II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1689 

To permit States to transfer certain funds from the clean water revolving 

fund of a State to the drinking water revolving fund of the State 

in certain circumstances, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 23 (legislative day, MAY 22), 2019 

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

to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To permit States to transfer certain funds from the clean 

water revolving fund of a State to the drinking water 

revolving fund of the State in certain circumstances, 

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. TRANSFER AUTHORITY. 

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

5 (1) lead is a toxic chemical that— 

6 (A) is particularly harmful to young chil7 dren; and 


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•S 1689 IS

1 (B) can cause reduced intelligence 

2 quotients, attention disorders, and other serious 

3 health problems; 

4 (2) excessive and harmful levels of lead have 

5 been found in water systems across all 50 States 

6 and those water systems serve drinking water to mil7 lions of people in the United States; 

8 (3) hundreds of the water systems described in 

9 paragraph (2) are water systems that provide drink10 ing water to schools or day care centers; 

11 (4) not all States have sufficient funds in the 

12 drinking water revolving fund of that State to ad13 dress the threat to public health from heightened ex14 posure to lead in drinking water; and 

15 (5) some States have available funds in the 

16 clean water revolving fund of that State that could 

17 be used to provide additional resources to help ad18 dress lead in drinking water. 

19 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

20 (1) CLEAN WATER REVOLVING FUND.—The 

21 term ‘‘clean water revolving fund’’ means a State 

22 water pollution control revolving fund established 

23 under title VI of the Federal Water Pollution Con24 trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1381 et seq.). 


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1 (2) DRINKING WATER REVOLVING FUND.—The 

2 term ‘‘drinking water revolving fund’’ means a State 

3 drinking water treatment revolving loan fund estab4 lished under section 1452 of the Safe Drinking 

5 Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–12). 

6 (c) AUTHORITY.—In addition to the transfer author7 ity in section 302(a) of the Safe Drinking Water Act 

8 Amendments of 1996 (42 U.S.C. 300j–12 note; Public 

9 Law 104–182), and notwithstanding section 1452(d) of 

10 the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–12(d)), 

11 during the 1-year period beginning on the date of enact12 ment of this Act, if a State, in consultation with the Ad13 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, de14 termines that available funds in the clean water revolving 

15 fund of the State are necessary to address a threat to pub16 lic health as a result of heightened exposure to lead in 

17 drinking water, the State may transfer an amount equal 

18 to not more than 5 percent of the cumulative clean water 

19 revolving fund Federal grant dollars to the State to the 

20 drinking water revolving fund of the State. Funds trans21 ferred pursuant to this subsection shall be used by the 

22 State to provide additional subsidy to eligible recipients 

23 in the form of forgiveness of principal, negative interest 

24 loans, or grants (or any combination of these). 

Æ 


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