October 2015 Legislative Update

This edition of NACWA’s Legislative Update, current through November 12, 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.

Legislative Perspectives – October 2015

The 114th Congress pulled itself back from the brink of disaster last month when the House Republican conference coalesced around Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan to become the next Speaker of the House following the resignation of former Representative John Boehner (R-OH). Mr. Ryan agreed to give up his chairmanship of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee to assume the Speakership and in doing so avoided what could have been a chaotic and disastrous end of year session. A tall legislative agenda faces Congress in these final four weeks before scheduled adjournment on December 18th. The to-do list includes concluding negotiations on an omnibus spending package to keep the federal government operating for the remainder of the 2016 fiscal year - which will involve discussions over controversial policy riders such as the Great Lakes sewer overflow legislation – and completing work on a six-year surface transportation reauthorization package.

Accomplishing these two tasks will not be easy, but the path forward has been cleared considerably by the budget agreement former Speaker Boehner negotiated before his last day in office, October 30th. This latest budget package included an agreement to lift the sequestration budget caps imposed by a budget deal negotiated in 2011 and provided Congressional appropriators higher spending levels with which to hammer out an omnibus appropriations package.

In negotiations over the budget deal, Democrats were insisting on higher spending limits for domestic discretionary programs, including programs administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), while Republicans insisted on higher spending levels for defense spending. Both sides got what they wanted. While final spending levels for key water related infrastructure investment programs remain unknown until a spending agreement is announced, they should be higher than proposed levels in the House and Senate Appropriations Committees packages which should bode well for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund Program.

But a key sticking point remains resolution over the 400+ policy riders inserted by Republicans in their proposed packages, including the policy rider requiring elimination of all combined sewer overflows to the Great Lakes. Democrats have announced their opposition to all policy riders, but it seems likely that at least some may be included as negotiations progress. Accordingly, NACWA and key stakeholders continue to work overtime to ensure the Great Lakes overflow language is not included in the year-end omnibus appropriations package. But as of today, there has not been resolution. NACWA therefore continues to urge its members to weigh-in with their Congressional delegations to urge them to oppose this policy rider that could potentially cost Great Lakes ratepayers upwards of $70 billion and set extremely dangerous precedent for the rest of the nation. Now is the time for the municipal community to unite and speak with one voice to ensure this rider does not become law.

– Pat Sinicropi, Senior Director of Legislative Affairs (Contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any comments or questions.)

Top Stories

NACWA, Great Lakes Communities Collaborate on Public Outreach; Association Continues Strong Advocacy Against Policy Rider

NACWA held a conference call in early October with over a dozen utilities in the Great Lakes region to discuss public outreach on the impacts of a Senate proposal that would eliminate combined sewer overflows (CSOs) to the Great Lakes. The controversial provision is included in the Senate’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 spending package pdf button

for the Environmental Protection Agency (Section 428). With the recent release of NACWA’s analysis pdf button

showing the collective price tag of the proposal would exceed $70 billion and a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editorial opposing this legislation, aggressive public outreach by Association members and other communities affected by this legislation is an important way to advance this advocacy message. Resolution of this policy rider is expected to be included in a final FY16 spending package that Congress is will likely complete by December 11th. It is unclear how this policy rider will be resolved, though Democrats vow to oppose all policy riders, including this one. NACWA and key stakeholders are working diligently on finding a resolution that preserves utilities’ commitments to control CSOs under the 1994 CSO Policy and that will not undermine the CSO Policy for utilities in the Great Lakes or nationwide.

NACWA has also been active in recent weeks pushing back against the rider on Capitol Hill, holding dozens of meeting with congressional offices and outlining the significant economic and policy concerns with the proposed legislation. Although there is still no clear resolution at this time, NACWA will continue to work diligently over the coming weeks to protect clean water utilities from such a massive unfunded federal mandate.

Transportation Bill May Include WIFIA Fix

The House of Representatives passed its proposed Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015 (H.R. 3763) on November 5th on a vote of 363-64. The legislation will now be the subject of a conference negotiation between the House and Senate. Enactment of the final package is expected before Congress adjourns for this session next month. The six-year reauthorization bill is a potential vehicle for a piece of legislation important to water and wastewater utilities related to the Water Infrastructure Financing Innovation Act (WIFIA).

NACWA, along with other water sector organizations, called pdf button

for H.R. 3756, the WIFIA Improvement Act, to be included in the transportation bill. The WIFIA Improvement Act would repeal the limitation that WIFIA loans cannot be used in conjunction with tax-exempt debt, which, if maintained, would greatly discourage the use of the WIFIA loan program for communities. Making this fix to WIFIA would allow communities to fund water and wastewater infrastructure projects through a combination of funding and financing sources to more effectively support local investments. While the House transportation package does not include a fix for WIFIA, the Senate transportation package does and NACWA anticipates that the provision will be accepted by the House during conference negotiations. In the meantime, Congress also approved a temporary transportation bill that included some good news for clean water utilities (see related article below).

Temporary Transportation Bill Extends Positive Train Control Deadline Extended to 2018

In an effort to buy time to complete a final transportation bill, Congress also passed a stopgap transportation measure in late October temporarily extending federal transportation funding until November 20. An extension for the deadline to implement positive train control (PTC) technology was included, providing the railroad industry three more years, until December 31, 2018, to comply. Many railroads were not on target to meet the previous December 31, 2015 deadline, which would have caused many rail services to shut down. This in turn would have created significant supply chain disruptions for many clean water utilities in receiving various chemicals necessary for the wastewater treatment process.

NACWA participated in joint letters pdf button

with other water associations urging an extension and is pleased that the PTC deadline extension was passed. This extension will ensure that the transportation of chemicals like chlorine and anhydrous ammonia that are critical to water and wastewater utilities will not be disrupted or halted.

Senate Debates Western Drought Bills

The Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee held a hearing in early October to discuss pending Western drought legislation in the Senate and House. Senators Feinstein and Boxer’s bill, S. 1894 pdf button

, and Representative Valadao’s bill, H.R. 2898 pdf button

, were the two main pieces of legislation examined by the Committee and witnesses. The Senate bill is focused on taking a watershed level approach to water management, while complying with environmental laws and investing in innovative approaches and technologies such as water reuse and recycling, and desalination, to increase the overall water supply. The House bill is more focused on reallocating water from environmental to human uses, capturing surface water for storage, and streamlining environmental regulations.

There was a strong sense of urgency as all of the Committee members and witnesses emphasized the need to move forward and take action to deal with the unprecedented drought in the West. Various concerns with both of the bills were brought up by the Members and witnesses, including that measures in the bills would instigate time-consuming and costly litigation. Concerns were also raised that some the proposals may not provide sufficient regulatory streamlining and flexibility. Despite the many differences, the panel found several points of agreement – the need to increase surface water storage, water recycling and reuse efforts, and desalination – that could be the starting points of a constructive dialogue.

NACWA has publicly supported pdf button

the Senate proposal through its participation in the Water Infrastructure Network (WIN), and also submitted comments for the record at the hearing emphasizing the important water reuse and recycling provisions that are included in the bill. The Senate may consider some version of drought legislation before the Thanksgiving holiday, which would then lead to conference negotiations with the House on a final legislative package. The Association will continue to track developments in the various Western drought-related legislation in Congress and provide strong support for the water reuse and recycling language in these bills.