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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1687

To promote the effective and efficient use of Federal grant assistance provided

to State governments to carry out certain environmental programs and

activities, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 19 (legislative day, NOVEMBER 2), 1993

Mr. BINGAMAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

A BILL

To promote the effective and efficient use of Federal grant

assistance provided to State governments to carry out

certain environmental programs and activities, 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 ‘‘Environmental Flexible

5 Funding Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
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1 (1) the magnitude, causes, and interrelationship

2 of environmental pollution are far more significant

3 than previously estimated;

4 (2) because, in recent years, the requirements

5 under Federal law to address pollution have ex6 panded, State and local governments have greater

7 economic burdens in meeting the Federal require8 ments;

9 (3) the nature and extent of environmental

10 problems vary among and within States;

11 (4) Federal financial assistance to help remedi12 ate environmental pollution is limited;

13 (5) grant programs that are in effect on the

14 date of enactment of this Act are generally restricted

15 to funding specific categories of activities, without

16 regard to the particular conditions of individual

17 States or the relative importance of the activities

18 within a State; and

19 (6) a single program designed to deal with all

20 forms of environmental pollution within a geographic

21 area may be more effective than a number of pro22 grams that address specific components of pollution.

23 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to—
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1 (1) promote more effective and efficient use of

2 Federal, State, and local funds with respect to the

3 control of pollution;

4 (2) enable a State to adapt programs of Fed5 eral assistance to meet the particular environmental

6 needs of the State;

7 (3) help alleviate the impact of Federal require8 ments by enabling States to integrate and target

9 Federal assistance from a variety of funding sources

10 into a single program to address priority problems

11 if the integration of the assistance into the program

12 furthers the goals and objectives of the programs for

13 which the assistance was initially provided; and

14 (4) facilitate the funding of environmental pro15 grams that address multiple sources of pollution

16 within a geographic area.

17 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

18 As used in this Act:

19 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis20 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ21 mental Protection Agency.

22 (2) AREA OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN.—The

23 term ‘‘area of environmental concern’’ includes air,

24 drinking water, pesticides, solid and hazardous
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1 waste, toxics, and water quality (as defined and de2 termined by the Administrator).

3 (3) ENVIRONMENTAL MEDIUM GRANT.—The

4 term ‘‘environmental medium grant’’ means a grant

5 made pursuant to the grant program established

6 under section 4(a).

7 (4) GOVERNOR OF A STATE.—The term ‘‘Gov8 ernor of a State’’ means the Governor of a State, or

9 if the State does not have a Governor, the equivalent

10 official of the State.

11 (5) INDIVIDUAL GRANT PROGRAM AUTHOR12 ITY.—The term ‘‘individual grant program author13 ity’’ means an individual grant program authority

14 described in section 4(a)(2). The term does not in15 clude any authority for a grant made to a State

16 for—

17 (A) capitalization for the establishment of

18 an environmental loan fund.

19 (6) MULTI-MEDIA ENVIRONMENTAL GRANT.—

20 The term ‘‘multi-media environmental grant’’ means

21 a grant made pursuant to the grant program estab22 lished under section 4(b).

23 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of

24 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Com25 monwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the
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1 Northern Mariana Islands, the United States Virgin

2 Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Republic of

3 the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micro4 nesia, and the Republic of Palau (until such time as

5 the Compact of Free Association is ratified). The

6 term shall include, to the extent allowable by law—

7 (A) an interstate agency that has jurisdic8 tion over 2 or more States and is established

9 pursuant to an agreement or compact that is

10 approved by Congress to carry out the control

11 of pollution (as defined and determined by the

12 Administrator); or

13 (B) an entity that is—

14 (i) established by a cooperative agree15 ment between 2 or more States to carry

16 out the control of pollution (as defined and

17 determined by the Administrator); and

18 (ii) approved by the Administrator.

19 (8) STATE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘State agency’’

20 means an entity of a State that is designated by the

21 Governor of a State as having primary responsibility

22 for carrying out the laws of the State relating to pol23 lution prevention, control, and abatement.

