Partnership (NBP) for fiscal year (FY) 2003 appears to be on track to be included in both the House and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on VA-HUD-Independent Agencies bills. As a precaution, AMSA members were asked to write to their Senators to request that the NBP funding request be included in EPA’s budget for FY 2003. A copy of the memorandum to AMSA members can be found on the AMSA web site at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/leg_outreach.cfm. Members should then click on the March 27 correspondence “Selected AMSA Members asked to Contact Senate Appropriators on NBP Funding.” AMSA also has sent to House and Senate appropriators copies of the NBP resolution signed by members at the AMSA Winter Conference in February 2002. To view or download a copy of the resolution, go to: http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/outreach/02-06-02nbpletter.pdf on AMSA’s web site.

USGS Water Program Funding Restored
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies approved on June 25 a bill that provides $928 million for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), restoring full funding for water quality programs the Bush administration had recommended for elimination or transfer to the National Science Foundation. On April 15, AMSA and a number of other stakeholders sent a joint letter to both the House and Senate appropriations committees encouraging members to restore funding for key USGS water quality programs, such as the National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. The President’s fiscal year 2003 budget proposal would have reduced or eliminated the USGS’ budget for four key water programs, threatening critical sources of water quality information important to researchers, decision-makers, managers, and planners at all levels of the government. The letter cited a National Academy of Sciences report warning that any further downsizing of the NAWQA program would render it ineffective at producing a national assessment and waste a decade or more of effort. The full House Appropriations Committee will vote on the bill July 11.