» Update Archive

This edition of NACWA’s Legislative Update, current through March 13, 2014, provides information on the activities of the 113th Congress of interest to the nation’s public clean water agencies.  For more detailed information regarding NACWA activities, click on the web links in selected news items or visit NACWA’s website.  Please contact NACWA’s Pat Sinicropi at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  or Hannah Mellman at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  with any questions or information on the Update topics.

ISSUE AREAS

Clean Water Funding and Financing

Administration’s FY2015 Budget Request Slashes Water Infrastructure Funding; Seeks to Scale Back Muni Bond Tax Exemption

The Obama Administration released its FY2015 Budget request on March 4, which proposes $581 million in cuts to the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund programs (CWSRF and DWSRF). The budget proposes funding the CWSRF and DWSRF at $1.018 billion and $757 million respectively. This constitutes $431 million to the CWSRF and $150 million to the DWSRF over last year’s funding levels. Overall, the budget request proposes $7.9 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), $300 million below the $8.2 billion Congress appropriated to the Agency for FY2014. Click here for a chart that compares proposed discretionary spending levels for EPA's water programs from FY2012 through the current FY2015 budget proposal.

This request is the Administration’s third consecutive budget which has proposed steep cuts to the SRF programs. The Administration argues that since the federal government established the CWSRF, it has provided nearly $97 billion of investment capital (including state matching grants and additional unspecified amounts leveraged by states from other sources).

This year’s budget request again includes a proposal to limit the amount of tax liability wealthy individuals can claim on interest income received from investments in municipal bonds to 28%. According to a report NACWA and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) released last year, this policy would increase water and wastewater project financing costs by approximately $6 billion and prevent many projects from going forward.

NACWA will be aggressively working with Congress and key stakeholder organizations over the next few months to ensure that the proposed cuts to the SRF programs and limitation to the tax-exempt status of municipal bonds are not enacted. Budget updates will be provided as they become available and please contact either Patricia Sinicropi ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or Hannah Mellman ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) with any questions.

NACWA Utility Members Urged to Support Clean Water SRF Funding in WRDA

The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which authorizes new and modifies existing U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects, is currently in conference negotiations between the House and Senate. As part of these negotiations, inclusion of a new $250 million Water Infrastructure Finance & Innovation Act (WIFIA) pilot program to finance regionally significant water, wastewater and flood control projects is being considered. Recently, conferees from the House of Representatives have proposed including a 2-year, $4 billion Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) reauthorization package in the WRDA bill. This $4 billion would ensure that the CWSRF continues to be the primary source of clean water funding and that WIFIA is established as a complement to - and not a replacement for - the SRF programs. With additional Senate support, reauthorizing the CWSRF could become a reality.

We Need Your Help!

Please contact your Senators and ask them to weigh in with Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and David Vitter (R-LA), Chairwoman and Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee respectively, in support of reauthorizing the CWSRF program as part of the WRDA conference. Considering the importance of clean water infrastructure to the well-being of our communities, to our economy, and to job growth, it is essential that the federal government remain a reliable partner in meeting the nation’s clean water needs by reauthorizing the CWSRF. This form letter can assist you, and information about how to contact your Senators is available in NACWA’s Congressional Toolbox. For additional assistance, please contact Hannah Mellman at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Affordability

FY 2015 Integrated Planning Pilot Program Pursued

Though funding for integrated planning pilots was ultimately not included in the FY 2014 EPA spending package, NACWA is already working with Congress to include pilot funding in the FY 2015 budget. The Association is working with several House and Senate offices to resubmit the proposal and sent a letter to EPA Administrator, Gina McCarthy, requesting that the Agency include $15 million for an integrated planning pilot project in the Administration’s FY 2015 budget request, expected to be released March 4th.

On a related front, NACWA also sent a letter of support on February 20, to Representative Steve Chabot (R-OH), who has introduced complementary legislation to authorize an integrated planning pilot program. H.R. 2707, The Clean Water Compliance and Ratepayer Affordability Act of 2013, would select 15 communities from across the country to work with EPA to develop integrated plans that best meet each participating community’s particular needs.

