I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4352 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to authorize additional 

assistance for projects to construct publicly owned treatment works that 

serve small and disadvantaged communities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 16, 2009 

Mr. MCCARTHY of California introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to authorize additional assistance for projects to construct 

publicly owned treatment works that serve small and 

disadvantaged communities, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small and Rural Com5 munities Wastewater Infrastructure Act’’. 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 4352 IH

1 SEC. 2. PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS SERVING 

2 SMALL AND DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES. 

3 Title VI of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 

4 (33 U.S.C. 1381 et seq.) is amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating section 607 as section 608; 

6 and 

7 (2) by inserting after section 606 the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 607. PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS SERVING 

9 SMALL AND DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES. 

10 ‘‘(a) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS FOR SMALL TREAT11 MENT WORKS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Of the funds received by a 

13 State in capitalization grants under this title for a 

14 fiscal year— 

15 ‘‘(A) not less than 5 percent shall be used 

16 to provide assistance to publicly owned treat17 ment works that regularly serve 5,000 or fewer 

18 persons, to the extent that there are sufficient 

19 applications for such assistance; 

20 ‘‘(B) not less than 10 percent shall be used 

21 to provide assistance to publicly owned treat22 ment works that regularly serve between 5,001 

23 and 20,000 persons, to the extent that there 

24 are sufficient applications for such assistance; 

25 and 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 4352 IH

1 ‘‘(C) not less than 15 percent shall be used 

2 to provide assistance to publicly owned treat3 ment works that regularly serve between 20,001 

4 and 50,000 persons, to the extent that there 

5 are sufficient applications for such assistance. 

6 ‘‘(2) USE OF FUNDS IN OTHER CATEGORIES.— 

7 If a State is not able to use an amount of funds to 

8 provide assistance to publicly owned treatment works 

9 in accordance with paragraph (1)(A), (1)(B), or 

10 (1)(C) because there are not sufficient applications, 

11 the State, to the maximum extent practicable, shall 

12 use that amount of funds to provide assistance for 

13 another purpose specified in paragraph (1). 

14 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION ON STATUTORY CONSTRUC15 TION.—Nothing in paragraph (1)(A), (1)(B), or 

16 (1)(C) shall be construed to limit the amount of 

17 funds received by a State in capitalization grants 

18 under this title that may be used by the State for 

19 the purposes described in that paragraph. 

20 ‘‘(b) PRECONSTRUCTION ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL

21 TREATMENT WORKS.— 

22 ‘‘(1) AUTHORITY TO MAKE PRELOANS.—Not23 withstanding any other provision of this title, a 

24 State may use funds received in capitalization grants 

25 under this title for making preloans to eligible recipiVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:06 Dec 19, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4352.IH H4352

jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 4352 IH

1 ents in accordance with the requirements of this 

2 subsection. 

3 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE USES OF PRELOANS.—A preloan 

4 received by an eligible recipient under this sub5 section may be used for the following costs incurred 

6 in connection with an eligible project: 

7 ‘‘(A) Project development. 

8 ‘‘(B) Environmental studies. 

9 ‘‘(C) Legal and administrative expenses. 

10 ‘‘(D) Project design. 

11 ‘‘(E) Such other costs as the Adminis12 trator determines appropriate, as prescribed by 

13 regulation. 

14 ‘‘(3) INELIGIBLE USE.—A preloan received by 

15 an eligible recipient under this subsection may not 

16 be used for costs related to land acquisition. 

17 ‘‘(4) MAXIMUM INDIVIDUAL PRELOAN

18 AMOUNT.—The amount of a preloan made under 

19 this subsection in connection with an eligible project 

20 may not exceed 10 percent of the estimated cost of 

21 the project. 

22 ‘‘(5) MAXIMUM AGGREGATE PRELOAN

23 AMOUNT.—Not to exceed 15 percent of the funds re24 ceived by a State in capitalization grants under this 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 4352 IH

1 title for a fiscal year may be used to provide 

2 preloans under this subsection. 

3 ‘‘(6) REPAYMENT OF PRELOANS.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of re5 payment, a preloan made to an eligible recipient 

6 in connection with an eligible project shall be 

7 treated as part of the principal amount of the 

8 primary loan made by the State for the project. 