24 SEC. 4. GRANT PROGRAMS.

25 (a) ENVIRONMENTAL MEDIUM GRANTS.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—

2 (A) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—As

3 soon as practicable after the date of enactment

4 of this Act, the Administrator shall, in consulta5 tion with the Governors of States and by regu6 lation, establish an environmental medium

7 grant program. Notwithstanding any other pro8 vision of law, for each fiscal year, from the

9 amounts made available to the Administrator to

10 make grants to States under the individual

11 grant program authorities specified in para12 graph (2), the Administrator may make a con13 solidated grant to any State with respect to

14 which the Governor or the head of a State

15 agency submits an application that is approved

16 by the Administrator, in lieu of awarding the

17 funds as individual grants that would otherwise

18 be awarded to the State under the individual

19 grant program authorities specified in para20 graph (2), to fund eligible programs and activi21 ties relating to pollution prevention, control,

22 and abatement and related environmental ac23 tivities of a State.

24 (B) ADMINISTRATION BY STATE.—Except

25 as otherwise provided in this Act, in carrying
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1 out the consolidated grant program under this

2 subsection, a State may exercise the individual

3 authorities that the State may exercise under

4 the individual grant program authorities, and to

5 the extent required to carry out this Act, may

6 transfer authority to an appropriate State agen7 cy.

8 (C) USE OF GRANTS.—Under the grant

9 program, grants shall be awarded to address

10 the pollution prevention, control, and abatement

11 problems and related environmental problems of

12 one area of environmental concern on a state13 wide basis, in accordance with a priority work

14 plan that meets the requirements of paragraph

15 (4) and that is developed by the appropriate of16 ficial of the State pursuant to such paragraph.

17 (2) INDIVIDUAL GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORI18 TIES.—The individual grant program authorities

19 specified in this paragraph include the following

20 grant program authorities granted to States under

21 the following provisions of Federal environmental

22 law:

23 (A) AIR PROGRAMS.—Sections 103(b),

24 105, 106, and 112 of the Clean Air Act (42

25 U.S.C. 7403(b), 7405, 7406, and 7412, respec-
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1 tively) and section 306 of the Toxic Substances

2 Control Act (15 U.S.C. 2666).

3 (B) DRINKING WATER PROGRAMS.—Sec4 tions 1427, 1428, 1443, and 1465 of the Public

5 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300h–6, 300h–

6 7, 300j–2, and 300j–25, respectively).

7 (C) PESTICIDES.—Section 23 of the Fed8 eral Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act

9 (7 U.S.C. 136u).

10 (D) SOLID AND HAZARDOUS WASTE PRO11 GRAMS.—Sections 2007, 3011, and 4008 of the

12 Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6916,

13 6931, and 6948, respectively).

14 (E) TOXIC SUBSTANCES PROGRAMS.—Sec15 tions 10, 28, and 403 of the Toxic Substances

16 Control Act (15 U.S.C. 2609, 2627, and 2683,

17 respectively).

18 (F) WATER QUALITY.—Sections 104(b),

19 104(g), 106, 205(j), 314(b), 319, 320, and

20 604(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Control

21 Act (33 U.S.C. 1254(b), 1254(g), 1256,

22 1285(j), 1324(b), 1329, 1330, and 1384(b), re23 spectively).
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1 (G) OTHER PROVISIONS.—Any other relat2 ed provision of Federal environmental law that

3 the Administrator considers to be appropriate.

4 (3) APPLICATION.—An application submitted

5 pursuant to paragraph (1) by the Governor of a

6 State or the head of a State agency shall be in such

7 form, and contain such information, as the Adminis8 trator determines appropriate and shall, at a mini9 mum, include—

10 (A) a description of the programs and ac11 tivities to be carried out by the State with

12 funds made available under the grant that is

13 the subject of the application;

14 (B) a statement concerning how the pro15 grams and activities specified in subparagraph

16 (A) will promote the goals and objectives of the

17 priority work plan of the State developed pursu18 ant to paragraph (4);

19 (C) for each program or activity listed pur20 suant to subparagraph (A), a description of—

21 (i) the objectives of the program or

22 activity; and

23 (ii) measurable performance criteria

24 to be applied to the program or activity;
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1 (D) a statement of the proposed distribu2 tion of funds made available under the grant

3 among activities and programs, including an

4 order of priorities;

5 (E) a statement concerning how the dis6 tribution of funds of the State will adequately

7 address the requirements under the individual

8 grant authorities covered under the environ9 mental medium grant; and

10 (F) an identification of the State agency

11 that will—

12 (i) carry out the programs and activi13 ties specified in subparagraph (A);

14 (ii) monitor the use of funds made

15 available under the grant that is the sub16 ject of the application; and

17 (iii) report to the Administrator on

18 the use of the funds.

