A proposed “Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act” (WIFIA) was not included in a new water resources development bill introduced by House lawmakers last week, but AMWA and other WIFIA supporters are keeping up pressure on Congress to add the program to a later version of the legislation.
Last Wednesday, leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee unveiled H.R. 3080, the “Water Resources Reform and Development Act” (WRRDA). This bipartisan bill is focused on facilitating U.S. Army Corps of Engineers activities to maintain the nation’s port and waterways infrastructure and reducing red tape that often delays project approvals. The Senate approved its own version of the legislation this past May and also added a WIFIA pilot program that would offer low-interest loan assistance to communities carrying out large-scale water and wastewater infrastructure improvements. AMWA, along with the American Water Works Association and the Water Environment Federation, have been leading proponents of WIFIA.
While House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) supports WIFIA, the proposal has raised concerns among other committee members that WIFIA might negatively impact future appropriations for the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs). However, Gibbs has indicated he may soon introduce a stand-alone WIFIA bill in the House and plans to work to include a version of the program in the final WRRDA bill that House and Senate negotiators will attempt to hammer out in the coming months.
While a version of WIFIA did pass the Senate earlier this year, worries about the program’s potential impact on SRF funding have emerged as one of its most significant challenges on Capitol Hill. Last month, for example, a workgroup of state SRF administrators wrote to Senators warning that a new WIFIA could “impede the SRFs’ ability to support adequate infrastructure needs.” In a response sent to members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last week, AMWA, AWWA and WEF sought to address these fears by explaining WIFIA is intended to complement, not compete with the SRFs. WIFIA “will notinterfere in any way with states’ ability to direct SRF funds as they see fit to qualifying water and wastewater projects,” the organizations said, “but it will establish a new funding opportunity for large infrastructure projects that are unlikely to receive SRF funding.”
The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee could mark up WRRDA as early as this Thursday, and a vote on the House floor is expected later this fall. Assuming no roadblocks, this could set up a House-Senate conference – and an ultimate decision on the inclusion of WIFIA – by the end of the year.