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To: Members, Affiliates & Legal Affairs Committee From: National Office Date: September 2000 The National Office is pleased to provide you with the September 2000 Legislative Update. The update will provide you with a comprehensive overview of AMSA’s recent legislative initiatives and the general outlook on Capitol Hill current to October 11, 2000. The attached Bill Digest provides an abbreviated summary of pertinent legislation that AMSA is currently tracking. If you have any questions or comments, please contact the National Office.
President Signs Coastal Water Quality Legislation into Law
President Clinton signed H.R. 999, the Beaches Environmental Assessment & Coastal Health Act of 1999, into law on October 11. The President’s approval followed a September 27 unanimous vote in the House, and an earlier vote of unanimous consent in the Senate on September 21. The legislation amends the Clean Water Act to provide $30 million to help coastal states implement monitoring and notification programs for their recreational waters, and requires states to incorporate water quality criteria for pathogens and pathogen indicators into existing water quality standards. Supported by numerous environmental organizations and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the President’s approval had been anticipated in the early weeks of the session. EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner applauded the passage of the bill, saying it "will greatly expand the public’s right-to-know about threats from pollution to our beaches and to our health."Under H.R. 999, EPA is directed to publish new or revised criteria for pathogens and pathogen indicators (including a revised list of testing methods) within five years. The criteria will be based on an Agency assessment of potential human health risks from exposure to pathogens in coastal waters, appropriate indicators for improving detection, and effective methods for detecting pathogens in a timely manner. EPA is also required to publish performance criteria for state and local monitoring programs as well as for prompt notification of the public. A grant program is also established to assist States and local governments in the development and implementation of monitoring and notification programs. The grants will be available to States and local governments that establish monitoring and notification programs which are consistent with the minimum conditions outlined in the bill.
Please contact Greg Schaner at 202/296-9836 for more information.
House Committee Unanimously Approves Short-term SSO-CSO Funding Measure
The House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee on September 28 unanimously approved a narrow wet weather bill that would provide short-term funding assistance to combined sewer overflow (CSO) and sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) communities. The Wet Weather Water Quality Act of 2000 (a copy of the bill and a summary of the legislation was distributed to the membership via Legislative Alert LA 00-7 on September 29) incorporates many of the funding and watershed provisions contained in H.R. 3570, the AMSA-led wet weather bill. The bill also codifies the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) National CSO Policy, one of several key objectives of H.R. 3570.In the short weeks that remain in the 106th Congress, the Committee leadership will work on clearing the way for a House floor vote on this bill. The Senate has not yet indicated its plan or schedule for taking up similar legislation. Lead sponsors of H.R. 3570, Congressmen Steve LaTourette (R-OH) and William Pascrell (D-NJ) indicated that they were "pleased that several of the important components of our bill are married to this new bill."
In moving this bill, the Committee kept its promise from the opening days of this session to deliver a bipartisan package which would help communities with wet weather programs. Although significant Republican and Democratic support continues to exist for clarifying municipal responsibilities for SSO and urban stormwater control, a major objective of H.R. 3570, the Committee chose to avoid any amendments that could be perceived as controversial in any way. Though the bill does not address liability issues for SSO and urban stormwater control, Committee staff have indicated that these issues would be considered in the next Congress.
Water Infrastructure Caucus Gains Increased Visibility
The four Chairmen of the House Water Infrastructure Caucus (WIC) held a press conference September 19 and announced that legislation to fund wastewater and water infrastructure would be a priority in the 107th Congress. House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Chair Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), Ranking Member Robert Borski (D-PA), Health and Environment Subcommittee Chair Michael Bilirakis (R-FL), and Ranking Member Sherrod Brown(D-OH) voiced support for 'WATER 21' - a bill that would provide funds to replace aging wastewater treatment plants and address other water infrastructure problems. "This time next year I plan to be discussing how we are going to move WATER 21 to the House floor." Boehlert added that part of the budget surplus could be used to infuse $50 billion over five years to help close water infrastructure funding gap. The September news conference and a new "Dear Colleague" letter from the WIC chairs has spurred additional interest in the House Caucus. The bipartisan coalition now boasts 80 members from both parties and from every region in the country.While the Caucus continues to grow, members of the Water Infrastructure Network (WIN) are meeting to create a comprehensive outline of the needs that should be included in future legislation. The group's recommendations will be included in a white paper which will be presented early next year to the new President and to members of the 107th Congress. For more information on WIN or WIC, call AMSA's Lee Garrigan at (202)833-4655.
CBO Prepares to Study Economics of Water Infrastructure Needs
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has begun a series of meetings with representatives of WIN, member associations and federal agencies to lay the groundwork for a study on the costs associated with the $23 billion annual gap in water infrastructure funding. CBO officials are reviewing EPA's Gap Analysis and Needs Assessment Survey figures, the WIN report findings and other data. They also will be contacting AMSA member POTWs to talk about capital needs, constraints to raising capital, costs associated with capital needs, and how efficiency gains can reduce future capital costs. CBO will issue the results of the study next year at a House hearing on the issue. Water Resources Subcommittee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert and other members of the Water Infrastructure Caucus are asking for the study in preparation for their legislative efforts to renew the federal investment in water infrastructure.
For more information, contact AMSA's Lee Garrigan via e-mail at lgarrigan@amsa-cleanwater.org.
Lawmakers Expected to Vote on EPA Budget for Fiscal Year 2001
The VA-HUD-Independent Agencies appropriations bill is one of the last funding measures being taken up in the Senate this year. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $104.7 billion FY'01 funding bill for VA-HUD-Independent Agencies in September and the House passed its version of the bill (H.R. 4635) in June. The Senate version of the bill includes $7.5 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency, $9 million below FY'00 funding and $258 million above the Administration's budget request. Both versions included $1 million for the AMSA-supported National Biosolids Partnership program. Also included is language which blocks EPA's proposed new rule on Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) and discourages regional guidance on the program.
Presidential Hopefuls Send Envoys to Meet with AMSA Leadership
Representatives of the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and Albert Gore opened AMSA's September leadership retreat and board of directors meeting with high praise for the Water Infrastructure Network's report, Clean and Safe Water for the 21st Century: A Renewed National Commitment to Water and Wastewater Infrastructure. Rich Gold (Gore) and Rich Innes (Bush) reviewed the environmental records of their respective candidates and acknowledged that the Clean Water Act is in need of reauthorization. Both campaign camps spoke of upcoming initiatives that would address eroding infrastructure and the need for new federal water funding. Although Gold and Innes both announced that the wastewater infrastructure funding issue would be addressed in new environmental initiatives by mid-September, neither candidate has yet addressed the $23 billion annual shortfall for water infrastructure funding.
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