AMSA June 2004 Legislative Update

This edition of the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies’ (AMSA) Legislative Update, current through June 30, 2004, provides an overview of bills and initiatives of interest to the nation’s publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) in the 108th Congress. For more detailed information regarding AMSA activities related to specific legislation, click on the web links at the end of selected news items, or contact AMSA’s Lee Garrigan at 202/833-4655 or lgarrigan@amsa-cleanwater.org.

AMSA members can track congressional action on individual bills through AMSA’s Bill Tracker. The Tracker provides a direct link from AMSA’s website to congressional websites 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” website. To renew or bookmark the Bill Tracker, go to http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/legupdate/leg_tracker.cfm.

Top Stories

Senate Committee Approves Billions for SRFs in Funding Bill
The Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee approved S. 2550, the Water Infrastructure Financing Act, on June 23, just two days after the bill was introduced in the Senate. The vote was nearly unanimous with only the Ranking Member on the Committee (Vermont Independent Jim Jeffords) voting against the bill. A Managers’ amendment to the bill was accepted by voice vote and served as the markup vehicle. It includes a revised SRF funding formula that reportedly favors small states and keeps funding flat for large states. S. 2550 would reauthorize the clean water and drinking water state revolving loan fund programs (SRFs) for five years, providing $20 billion for wastewater and $15 billion for drinking water.

A week prior to the introduction of the bill, AMSA met with Senate staff to receive a draft of the bill which was then sent to AMSA members for their review and comment. Five utilities submitted comments on the proposed legislation. The comments generally identified concerns with the bill’s provisions on asset management and financial capacity-building but were supportive of the research and development title.

During the June 23 Committee markup of the bill, Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) won approval of his amendment to reauthorize the sewer overflow control grant program through fiscal year 2009 at $250 million per year. Under the program, if at least $1 billion is appropriated for the clean water SRF program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator is authorized to provide grants to states or directly to municipalities for the planning, design, and construction of treatment works to control or treat combined sewer overflows (CSOs) or sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs). Priority consideration would be given to financially distressed communities or those that are in the midst of implementing long-term CSO or separate SSO plans. The federal share would be at least 55 percent.

Also approved was an amendment that would make Davis-Bacon prevailing wages applicable on all projects receiving federal funds under the SRFs.

Several amendments were passed that are applicable only to the drinking water SRF. Approved was a lead in drinking water amendment that would provide $40 million over five years for schools to test for lead and report the results to their communities, $20 million for Washington, DC to address its lead problem, and a new study to be performed by the National Academy of Sciences that would look at the scope of the problem of lead in drinking water pipes around the country. The Committee also agreed to add $1 billion over 5 years for small drinking water systems to help them come into compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act. Much of this money is expected to be used by systems to comply with the arsenic standard (although the language does not specify arsenic).

Provisions that would add a new study by the Department of Interior on perchlorate and language that would add the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to the Water Resources Planning Council also were approved.

The Committee is now writing a report that will clarify various provisions in the bill and which will be filed with the bill prior to a vote on the Senate floor. The bill’s sponsors, Senators James Inhofe (R-OK), Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have not yet determined whether they will try to take the bill to the floor for a vote.

AMSA to Testify in House on Wet Weather Grant Program
The House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee will hold a hearing on July 8 to take testimony on several bills that must be approved by the Subcommittee before they are taken up by the full Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on July 21. AMSA has been asked to testify on H.R. 784, the ‘Water Quality Investment Act of 2003’ which extends for two years the authorization for a sewer overflow grant program that was signed into law in 2001. The original authorization for appropriations for the grants from the EPA to municipalities expired in 2003 and was never funded. AMSA 2003 – 2004 Past President Paul Pinault, Executive Director of the Narragansett Bay Commission in Providence, Rhode Island, will testify on behalf of AMSA at the hearing.

Budget and Appropriations

Budget negotiations have collapsed in Congress, leaving lawmakers without a budget blueprint for fiscal year (FY) 2005. The yearly budget resolution is a nonbinding document which has been used in the past to help Congress balance spending and tax cuts. Early in the budget process the Senate passed an amendment to its budget bill that added $3 billion in spending authority for the clean water and drinking water state revolving loan fund (SRF) programs. Conference report documents reveal that the additional $3 billion for the SRFs was not included in the budget deal passed by the House in May.

