Clean Water Affordability Act - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make grants to states for the purpose of providing grants to municipalities for use in planning, designing, and constructing treatment works to intercept, transport, control, or treat municipal combined sewer overflows and sanitary sewer overflows and municipalities for such purposes. Requires states or the Administrator to give priority to financially distressed communities.
Requires the Administrator, no later than December 31, 2010, (currently, 2003) and periodically thereafter, to report to Congress on recommended funding levels for sewer overflow control grants.
Requires the Administrator to update the guidance entitled "Combined Sewer Overflows -- Guidance for Financial Capability Assessment and Schedule Development" dated February 1997, to ensure that the evaluations by the Administrator of financial capability assessment and schedule development meet specified criteria, including criteria used in assessing financial capability of a community to make investments necessary to make water quality-related improvements and in implementing water quality-related improvements.
Requires such updated guidance to indicate that it is appropriate for the reconsideration and modification of financial capability determinations and implementation schedules to be based on such criteria.
[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[S. 3443 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3443
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to update a program to
provide assistance for the planning, design, and construction of
treatment works to intercept, transport, control, or treat municipal
combined sewer overflows and sanitary sewer overflows, and to require
the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to update
certain guidance used to develop and determine the financial capability
of communities to implement clean water infrastructure programs.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
August 1, 2008
Mr. Voinovich (for himself and Mr. Brown) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment
and Public Works
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to update a program to
provide assistance for the planning, design, and construction of
treatment works to intercept, transport, control, or treat municipal
combined sewer overflows and sanitary sewer overflows, and to require
the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to update
certain guidance used to develop and determine the financial capability
of communities to implement clean water infrastructure programs.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Clean Water Affordability Act''.
SEC. 2. SEWER OVERFLOW CONTROL GRANTS.
(a) Sewer Overflow Control Grants.--Section 221 of the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1301) is amended by striking
subsections (a) through (g) and inserting the following:
``(a) Grants.--The Administrator may--
``(1) make grants to States for the purpose of providing
grants to a municipality or municipal entity for use in
planning, designing, and constructing treatment works to
intercept, transport, control, or treat municipal combined
sewer overflows and sanitary sewer overflows; and
``(2) make a grant directly to a municipality or municipal
entity for the purposes described in paragraph (1).
``(b) Prioritization.--In selecting from among municipalities
applying for grants under this section, a State or the Administrator
shall give priority to an applicant that is a financially distressed
community, as determined by the applicable State under subsection (c).
``(c) Determination.--In determining whether a community is a
distressed community for the purposes of subsection (b), a State shall
consider, among other factors, the criteria described in section
3(b)(2) of the Clean Water Affordability Act.
``(d) Cost-Sharing.--
``(1) Federal share.--The Federal share of the cost of any
project or activity carried out using funds from a grant made
under subsection (a) shall be not less than 75 percent.
``(2) Non-federal share.--The non-Federal share of the cost
of any project or activity carried out using funds from a grant
made under subsection (a) may include--
``(A) in any amount, public and private funds and
in-kind services; and
``(B) notwithstanding section 603, financial
assistance, including loans, from a State water
pollution control revolving fund.
``(e) Administrative Requirements.--
``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), a project that
receives grant assistance under subsection (a) shall be carried
out subject to the same requirements as a project that receives
assistance from a State water pollution control revolving fund
established pursuant to title VI.
``(2) Determination of governor.--The requirement described
in paragraph (1) shall not apply to a project that receives
grant assistance under subsection (a) to the extent that the
Governor of the State in which the project is located
determines that a requirement described in title VI is
inconsistent with the purposes of this section.
``(f) Funding.--
``(1) Authorization of appropriations.--There are
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section--
``(A) $250,000,000 for fiscal year 2009;
``(B) $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2010;
``(C) $350,000,000 for fiscal year 2011;
``(D) $400,000,000 for fiscal year 2012; and
``(E) $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2013.
``(2) Availability of amounts.--Amounts authorized to be
appropriated to carry out this section under paragraph (1)
shall remain available until expended.
``(g) Allocation of Funds.--
``(1) Fiscal year 2009.--For fiscal year 2009, subject to
subsection (h), the Administrator shall use the amounts
appropriated to carry out this section under subsection (f)(1)
to provide grants to municipalities and municipal entities
under subsection (a)(2) in accordance with the priority
criteria described in subsection (b).
