Water Infrastructure Bill Introduced in House, Combines Many AGC Priorities

On Tuesday, Congressman Rahall (D-W.V.), Congressman Bishop (D-N.Y.), Congressman LaTourette (R-Ohio) and Congressman Petri (R-Wisc.) introduced the “Water Quality Protection and Job Creation Act” (HR 3145). The bill includes Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund (CWSRF) reauthorization with language similar to many of the reauthorization bills of the last few Congresses. It does not yet include the drinking water SRF as the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the House only has wastewater jurisdiction. The bill would also establish a clean water trust fund for long term funding of water infrastructure, but does not identify revenue sources to populate that trust fund. Instead, the bill calls for a study to identify revenue sources. Finally, the bill creates a national water infrastructure loan guarantee program. AGC and our Water Infrastructure Network (WIN) Coalition partners have been involved with this legislation from the very early stages, and sent letters of support for the legislation in advance of the introduction. We are particularly pleased at the bipartisan introduction, as water infrastructure has traditionally been advance with strong bipartisan support. The affirmation that investment in water infrastructure is a time tested, bipartisan means for creating jobs bodes well for future support of water infrastructure investment. AGC will be actively recruiting new cosponsors for this legislation in the coming weeks and months. For more information, please contact Scott Berry at (703) 837-5321 or berrys@agc.org