Finally, please contact your Representatives and urge them to co-sponsor H.R. 3862, The Clean Water Affordability Act of 2013. The legislation, sponsored by Representative Bob Latta (R-OH) and Representative Tim Walz (D-MN), would do five things: codify the EPA’s integrated planning framework, require EPA to revise its financial capability guidance documents to more accurately reflect a community’s financial challenges, extend the Clean Water State Revolving Fund repayment period up to thirty years, authorize additional subsidization such as principal forgiveness for communities that need it, and ensure that small communities receive a portion of available financing under the CWSRF program. Identifying a broad cross-section of Congressional members supportive of this legislation is a key legislative priority for NACWA. For assistance contacting your representatives, please contact Hannah Mellman at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Farm Bill and Nutrient Issues

Farm Bill Passes, Includes Strong Water Quality and Nutrient Management Provisions

The President signed into law a new five-year Farm Bill on February 7, which contains stronger language that NACWA, along with the Healthy Waters Coalition, advocated for with respect to prioritizing nutrient management activities within the newly created Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). Specifically, the language ensures that nutrient management activities receive priority conservation funding and allows farmers that are part of a partnership agreement to receive five-year contracts and special payments for nutrient management-related activities. The bill also contains new language that clarifies that municipal water and wastewater entities are eligible partners under the RCPP and specifically sites partnerships that execute innovative water quality improvement measures as a type of partnership eligible for conservation funding.

NACWA has developed a two-page write up providing an overview of the RCPP and its purpose for our members. NACWA staff is available to help members interested in taking advantage of the RCPP and partnering with nearby farmers to achieve water quality benefits through effective nutrient management. More information on how to take advantage of this new program will be available soon. In the meantime, please contact NACWA’s Legislative Director, Pat Sinicropi at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Utility of the Future

NACWA Urges Members to Ask Representatives to Join the Congressional Clean Water Caucus

NACWA is pleased to announce the formation of the Congressional Clean Water Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives, a bipartisan coalition to spotlight cutting-edge technologies and innovative techniques and approaches in the clean water sector — including green infrastructure, water reuse and reclamation, energy production and conservation, resource recovery, resiliency, and more — through a series of Congressional Briefings beginning during Water Week 2014. The Caucus is being chaired by Representatives John Duncan (R-TN) and Timothy Bishop (D-NY), the former chair and current ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources & Environment.

The Congressional Clean Water Caucus was called for in the NACWA/Water Environment Federation/Water Environment Research Foundation publication The Water Resources Utility of the Future. . . A Blueprint for Action and in NACWA’s Water Resources Utility of the Future . . . A Call for Federal Action.

Contact Your Congressional Representatives

On February 4, Representatives Duncan and Bishop circulated a letter encouraging their colleagues to join the Clean Water Caucus. Please reach out to your Member(s) in the U.S. House of Representatives and encourage them to join the Caucus today! Here is a draft letter that can assist you. If your Members would like to join, have their staff contact either Don Walker in Rep. Duncan’s office ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 202-225-5435) or Eddie Shimkus in Rep. Bishop’s office ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 202- 225-3826).
For information on how to contact your Members of Congress, please see NACWA’s Congressional Toolbox. If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact Claire Moser at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Water Week 2014

Senator Whitehouse, Representative Bob Latta Confirmed to Speak at National Water Policy Forum

Water Week 2014 is almost here! We are pleased to announce that Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Representative Bob Latta (R-OH) have confirmed plans to speak at the National Water Policy Forum & Fly-In on the morning of April 8. Senator Whitehouse has been an active member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee where he has lead proposals to help clean water utilities more affordably manage their operations and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Rep. Latta recently introduced The Clean Water Affordability Act, a bill to give clean water agencies facing financial challenges the flexibility they need to undertake clean water projects in a way that minimizes financial impacts on ratepayers and municipal budgets. Both Senator Whitehouse and Rep. Latta has been long-time champions for the clean water community and are 2014 recipients of NACWA’s National Environmental Achievement Award for federal public service. We are excited they will be able to join us.

The Forum & Fly-In will bring together water and wastewater professionals from across the country to meet with Members of Congress and federal regulators to share perspectives on federal clean water policy. Attendees will have an opportunity on the afternoon of April 8, to head to Capitol Hill and visit with their Congressional delegation. Set up your meetings today! Information and resources are available on NACWA’s Congressional Toolbox to assist you. If you have any questions regarding arranging these meetings please contact Hannah Mellman, Manager of Legislative Affairs, at 202/833-4655.

CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS

• The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing on February 4 to examine the safety and security of drinking water supplies following the central West Virginia drinking water crisis. Witnesses included The Honorable Natalie Tennant, West Virginia Secretary of State, Erik Olson from the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Brent Fewell from United Water.

LEGISLATION INTRODUCED

• Representative Patrick Meehan (R-PA), Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee for Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies introduced H.R. 4007, The Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) Authorization and Accountability Act of 2014 , on February 6. The bill would reauthorize the Department of Homeland Security's Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards program, which establishes risk-based performance standards for the security of the country’s chemical facilities. Under the bill, wastewater treatment plants would be eligible for alternative site security plans.