Meantime, House and Senate appropriation subcommittees have moved forward with their funding bills for FY 2005. The House and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairmen have said they expect to take the 13 separate spending bills and incorporate them into one bill for conferencing between the two chambers.

AMSA Pushing for Funding for National Biosolids Partnership
House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on VA-HUD-Independent Agencies are expected to markup their fiscal year (FY) 2005 budgets for the EPA the first two weeks of July. The bills then will go to the full Appropriations Committees for approval. AMSA continues to meet with Members and staff to urge the inclusion of $1 million to fund the activities of the National Biosolids Partnership (NBP). Money is tight in the VA-HUD bill due to an expected increase for veterans. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young (R-FL) also has warned his 13 subcommittee chairmen to keep Member projects – or earmarks – in their bills to a minimum. There is no firm commitment yet from the Subcommittees to add $1 million for the NBP program.

AMSA asked select members in late June to contact their Senators and urge their support for the program. This action was in addition to the letter of support treatment agencies signed in February 2004 during the AMSA Winter Conference. In March, AMSA requested that member agencies with Senators and Representatives on the Appropriations Committees write letters requesting that $1 million be included in the EPA’s budget for FY 2005 (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/leg_outreach.cfm).

AMSA Calls on Congress to Restore USGS Funds
On June 15, AMSA and other stakeholder groups sent a joint letter (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/advocacy/co/2004-06-15NAWQA.pdf) to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior encouraging Members to restore funding for key U.S. Geological Survey water quality programs such as the National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. The President’s budget request for NAWQA for fiscal year (FY) 2005 is $62.5 million, a decrease of $800,000 from the $63.3 million appropriated by Congress for FY 2004. The request for the Toxics Program is only $12.6 million, down $2.3 million. Although the cuts do not appear substantial, especially in the case of the NAWQA program, they are part of a trend over the past several years that has seen the budgets for these programs either decrease or remain flat while needs continue to rise. This has led to a downsizing of the programs, threatening their overall effectiveness.

The coalition letter urged the subcommittee to reverse the trend and include in the FY05 Interior and Related Agencies appropriations bill an additional $21 million for NAWQA and an additional $3 million for the Toxics program to cover inflation costs and nondiscretionary spending increases.

Meantime, the House approved June 17 the FY 2005 spending bill for the Interior Department and Related Agencies. The U.S. Geological Survey would receive $944 million, $18 million above the Administration’s request and $7 million above FY 2004 funding levels. It is unclear whether these additional funds will be applied to the NAWQA or toxics programs. Look for new information on the USGS funding issue in future Legislative Updates.

Water Quality

Stormwater Amendment Still Pending in Highway Conference
Members of the House and Senate transportation conference committee continue to meet to resolve differences between their respective highway bills. Of interest to AMSA members is the Senate-passed Safe, Affordable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2003 (SAFETEA) (S. 1072) that contains the utility-supported amendment to set-aside 2 percent – approximately $958 million over six years – for states to mitigate stormwater runoff from highways. The amendment to the Senate’s $318 billion highway construction and repair package received bipartisan support and would provide funds for projects such as stormwater retrofits, the recharge of groundwater, natural filters, stream restoration, minimization of stream bank erosion, and innovative technologies.

The House-passed legislation, a six-year, $284 billion highway and transit funding bill (H.R. 3550), does not contain the set-aside. AMSA staff and other stakeholder groups have held briefings for House staff to push for the funding. However, House members are showing a reluctance to support a diversion of the highway money for environmental purposes. AMSA joined 37 other stakeholder organizations on a June 14 letter to transportation conferees urging their support for the stormwater provision (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/advocacy/co/2004-06-14swtr.pdf). AMSA also sent several letters to EPW Senators urging their support for the amendment (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/advocacy/releases/2003-11-11-03cornyn.pdf). The stormwater language will have a better chance of being included in a final bill if conferees agree to a funding level closer to the Senate authorization. AMSA continues to advocate for inclusion of the amendment in a final highway bill. AMSA members can show their support for the measure by contacting their Congressional delegations through the homepage of the AMSA website (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org) and clicking on ‘Write Congress Now.’

Transportation Department Secretary Norman Mineta wrote to conferees in June to present the Bush administration’s viewpoint on a number of provisions. Mineta stated that they are opposed to the stormwater provision.

The nation’s highway programs will continue to operate under Congress’ fourth extension of the old highway bill, TEA 21, until the end of July. If an agreement has not been reached by then, Congress could postpone action on the bill until next year and extend the program once again into 2005.