I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3292 

To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to 

carry out a residential emergency relief program to provide payment 

assistance for households to retain water service, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 18, 2021 

Mrs. DINGELL (for herself, Ms. TLAIB, and Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 

and Commerce 

A BILL 

To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to carry out a residential emergency relief 

program to provide payment assistance for households 

to retain water service, 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 ‘‘Water Debt Relief Act 

5 of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EMERGENCY RELIEF PROGRAM. 

2 Part F of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 

3 300j–21 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing new section: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 1466. EMERGENCY RELIEF PROGRAM. 

6 ‘‘(a) EMERGENCY RELIEF PROGRAM.—The Adminis7 trator shall establish and carry out a residential emer8 gency relief program to provide payments to public water 

9 systems to reimburse such public water systems for pro10 viding forgiveness of arrearages and fees incurred by eligi11 ble residential customers before the date of enactment of 

12 this section to help such eligible residential customers re13 tain water service. 

14 ‘‘(b) CONDITIONS.—To receive funds under this sec15 tion, a public water system shall agree to— 

16 ‘‘(1) except as provided in paragraph (2), use 

17 such funds to forgive all arrearages and fees relating 

18 to nonpayment or arrearages incurred by eligible 

19 residential customers before the date of enactment 

20 of this section; 

21 ‘‘(2) if forgiveness of all arrearages and fees de22 scribed in paragraph (1) is not possible given the 

23 amount of funds received, use such funds to reduce 

24 such arrearages and fees for each eligible residential 

25 customer by, to the extent practicable, a consistent 

26 percentage; 


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1 ‘‘(3) take no action that negatively affects the 

2 credit score of an eligible residential customer, or 

3 pursue any type of collection action against such eli4 gible residential customer, during the 5-year period 

5 that begins on the date on which the public water 

6 system receives such funds; and 

7 ‘‘(4) not disconnect or interrupt the service of 

8 any eligible residential customer as a result of non9 payment or arrearages during such 5-year period. 

10 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE CUSTOMERS.—To be eligible for for11 giveness or reduction of arrearages and fees pursuant to 

12 the program established under subsection (a), a residential 

13 customer of a public water system shall have accrued new 

14 arrearages on or after March 1, 2020. 

15 ‘‘(d) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—The Adminis16 trator may authorize— 

17 ‘‘(1) States to implement the program estab18 lished under subsection (a); and 

19 ‘‘(2) a State implementing such program to use 

20 up to 4 percent of funds made available to carry out 

21 such program in such State for administrative ex22 penses. 


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1 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

3 $4,000,000,000, to remain available until expended.’’. 

Æ 


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