» Update Archive

 
This edition of NACWA’s Legislative Update, current through December 17, 2015, provides information on the activities of the 114th 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 Patricia Sinicropi 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.

Top Stories

Spending Deal Includes Key Clean Water Victories and Defeat of Great Lakes CSO Language

Congressional negotiators reached agreement on a final Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 appropriations package  this week that includes a number of major advocacy victories for NACWA and its members. Most significantly, Senate appropriators backed off demands that dischargers to the Great Lakes eliminate combined sewer overflows (CSO) and the use of blending during wet weather events. The CSO elimination policy rider was inserted earlier this year in a proposed Senate Appropriations Committee spending package for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at the request of Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL). The negotiated FY16 appropriations package also replaced proposed cuts to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund program and maintained funding levels for other key clean water programs.

NACWA pursued every available advocacy avenue on the proposed CSO and blending policy rider, leading a coalition of Association members along with national and regional stakeholders over recent months in strong opposition to the measure. NACWA argued that it amounted to a $70 billion unfunded mandate on Great Lakes ratepayers, would not result in any meaningful water quality improvement, and would set extremely bad precedent for the rest of the nation. In the end, NACWA helped forge a compromise between Sen. Kirk and other key Great Lakes Senators keen on avoiding a costly new mandate. The compromise agreement establishes a consistent standard for reporting CSOs to the Great Lakes, authorizes the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) for the first time and authorizes one year of funding at current funding levels, and replaces proposed cuts to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF).

The final bill does not include any policy riders or other language impacting EPA’s implementation of the recent Clean Water Rule. There was some speculation that the legislation might include a limitation on EPA’s ability to implement the rule, but the final package includes no such limitation.

Finally, NACWA members will be pleased that FY16 appropriations for the CWSRF will continue to see robust support from Congress, receiving $1.393 billion from appropriators. By funding the CWSRF at this level, Congress rejected the Administration’s proposal to cut this program by nearly 30% and sent a clear signal that it considers investments in clean water a national priority and that funding levels should not be reduced or shifted to other programs.

NACWA is pleased with this important legislative victory and that common sense clean water policy prevailed in Congress. NACWA is also very grateful to all of the Association members that sent letters, made phone calls, and engaged in other advocacy actions over recent months in help influence this legislative process, especially related to the Great Lakes sewer overflow issue. Additional details on the bill can be found in Advocacy Alert 15-20.

House Passes Microbead-Free Act of 2015

The House of Representatives unanimously passed H.R. 1321 , the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015, on December 7. This bipartisan bill, sponsored by Reps. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Fred Upton (R-MI), bans the manufacture of rinse-off cosmetics containing plastic microbeads by July 1, 2017 and the delivery of these products by July 1, 2018. NACWA strongly supports this legislation and applauded its passage in a press release.

Plastic microbeads have become a topic of concern among clean water advocates given that they are difficult to remove during typical wastewater treatment processes and can pass through treatment plants and into waterways, causing harm to aquatic life and ecosystems. Natural alternatives can be easily substituted for plastic microbeads in cleansing and exfoliating products – eliminating microbead pollution at its source and protecting the environment.

NACWA supported  this legislation as part of its Toilets Are Not Trashcans campaign, which focuses on keeping inappropriate products and unnecessary product additives out of sewer systems to protect water quality and the pipes, pumps, plants, and personnel of the nation’s wastewater utilities. The Toilets Are Not Trashcans logo is available to all for consumer educational purposes. Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for access to the logo. NACWA is hopeful the Senate will pass the House bill before it adjourns for the end of the year.

Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) Hitches a Ride on Omnibus, Problematic Provision for Water and Wastewater Entities Removed

Legislation establishing a legal framework critical to encourage industry to share voluntarily cybersecurity information with the federal government was included as part of the year-end omnibus spending package, but excluded a key provision opposed by NACWA and other water sector organizations. The legislation, referred to as the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), requires the Director of National Intelligence and the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS), Defense, and Justice to develop procedures to share cybersecurity threat information with private entities, nonfederal government agencies, state, tribal, and local governments, the public, and entities under threats. Liability protections are provided to entities that voluntarily share and receive cyber threat indicators and defensive measures with other entities or the government.

Last month, NACWA joined over 40 other associations on a letter  opposing Section 407 of the Senate proposed package which would have required the DHS, sector specific agencies (SSAs), and other regulatory agencies to assess the cybersecurity incident reporting by critical infrastructure entities and to issue a recommendation to Congress on whether to require a mandatory regulatory regime for reporting cyber intrusions to the government. The associations argued that this runs counter to the otherwise voluntary nature of CISA and the voluntary reporting of cyber incidents that is already done by critical infrastructure entities. NACWA and the other associations recommended that Section 407 be removed from CISA, and is very pleased that Congress followed this recommendation and excluded the provision in the final package.

Congress Passes Transportation Reauthorization Package, Includes WIFIA Fix

Congressional negotiators put the final touches on a five-year transportation reauthorization measure in early December that provides nearly $300 billion to highway, transit and rail projects for the next five years. Significantly, the measure included a provision enabling borrowers under the recently-established Water Infrastructure Financing & Innovations Act (WIFIA) program to use tax-exempt municipal bond financing as match for federal loans. NACWA, the Water Infrastructure Network (WIN), and other water sector organizations have advocated strongly  in favor of the “WIFIA fix” and this week’s Congressional passage is an important legislative victory for the sector.

The fix was necessary because the original WIFIA authorizing legislation contained a restriction on the use of municipal bonds due to concerns over costs. These concerns were addressed in the overall transportation package and conferees were able to reach an agreement. NACWA and other water associations argued that preventing municipal borrowers from using tax-exempt bond financing as a match for a WIFIA loan would significantly diminish the attractiveness of the program for municipalities. Several key Congressional lawmakers agreed, including Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee with jurisdiction over the transportation package and WIFIA, who led the effort to include the WIFIA fix in the transportation package.

WIFIA is a pilot program and is designed to provide U.S. Treasury-backed loans for up to 49 percent of a water infrastructure project that costs at least $20 million. NACWA anticipates EPA will be ready to launch the WIFIA program late next year once the program rules and guidelines are established.

New Legislative Affairs Manager Welcomed

The Association is pleased to welcome Kristina Surfus as Legislative Affairs Manager. Kristina comes to NACWA from Senator Tammy Baldwin’s office where she was a Legislative Fellow working on Great Lakes and Appropriations issues. She also has six years’ experience working within and for municipalities on land use and redevelopment planning. A Wisconsin native, Kristina holds an M.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Science and B.A.’s from Boston University in International Relations and Environmental Analysis & Policy. During graduate school, she specialized in Water Policy & Economics while conducting urban beach ecosystem research in a lab that collaborates with NACWA member the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. Kristina can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and 202/833-4655. Please join NACWA in welcoming her!

Happy Holidays!