AMWA, along with other water sector associations and influential lawmakers on Capitol Hill, spent much of November urging a congressional conference committee to include a critical revision to the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) pilot program in the final version of a transportation policy bill that is expected to become law before the end of the year. A decision on whether the WIFIA language will be part of the final transportation bill could emerge before December 4, when a stopgap transportation policy extension is slated to expire.
Five water and wastewater sector organizations came together on November 9 to ask the leaders of the conference committee to put the WIFIA fix provision in the final transportation bill. The letter notes that the Senate’s original transportation policy proposal, which passed the chamber in July, would repeal a section of the WIFIA law that bans communities from funding water infrastructure projects with both WIFIA loans and tax-exempt debt such as municipal bonds. Many water and wastewater utilities across the country have warned that the new WIFIA program will be unworkable should the municipal bond restriction remain on the books.
According to the letter, leaving the WIFIA fix out of the final transportation bill would “represent a remarkable missed opportunity” as EPA plans to formally begin accepting WIFIA applications as early as next year.
Meanwhile, several individual members of Congress also spoke out in November in support of the WIFIA fix. Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) – one of the House’s leading WIFIA advocates and a member of the transportation conference committee – highlighted the issue in remarks delivered during a formal meeting of the transportation conference committee on November 18. Rep. Gibbs has been a consistent supporter of the WIFIA concept since its origination several years ago.
Also urging transportation conferees to help fix WIFIA this month were Reps. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) and Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.), who led a November 19 letter to conferees that expressed support for including the WIFIA fix in the final transportation bill. Curbelo and McNerney are also supporters of separate legislation to repeal WIFIA’s municipal bond financing restriction, and they attracted a total of 17 representatives to sign the letter to conferees.
The leaders of the conference committee are hoping to finalize the transportation policy bill before a short-term transportation authorization bill expires on December 4, but they have already missed several previous deadlines so another extension is quite possible. AMWA members who may wish to weigh in with their own representatives and senators in support of the WIFIA fix should contact Dan Hartnett at [email protected] and request a copy of AMWA’s sample letter on the issue.