II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1699

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to authorize appropriations for State water pollution control revolving funds, and for other

purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 6, 1999

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

referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

A BILL

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to authorize appropriations for State water pollution control

revolving funds, 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 ‘‘Clean Water Infra5 structure Financing Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR CAPITALIZATION

7 GRANTS.

8 Section 601(a) of the Federal Water Pollution Con9 trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1381(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘(1)
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1 for construction’’ and all that follows through the period

2 at the end and inserting ‘‘to accomplish the purposes of

3 this Act.’’.

4 SEC. 3. CAPITALIZATION GRANTS AGREEMENTS.

5 (a) REQUIREMENTS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF TREAT6 MENT WORKS.—Section 602(b)(6) of the Federal Water

7 Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1382(b)(6)) is

8 amended—

9 (1) by striking ‘‘before fiscal year 1995’’; and

10 (2) by striking ‘‘201(b)’’ and all that follows

11 through ‘‘218,’’ and inserting ‘‘211,’’.

12 (b) GUIDANCE FOR SMALL SYSTEMS.—Section 602

13 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C.

14 1382) is amended by adding at the end the following:

15 ‘‘(c) GUIDANCE FOR SMALL SYSTEMS.—

16 ‘‘(1) SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES.—Not later than

17 1 year after the date of enactment of this sub18 section, the Administrator shall assist the States in

19 establishing simplified procedures for small systems

20 to obtain assistance under this title.

21 ‘‘(2) PUBLICATION OF MANUAL.—Not later

22 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this sub23 section, and after providing notice and opportunity

24 for public comment, the Administrator shall publish

25 a manual to assist small systems in obtaining assist-
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1 ance under this title and publish in the Federal Reg2 ister notice of the availability of the manual.

3 ‘‘(3) DEFINITION OF SMALL SYSTEM.—In this

4 title, the term ‘small system’ means a system for

5 which a municipality or intermunicipal, interstate, or

6 State agency seeks assistance under this title and

7 that serves a population of 20,000 or fewer inhab8 itants.’’.

9 SEC. 4. WATER POLLUTION CONTROL REVOLVING FUNDS.

10 (a) ACTIVITIES ELIGIBLE FOR ASSISTANCE.—Sec11 tion 603 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33

12 U.S.C. 1383) is amended by striking subsection (c) and

13 inserting the following:

14 ‘‘(c) ACTIVITIES ELIGIBLE FOR ASSISTANCE.—

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The water pollution control

16 revolving fund of a State shall be used only for pro17 viding financial assistance for activities that have, as

18 a principal benefit, the improvement or protection of

19 the water quality of navigable waters to a munici20 pality, intermunicipal, interstate, or State agency, or

21 other person, including activities such as—

22 ‘‘(A) construction of a publicly owned

23 treatment works;

24 ‘‘(B) implementation of lake protection

25 programs and projects under section 314;
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1 ‘‘(C) implementation of a nonpoint source

2 management program under section 319;

3 ‘‘(D) implementation of a estuary con4 servation and management plan under section

5 320;

6 ‘‘(E) restoration or protection of publicly

7 or privately owned riparian areas, including ac8 quisition of property rights;

9 ‘‘(F) implementation of measures to im10 prove the efficiency of public water use;

11 ‘‘(G) development and implementation of

12 plans by a public recipient to prevent water pol13 lution; and

14 ‘‘(H) acquisition of land necessary to meet

15 any mitigation requirements related to con16 struction of a publicly owned treatment works.

17 ‘‘(2) FUND AMOUNTS.—

18 ‘‘(A) REPAYMENTS.—The water pollution

19 control revolving fund of a State shall be estab20 lished, maintained, and credited with repay21 ments.

22 ‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY.—The balance in the

23 fund shall be available in perpetuity for pro24 viding financial assistance described in para25 graph (1).
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1 ‘‘(C) FEES.—Fees charged by a State to

2 recipients of the assistance may be deposited in

3 the fund and may be used only to pay the cost

4 of administering this title.’’.

5 (b) EXTENDED REPAYMENT PERIOD FOR DISADVAN6 TAGED COMMUNITIES.—Section 603(d)(1) of the Federal

7 Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383(d)(1)) is

8 amended—

9 (1) in subparagraph (A), by inserting after ‘‘20

10 years’’ the following: ‘‘or, in the case of a disadvan11 taged community, the lesser of 40 years or the ex12 pected life of the project to be financed with the pro13 ceeds of the loan’’; and

14 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘not later

15 than 20 years after project completion’’ and insert16 ing ‘‘on the expiration of the term of the loan’’.

