I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 692

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to provide additional

assistance to rural and disadvantaged communities under the State water

pollution control revolving loan fund program, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 26, 1995

Mr. CHAPMAN (for himself, Mrs. LINCOLN, Mr. MANTON, Mr. FAZIO, Mr.

FROST, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. WILSON, Mr. SKEEN, Mr. ROGERS, Mr.

EVANS, and Mr. HEFNER), 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 provide additional assistance to rural and disadvantaged

communities under the State water pollution control revolving loan fund program, 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 ‘‘Rural Community

5 Wastewater Treatment Affordability Act of 1995’’.
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1 SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY.

2 (a) ACQUISITION OF LANDS, EASEMENTS, AND

3 RIGHTS-OF-WAYS.—Sections 601(a) and 603(c) of the

4 Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1381(a)

5 and 1383(c)) are each amended by inserting before ‘‘(2)’’

6 the following: ‘‘including acquisition of lands, easements,

7 and rights-of-ways necessary for construction of a treat8 ment works,’’.

9 (b) RURAL NONPROFIT WATER ASSOCIATION.—Sec10 tion 603(c)(1) of such Act is amended by inserting ‘‘or

11 any nonprofit corporation, association, or district eligible

12 for assistance to provide wastewater treatment and water

13 supply services to communities under section 306(a)(1) of

14 the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7

15 U.S.C. 1926(a)(1))’’ after ‘‘State agency’’.

16 SEC. 3. CAPITALIZATION GRANT AGREEMENTS.

17 Section 602(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Con18 trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1382(b)) is amended—

19 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

20 (9);

21 (2) by striking the period at the end of para22 graph (10) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

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

24 ‘‘(11) the State will encourage the use of inno25 vative and cost-effective technologies in the construc-
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1 tion of treatment works financed with assistance

2 provided from the fund.’’.

3 SEC. 4. TYPES OF ASSISTANCE.

4 (a) LOAN PROGRAM.—Section 603(d)(1) of the Fed5 eral Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383(d)(1))

6 is amended—

7 (1) by inserting before the semicolon at the end

8 of subparagraph (A) the following: ‘‘and such loans

9 are made to rural and disadvantaged communities at

10 or below market interest rates, including interest

11 free loans and negative-interest loans (or the equiva12 lent of negative-interest loans), at terms not to ex13 ceed 40 years or the useful life of the project being

14 financed with the proceeds of the loan, whichever is

15 earlier’’;

16 (2) in subparagraph (B) by inserting after

17 ‘‘completion’’ the following: ‘‘and, in the case of

18 loans to rural and disadvantaged communities, at

19 terms not to exceed 40 years after completion of the

20 project or the useful life of the project, whichever is

21 earlier’’; and

22 (3) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) and

23 (D) as subparagraphs (D) and (E), respectively, and

24 inserting after subparagraph (B) the following:
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1 ‘‘(C) not to exceed 15 percent of all loans

2 made from the water pollution control revolving

3 fund after the date of the enactment of this

4 subparagraph will be used to make negative-in5 terest loans to rural and disadvantaged commu6 nities under this paragraph;’’.

7 (b) PLANNING GRANTS TO DISADVANTAGED COMMU8 NITIES.—Section 603(d) of such Act is further amended—

9 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

10 (6);

11 (2) by striking the period at the end of para12 graph (7) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

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

14 ‘‘(8) for making grants to rural and disadvan15 taged communities to pay not to exceed 75 percent

16 of planning and predevelopment costs incurred by

17 such communities with respect to construction or im18 provement of treatment works without regard to

19 whether or not actual construction of the project is

20 carried out; except that amounts available for mak21 ing such grants in any fiscal year shall not be less

22 than 1 percent, and shall not exceed 2 percent, of

23 the Federal grant awards to the water pollution con24 trol revolving fund in such fiscal year and except
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1 that the aggregate amount of such grants with re2 spect to any project shall not exceed $75,000.’’.

3 (c) DEFINITIONS.—Section 603 of such Act is further

4 amended by adding at the end the following new sub5 section:

6 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this title, the following defini7 tions apply:

8 ‘‘(1) RURAL AND DISADVANTAGED COMMU9 NITIES.—The term ‘rural and disadvantaged com10 munities’ means a service area of a publicly owned

11 treatment works as defined by the concerned State.

12 Except as otherwise provided by the Administrator,

13 the term shall not include a service area which has

14 a population of 10,000 or more as determined by the

15 latest decennial census of the United States and the

16 residents of which have a median household income

17 of more than 75 percent of the national median

18 household income as determined by such census.

19 ‘‘(2) NEGATIVE INTEREST LOAN.—The term

20 ‘negative-interest loan’ means a loan made by a

21 State from its water pollution control revolving fund

22 to a rural and disadvantaged community pursuant to

23 section 603(d)(1) under which the interest rate is

24 zero percent per year and, in addition, the State for25 gives an amount of the principal of the loan not to
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1 exceed 2 percent per year if the maximum total for2 giveness of principal does not exceed 20 percent of

3 the principal over the term of the loan.’’.

4 SEC. 5. ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.

5 Section 603(d)(7) of the Federal Water Pollution

6 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383(d)(7)) is amended by strik7 ing ‘‘except that’’ and all that follows through the period

8 and inserting ‘‘except that in a fiscal year such amounts

9 shall not exceed 4 percent of the total amount of funds

10 deposited into the fund in such fiscal year, including Fed11 eral and State funds and repayments of principal and in12 terest on loans made from the fund.’’.

13 SEC. 6. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.

14 (a) GRANT PROGRAM.—Title VI of the Federal

15 Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1381–1387) is

16 amended by adding at the end the following:

17 ‘‘SEC. 608. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM.

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may make

19 grants to the National Rural Water Association, the Rural

20 Community Assistance Program, and the Small Flows

21 Clearinghouse and any other appropriately qualified orga22 nizations as determined by the Administrator to provide

23 training and technical assistance to rural and disadvan24 taged communities with respect to the planning, construc25 tion, and operation of treatment works.
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1 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

2 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

3 $15,000,000 per fiscal year for each of fiscal years 1995

4 through 1999. Such funds shall remain available until ex5 pended.’’.

6 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 607 of

7 such Act (33 U.S.C. 1387) is amended by inserting

8 ‘‘(other than section 608)’’ after ‘‘title’’.

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