``(2) Fiscal year 2010 and thereafter.--For fiscal year
2010 and each fiscal year thereafter, subject to subsection
(h), the Administrator shall use the amounts appropriated to
carry out this section under subsection (f)(1) to provide
grants to States under subsection (a)(1) in accordance with a
formula that--
``(A) shall be established by the Administrator,
after providing notice and an opportunity for public
comment; and
``(B) allocates to each State a proportional share
of the amounts based on the total needs of the State
for municipal combined sewer overflow controls and
sanitary sewer overflow controls, as identified in the
most recent survey--
``(i) conducted under section 210; and
``(ii) included in a report required under
section 516(a).''.
(b) Reports.--Section 221(i) of the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act (33 U.S.C. 1301(i)) is amended in the first sentence by striking
``2003'' and inserting ``2010''.
SEC. 3. UPDATING OF GUIDANCE.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
(2) Affordability.--The term ``affordability'' means, with
respect to payment of a utility bill, a measure of whether an
individual customer or household can pay the bill without undue
hardship or unreasonable sacrifice in the essential lifestyle
or spending patterns of the individual or household, as
determined by the Administrator.
(3) Financial capability.--The term ``financial
capability'' means the financial capability of a community to
make investments necessary to make water quality-related
improvements, taking into consideration the criteria described
in subsection (b)(2)(A).
(4) Guidance.--The term ``guidance'' means the guidance
published by the Administrator entitled ``Combined Sewer
Overflows--Guidance for Financial Capability Assessment and
Schedule Development'' and dated February 1997, as applicable
to combined sewer overflows and sanitary sewer overflows.
(b) Updating.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall update the
guidance to ensure that the evaluations by the Administrator of
financial capability assessment and schedule development meet
the criteria described in paragraph (2).
(2) Criteria.--The criteria described in this paragraph are
that, under the updated guidance--
(A) in assessing financial capability of a
community--
(i) greater emphasis should be placed on
local economic conditions;
(ii) for regional systems, consideration
should be given to the economic conditions of
political jurisdictions and significant
demographic groups within each region;
(iii) prescriptive formulas for use in
calculating financial capability and thresholds
for expenditure should not be considered to be
the only indicator of the financial capability
of a community;
(iv) site-specific local conditions should
be taken into consideration in analyzing
financial capability;
(v) a single measure of financial
capability or affordability (such as median
household income) should be viewed in the
context of other economic measures, rather than
as a threshold to be achieved; and
(vi)(I) consideration should be given to
the economic outlook of a community, including
the potential impact of program requirements
over time, in the development of implementation
schedules; and
(II) the assessment should take into
consideration other essential community
investments relating to water quality
improvements;
(B) with respect to the timing of implementation of
water quality-related improvements--
(i) environmental improvement
implementation schedules should be structured
to mitigate the potential adverse impact on
distressed populations resulting from the costs
of the improvements; and
(ii) implementation schedules should
reflect local community financial conditions
and economic impacts;
(C) with respect to implementation of
methodologies--
(i) a determination of local financial
capability may be achieved through an
evaluation of an array of factors the relative
importance of which may vary across regions and
localities; and
(ii) an appropriate methodology should give
consideration to such various factors as are
appropriate to recognize the prevailing and
projected economic concerns in a community; and
(D) the residential indicator should be revised to
include--
(i) a consideration of costs imposed upon
ratepayers for essential utilities;
(ii) increased consideration and
quantification of local community-imposed costs
in regional systems;
(iii) a mechanism to assess impacts on
communities with disparate economic conditions
throughout the entire service area of a
utility;
(iv) a consideration of the industrial and
population trends of a community;
(v) recognition that--
(I) the median household income of
a service area reflects a numerical
median rather than the distribution of
incomes within the service area; and
(II) more representative methods of
determining affordability, such as
shelter costs, essential utility
payments, and State and local tax
efforts, should be considered;
(vi) a consideration of low-income
ratepayer percentages; and
(vii) impacts relating to program delivery,
such as water quality infrastructure market
saturation and program management.
(3) Implementation.--The updated guidance should indicate
that, in a case in which a previously-approved long-term
control plan or associated enforceable agreement allows for
modification of the plan or terms of the agreement (including
financial capability considerations), and all parties are in
agreement that a change is needed or that the plan or agreement
contains a reopener provision to address changes in the
economic or financial status of the community since the
effective date of the plan or agreement, reconsideration and
modification of financial capability determinations and
implementation schedules based on the criteria described in
paragraph (2) is appropriate.
(c) Publication and Submission.--Upon completion of the updating of
guidance under subsection (b), the Administrator shall publish in the
Federal Register and submit to the Committee on Environment and Public
Works of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure of the House of Representatives the updated guidance.
(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this section.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
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