The House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee could markup its version of a Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) before Congress breaks for the August recess, committee staff said recently. However, it remains undecided whether this measure will include a Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) or if the House WIFIA bill will receive its own committee vote.
WRDA has long been considered a logical vehicle on which to advance WIFIA, and the Senate attached a WIFIA pilot program to the WRDA bill (S. 601) it approved in May. Jurisdictional issues complicate the picture in the House of Representatives, however, as the House T&I Committee, which must approve WRDA, does not have authority over drinking water infrastructure legislation. This could lead T&I leaders to separate the proposals, so another committee’s consideration of WIFIA would not slow down the entire WRDA bill.
Congressional staff say no final decisions on the path forward have been made, but Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) plans to have a WIFIA bill drafted and ready for consideration alongside a WRDA bill before August. Gibbs’ draft is expected to echo the Senate version in focusing on projects exceeding $20 million and empowering EPA to select loan recipients. But Gibbs might not include the Senate bill’s limitation of WIFIA funding to 49 percent of a project’s cost or its prohibition on using tax-exempt bonds to pay for project costs not covered by WIFIA loans, items about which AMWA has expressed concerns.
In the meantime, AMWA members are encouraged to contact their congressional representatives in support of the WIFIA concept and share a new one-page outlinedeveloped by AMWA, AWWA and WEF. While outreach to all members of the House of Representatives would be useful, it would be particularly helpful to contact members of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee – the two panels that will have jurisdiction over a drinking water/wastewater WIFIA program.
If you have any questions, or would like a sample letter to use for outreach to members of Congress, contact AMWA’s Dan Hartnett at [email protected].