17 (c) LOAN GUARANTEES FOR INNOVATIVE TECH18 NOLOGY.—Section 603(d) of the Federal Water Pollution

19 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383(d)) is amended by striking

20 paragraph (5) and inserting the following:

21 ‘‘(5) to provide loan guarantees for—

22 ‘‘(A) similar revolving funds established by

23 municipalities or intermunicipal agencies; and

24 ‘‘(B) developing and implementing innova25 tive technologies;’’.
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1 (d) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Section 603(d)(7)

2 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C.

3 1383(d)(7)) is amended by inserting before the period at

4 the end the following: ‘‘or the greater of $400,000 per year

or an amount equal to 1 5 ⁄2 percent per year of the current

6 valuation of the fund, plus the amount of any fees col7 lected by the State under subsection (c)(2)(C)’’.

8 (e) TECHNICAL AND PLANNING ASSISTANCE FOR

9 SMALL SYSTEMS.—Section 603(d) of the Federal Water

10 Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383(d)) is amended—

11 (1) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the

12 end;

13 (2) in paragraph (7), by striking the period at

14 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

15 (3) by adding at the end the following:

16 ‘‘(8) to provide to small systems technical and

17 planning assistance and assistance in financial man18 agement, user fee analysis, budgeting, capital im19 provement planning, facility operation and mainte20 nance, repair schedules, and other activities to im21 prove wastewater treatment plant operations, except

22 that the amounts used under this paragraph for a

23 fiscal year shall not exceed 2 percent of all grants

24 provided to the fund for the fiscal year under this

25 title.’’.
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1 (f) CONSISTENCY WITH PLANNING REQUIRE2 MENTS.—Section 603(f) of the Federal Water Pollution

3 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383(f)) is amended by striking

4 ‘‘is consistent’’ and inserting ‘‘is not inconsistent’’.

5 (g) CONSTRUCTION ASSISTANCE.—Section 603 of the

6 Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383) is

7 amended by striking subsection (g) and inserting the fol8 lowing:

9 ‘‘(g) CONSTRUCTION ASSISTANCE.—

10 ‘‘(1) PRIORITY LIST REQUIREMENT.—The State

11 may provide financial assistance from the water pol12 lution control revolving fund of the State for a

13 project for construction of a publicly owned treat14 ment works only if the project is on the priority list

15 of the State under section 216, without regard to

16 the rank of the project on the list.

17 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBILITY OF CERTAIN TREATMENT

18 WORKS.—A treatment works shall be treated as a

19 publicly owned treatment works for purposes of sub20 section (c) if the treatment works, without regard to

21 ownership, would be considered a publicly owned

22 treatment works and is principally treating munic23 ipal waste water or domestic sewage.’’.
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1 (h) INTEREST RATES.—Section 603 of the Federal

2 Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383) is amended

3 by adding at the end the following:

4 ‘‘(i) INTEREST RATES.—

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In any case in which a

6 State makes a loan under subsection (d)(1) to a dis7 advantaged community, the State may charge a neg8 ative interest rate of not to exceed 2 percent to re9 duce the unpaid principal of the loan.

10 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The aggregate amount of

11 all negative interest rate loans the State makes for

12 a fiscal year under paragraph (1) shall not exceed

13 20 percent of the aggregate amount of all loans

14 made by the State from the water pollution control

15 revolving fund for the fiscal year.

16 ‘‘(j) DEFINITION OF DISADVANTAGED COMMU17 NITY.—In this section, the term ‘disadvantaged commu18 nity’ means the service area of a publicly owned treatment

19 works with respect to which the average annual residential

20 sewage treatment charges for a user of the treatment

21 works meet affordability criteria established by the State

22 in which the treatment works is located (after providing

23 for public review and comment) in accordance with guide24 lines established by the Administrator in cooperation with

25 the States.’’.
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1 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 Section 607 of the Federal Water Pollution Control

3 Act (33 U.S.C. 1387) is amended by striking ‘‘the fol4 lowing sums:’’ and all that follows through the period at

5 the end of paragraph (5) and inserting ‘‘$3,000,000,000

6 for each of fiscal years 2001 through 2005.’’.

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