19 (4) PRIORITY WORK PLAN.—

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—As part of a grant ap21 plication, the Governor of the State or the head

22 of the State agency of the State shall submit a

23 priority work plan to the Administrator. The

24 priority work plan shall be for a period of 1 or

25 more years. The plan shall—
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1 (i) be developed—

2 (I) in accordance with guidance

3 issued by the Administrator pursuant

4 to subparagraph (B); and

5 (II) with appropriate public no6 tice and opportunity for review and

7 comment; and

8 (ii) include a description of—

9 (I) the environmental problems to

10 be addressed by the work plan;

11 (II) the proposed strategy of the

12 State to address the problems speci13 fied in subclause (I), including the

14 goals and objectives of the State relat15 ing to the strategy;

16 (III) priority actions to be taken

17 pursuant to the work plan; and

18 (IV) the expected outputs and re19 sults in terms of effects on the envi20 ronment to be accomplished pursuant

21 to the work plan.

22 (B) GUIDANCE.—As soon as practicable

23 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Ad24 ministrator shall issue guidance for priority
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1 work plans prepared pursuant to this para2 graph.

3 (5) ELIGIBLE PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES.—

4 Any program or activity that is eligible to receive

5 funding under a grant that would otherwise be

6 awarded to a State under individual grant program

7 authorities, but for this subsection, shall be consid8 ered to be an eligible program or activity for the

9 purposes of this subsection.

10 (6) AMOUNT OF GRANT.—The amount of a

11 grant awarded to a State under this subsection shall

12 not exceed the total amount of grants that would

13 otherwise be awarded to the State under individual

14 grant program authorities, but for this subsection.

15 (7) COST-SHARING.—

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any

17 other provision of law, including any require18 ment of individual grant program authorities

19 that would otherwise apply but for this sub20 section, the Federal share of each program or

21 activity that receives funding from a grant

22 awarded pursuant to this subsection shall not

23 exceed 50 percent of the cost of the program or

24 activity.
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1 (B) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—Except as

2 otherwise provided by law, as a condition of re3 ceiving a grant under this subsection, the State

4 shall pay a non-Federal share from non-Federal

5 sources.

6 (C) EXCESS CONTRIBUTIONS.—Any

7 amount of funds contributed from non-Federal

8 sources that is in excess of the non-Federal

9 share required to be contributed pursuant to

10 subparagraph (B) may not—

11 (i) be considered to be funds contrib12 uted pursuant to subparagraph (B); and

13 (ii) be subject to Federal auditing re14 quirements that would otherwise apply to

15 funds contributed pursuant to such sub16 paragraph.

17 (8) LIMITATIONS AND CONDITIONS ON USE OF

18 FUNDS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of

19 law, including any limitation or condition of the use

20 of funds under any individual grant program author21 ity that would otherwise apply but for this sub22 section, a State that receives a grant under this sub23 section may use funds made available pursuant to

24 this subsection for financial assistance to individuals

25 only to the extent that the assistance is related to
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1 the costs of eligible programs and activities. The Ad2 ministrator may not attach any other condition or

3 limitation to the use of the grant funds.

4 (9) SATISFACTORY PROGRESS.—With respect to

5 a State, the Administrator may reduce the amount

6 of a grant or disapprove a grant application submit7 ted pursuant to paragraph (3) if the Administrator

8 determines that—

9 (A) for a preceding fiscal year, the State

10 has failed to make satisfactory progress in

11 achieving the performance measures stated in

12 an application for a grant awarded to the State

13 under this subsection; and

14 (B) on the basis of information available to

15 the Administrator concerning the reliability and

16 achievability of the performance measures re17 ferred to in subparagraph (A), the measures

18 that the State failed to achieve are reliable and

19 achievable.

20 (10) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—Not later

21 than 120 days after the end of the 1-year period of

22 a grant made to a State pursuant to this subsection,

23 the appropriate official of the State agency specified

24 in paragraph (3)(F) shall submit to the Adminis25 trator a report on the principal activities and
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1 achievements of the State accomplished with funds

2 made available pursuant to the grant program under

3 this subsection. The report shall compare the

4 achievements referred to in the preceding sentence

5 to—

6 (A) the measurable performance criteria

7 described in the application of the State submit8 ted pursuant to paragraph (3); and

9 (B) the goals and objectives specified in

10 the priority work plan pursuant to paragraph

11 (4)(a)(II) and the expected results specified in

12 the priority work plan of the State pursuant to

13 paragraph (4)(a)(ii)(IV).

