The committee report that accompanied Republican House appropriators’ FY14 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies spending bill last week encouraged lawmakers and EPA to explore new water infrastructure funding mechanisms, including a Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA).
The language appeared on page 62 of the bill’s committee report – a nonbinding document explaining the rationale behind the majority’s allocation of FY14 funding. The report attempted to justify the proposed FY14 SRF cuts by noting the backlog of unobligated and unspent SRF dollars, but called the SRFs “an important yet insufficient tool” to address the nation’s water infrastructure needs. GOP members of the committee suggested EPA explore additional ways to fund water infrastructure (such as expanded public-private partnerships and private activity bonds) and expressed support for efforts “to enact WIFIA legislation, which would also complement SRF funds and open more doors to investment.”
The GOP’s report language does not recommend that WIFIA or other funding approaches should replace the SRFs, but suggests they could “increase [water infrastructure] investment in a complementary way” to existing programs.
In May the U.S. Senate approved a WIFIA pilot program as part of larger water resources legislation, and the House could consider a similar proposal as early as this fall.