Beyond SRF funding levels and caps on tax-exempt municipal bond interest, the hundreds of pages of President Obama’s FY15 budget request include several other items of interest to the water community:
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A new $1 billion “climate resilience fund” to support climate change research, the development of new technologies and climate-resilient infrastructure, and helping communities plan and prepare for the local effects of climate change. Funding for the initiative would be spread across multiple agencies including EPA, DHS and the Agriculture Department.
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$4.5 billion for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, $934 million below its FY14 funding level. This includes $1.1 billion for construction “with an emphasis on projects that provide high economic and environmental returns … or address a significant risk to public safety.”
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$5.5 billion for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), about $200 million above its FY14 appropriation. This includes $2 billion for NOAA’s next generation of weather satellite systems, as well as satellite-borne sea level measurements.
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Eliminating the state volume cap on private activity bonds used to finance water and wastewater infrastructure, and establishing a new America Fast Forward (AFF) bond program. Similar to the expired Build America Bond program, interest on AFF bonds would be taxable, but the government would offer issuers a subsidy equal to 28% of their interest costs. The bonds could be used to finance a variety of governmental capital projects.
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A reiteration of Obama’s previous calls for a $10 billion National Infrastructure Bank that “will have the ability to leverage private and public capital” for transportation, water and energy infrastructure projects that are of “national and regional significance.”
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$1.1 billion for the Bureau of Reclamation, down $116 million from its 2014 enacted level. This includes $52.1 million for WaterSMART programs and $21.5 million for the Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse Program.
Many of the President’s proposals, such as the climate resilience fund and the national infrastructure bank, are expected to be dead on arrival in Congress. Lawmakers will now devise their own FY15 budget plans and then begin the work of developing appropriations legislation for FY16.