From: National Office
Date: June, 1997 (current to June 16, 1997)
The National Office is pleased to provide you with the June 1997 Legislative Update. Following are instruction on how to use this Update, as well as a listing of those bills currently being tracked by the National Office. The Legislative Update is a monthly service of the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies.
AMSA Business
Legislative Working Group Established
AMSA is establishing a Legislative Working Group comprised of the AMSA member agencies with representation on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee. Members of the Working Group will receive bi-weekly updates on Hill committee activities and developments and may be called upon by the National Office to contact their Representatives on behalf of the Association to discuss important issues and offer expertise as frontline environmentalists. A initial roster of Working Group members was forwarded via Legislative Alert LA97-3.
Legislative Policy Committee to Meet in Seattle
AMSA's Legislative Policy Committee will be meeting on Wednesday, July 16 from 12:00-1:30 in Seattle, WA during the Association's 1997 Summer Conference, Point & Nonpoint Source . . . Balancing Responsibility for Pollution Prevention. Among the topics scheduled for discussion are AMSA's watershed amendment proposal, which is currently under revision and anticipated to be forwarded to the membership soon.
On the Hill
Congress has been tied up over budget discussions and problems associated with distributing federal disaster relief aid. Last week, an agreement was finally made, but only after an initial budget agreement was vetoed by President Clinton. The Environmental Protection Agency emerged from the debate with funding levels set at $3.5 billion for fiscal year (FY) '98 for the Agency's operating programs (include core regulatory, enforcement, research and policy efforts). This meets the President's request and is $300 million more than was provided for FY'97. Funding for the entire Agency was requested $7.6 billion for FY'98. Last week allocations were also set for House Appropriations Subcommittees. The VA, HUD & Independent Agencies Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over EPA, received $60.95 billion. This Subcommittee, which is chaired by Representative Jerry Lewis (R-CA), held two hearings last month to hear from representatives of EPA as well as stakeholder organizations regarding the Agency's budget and is expected to begin marking up legislation on June 25. AMSA submitted a Statement for the Record supporting continued and expanded federal funding of the Clean Water program. Copies of AMSA's statement were forwarded to members via Legislative Alert 97-2.
ISTEA on Slower Road than Expected
Aides to the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee have stated that mark up of a reauthorization bill for the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) will most likely wait until after lawmakers return from Fourth of July recess. It has been reported that the delay is due to recent defeat of amendments to the budget agreement which sought to increase the amounts specified in the agreement. Committee Chair Bud Shuster (R-PA) has indicated that he wants to hold the bill until Congress approves more funding, but has not yet indicated what his plans are for addressing the situation. ISTEA is a massive highway bill that is set to expire on September 30, 1997. It was enacted in 1991 and authorized $155 billion over six years for federal, state and local transportation projects. Numerous ISTEA reauthorization bills have been introduced over the past six months. The principals vehicles for reauthorization are S.1268, introduced by Senate Environment & Public Works Committee Chair John Chafee, and H.R.1453, introduced by House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chair Bud Shuster.
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