14 (b) MULTI-MEDIA ENVIRONMENTAL GRANT.—

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after

16 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator

17 shall, by regulation, establish a multi-media environ18 mental grant program. Notwithstanding any other

19 provision of law, the Administrator may make a

20 grant to each State that submits an application that

21 is approved by the Administrator to assist the State

22 in designing, developing, and carrying out pollution

23 prevention, control, and abatement programs and ac24 tivities and other related environmental programs
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1 and activities that affect 2 or more areas of environ2 mental concern.

3 (2) APPLICATIONS.—An application for a grant

4 under this subsection shall be made in the same

5 manner as prescribed under subsection (a)(3).

6 (3) PRIORITY WORK PLAN.—A priority work

7 plan submitted as part of an application made under

8 this subsection shall meet the requirements for a

9 priority work plan developed under subsection

10 (a)(4).

11 (4) ELIGIBLE PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES.—

12 The Administrator shall designate programs and ac13 tivities that shall be eligible to receive funding under

14 this subsection and shall include programs and ac15 tivities for—

16 (A) designing and conducting environ17 mental risk assessments;

18 (B) environmental education;

19 (C) enhancing the capacity of a State to

20 support environmental programs;

21 (D) enhancing the capacity of a State to

22 support a geographical approach to environ23 mental control programs and activities;

24 (E) promoting source reduction, including

25 activities authorized under section 6605 of the
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1 Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C.

2 13104); and

3 (F) pollution prevention, control, and

4 abatement.

5 (5) FEDERAL SHARE.—Except as otherwise

6 provided by law, the percentage amount of Federal

7 share of a grant awarded under this subsection shall

8 not exceed the amount specified in subsection

9 (a)(7)(A).

10 (6) SATISFACTORY PROGRESS.—Subsection

11 (a)(9) shall apply to a grant or application for a

12 grant made by a State under this subsection in the

13 same manner as such subsection applies to a grant

14 made under subsection (a).

15 (7) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—The report16 ing requirements under subsection (a)(10) shall

17 apply to the Governor of a State that receives a

18 grant under this subsection in the same manner as

19 the requirements apply to the Governor of a State

20 that receives a grant under subsection (a).

21 (c) GOVERNORS’ DISCRETIONARY AUTHORITY.—Not22 withstanding any other provision of law, on the request

23 of a Governor of a State, the Administrator may transfer

24 an amount not to exceed 20 percent of the amount that

25 would otherwise be awarded to the State pursuant to indi-
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1 vidual grant authorities or a grant to the State under sub2 section (a) or (b) and award the funds as a supplemental

3 amount that shall be subject to the same requirements as

4 any other amounts awarded pursuant to—

5 (1) a grant authorized under the individual

6 grant authorities specified in subsection (a)(2);

7 (2) an environmental medium grant awarded

8 pursuant to subsection (a); or

9 (3) a multi-media environmental grant awarded

10 pursuant to subsection (b).

11 (d) REQUEST FOR INFORMATION.—The Adminis12 trator may request such information, data, and reports as

13 the Administrator considers necessary to—

14 (1) review an application submitted under this

15 section for approval or disapproval;

16 (2) evaluate progress made under a grant

17 awarded pursuant to this section; or

18 (3) prepare a report that the Administrator is

19 required to prepare under section 5.

20 (e) NO REDUCTION IN AMOUNTS.—In no case shall

21 the award of a grant to a State pursuant to this section

22 result in a reduction of the total amount of funds awarded

23 by the Administrator to a State as grants for conducting

24 environmental programs and activities. Except as ex25 pressly provided otherwise, nothing in this section is in-
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1 tended to reduce or supplant the obligation of a State to

2 pay a non-Federal share of a grant awarded by the Admin3 istrator to the State for conducting an environmental pro4 gram or activity.

5 (f) APPLICABILITY.—This section shall apply begin6 ning with the first full fiscal year following the date of

7 issuance by the Administrator of the regulations establish8 ing an environmental medium grant program under sub9 section (a)(1).

10 SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

11 Not later than 5 years after the date of enactment

12 of this Act, the Administrator, in cooperation with the

13 States, shall submit a report to Congress concerning the

14 grant programs established under this Act. The report

15 shall include such recommendations for changes in the

16 grant programs as the Administrator considers appro17 priate.

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