9 Except as provided by subparagraph (B), re10 payment of preloan amounts shall not be re11 quired until payments begin for the primary 

12 loan amount and interest on preloan amounts 

13 shall not begin to accrue until interest begins to 

14 accrue on the primary loan amount. 

15 ‘‘(B) DEADLINE FOR PRIMARY LOAN AP16 PLICATION.— 

17 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If an eligible re18 cipient under this subsection in connection 

19 with an eligible project does not apply for 

20 a primary loan for the project in the 3- 

21 year period beginning on the date of 

22 issuance of the preloan, the State may re23 quire, at the discretion of the State, repay24 ment of the preloan with interest. 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 4352 IH

1 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTIONS.—A State shall not 

2 impose a penalty under clause (i) on an eli3 gible recipient that receives a preloan for 

4 an eligible project, if the State determines 

5 that the eligible recipient did not comply 

6 with the 3-year deadline established by 

7 clause (i) due to— 

8 ‘‘(I) a delay in environmental re9 views conducted by a Federal or State 

10 agency; or 

11 ‘‘(II) insufficient funds in the 

12 State’s water pollution control revolv13 ing fund established under this title 

14 for the State to make a primary loan 

15 for the project. 

16 ‘‘(7) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the fol17 lowing definitions apply: 

18 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE PROJECT.—The term ‘eligi19 ble project’ means a project eligible for assist20 ance under section 603(c)(1) for construction of 

21 a public owned treatment works that will regu22 larly serve 50,000 or fewer persons. 

23 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT.—The term ‘el24 igible recipient’ means a municipality or interVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:06 Dec 19, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4352.IH H4352

jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 4352 IH

1 municipal, interstate, or State agency seeking 

2 assistance for an eligible project. 

3 ‘‘(C) PRELOAN.—The term ‘preloan’ 

4 means financial assistance provided by a State 

5 from the State’s water pollution control revolv6 ing loan fund established under this title for an 

7 eligible project before approval of a primary 

8 loan for the project. 

9 ‘‘(D) PRIMARY LOAN.—The term ‘primary 

10 loan’ means a loan made by a State from the 

11 State’s water pollution control revolving loan 

12 fund under this title for an eligible project after 

13 a preloan is made for that project. 

14 ‘‘(c) ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR DISADVANTAGED

15 COMMUNITIES.— 

16 ‘‘(1) CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION OF DIS17 ADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES.—The Governor of a 

18 State, after providing an opportunity for public re19 view and comment, may establish criteria to des20 ignate disadvantaged communities that— 

21 ‘‘(A) have a population of 50,000 persons 

22 or fewer; and 

23 ‘‘(B) would experience a significant hard24 ship raising the revenue necessary to finance a 

25 project eligible for assistance under section 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 4352 IH

1 603(c)(1) if assistance is not provided under 

2 this subsection. 

3 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In any case in which 

5 a State provides loan assistance to a munici6 pality or intermunicipal, interstate, or State 

7 agency for a project under section 603(d), the 

8 State may provide additional assistance in con9 nection with the loan if the project is to benefit 

10 a disadvantaged community identified by the 

11 State using the criteria developed under para12 graph (1). 

13 ‘‘(B) TYPES OF ADDITIONAL ASSIST14 ANCE.—Additional assistance under subpara15 graph (A) shall consist of— 

16 ‘‘(i) forgiveness of all or a portion of 

17 the principal of the loan; 

18 ‘‘(ii) not requiring or reducing interest 

19 to be paid in connection with the loan; 

20 ‘‘(iii) extending the loan repayment 

21 period to not to exceed 30 years; or 

22 ‘‘(iv) any combination thereof.’’. 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 4352 IH

1 SEC. 3. APPLICATION PROCESS REFORM. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the 

3 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 

4 Environmental Protection Agency shall— 

5 (1) consult with States, utilities, nonprofit orga6 nizations, and other Federal agencies providing fi7 nance assistance to identify ways to expedite and im8 prove the application and review process for obtain9 ing financing from a State water pollution control 

10 revolving loan fund under title VI of the Federal 

11 Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1381 et 

12 seq.); and 

13 (2) take such administrative actions as the Ad14 ministrator determines appropriate to expedite and 

15 improve the process. 

16 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 3 years 

17 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 

18 shall submit to Congress a report that contains rec19 ommendations to further expedite and improve the appli20 cation and review process referred to in subsection (a)(1), 

21 including recommendations for any legislative actions that 

22 may be needed. 

Æ 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS