I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3668 

To require recipients of assistance for certain water infrastructure projects 

to provide job training, apprenticeships, and other employment opportunities for low-income persons and very low-income persons, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 1, 2021 

Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to 

the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently 

determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require recipients of assistance for certain water infrastructure projects to provide job training, apprenticeships, and other employment opportunities for low-income persons and very low-income persons, 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 ‘‘Ensuring Water In5 vestments Benefit Communities Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 The Congress finds that— 

3 (1) Federal water infrastructure investments 

4 provide State and local governments and other re5 cipients of Federal financial assistance with substan6 tial support for activities that produce significant 

7 employment and other economic opportunities; 

8 (2) low-income persons and very low-income 

9 persons, who live in the areas in most need of such 

10 investments, often have restricted access to employ11 ment and other economic opportunities; 

12 (3) the employment and other economic oppor13 tunities generated by projects and activities that re14 ceive Federal water infrastructure investments offer 

15 an effective means of empowering low-income per16 sons and very low-income persons, particularly those 

17 who live in the areas where these funds are being 

18 used to improve water infrastructure; and 

19 (4) Federal efforts to invest in water infrastruc20 ture should also help create employment and other 

21 economic opportunities for low-income persons and 

22 very low-income persons in areas where these 

23 projects are taking place. 


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1 SEC. 3. EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AT WATER INFRA2 STRUCTURE PROJECTS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Envi4 ronmental Protection Agency shall require a covered enti5 ty, to the greatest extent feasible, and consistent with ex6 isting Federal, State, and local laws and regulations, to 

7 provide job training, apprenticeships, and other employ8 ment opportunities on a covered project for low-income 

9 persons and very low-income persons in the area in which 

10 the covered project is located, and to business concerns 

11 that provide employment opportunities to low-income per12 sons and very low-income persons. 

13 (b) PRIORITY.—In carrying out subsection (a), the 

14 Administrator shall require a covered entity to provide job 

15 training, apprenticeships, and other employment opportu16 nities in the following order of priority: 

17 (1) To low-income persons and very low-income 

18 persons residing within the service area of the cov19 ered project or the neighborhood in which the cov20 ered project is located. 

21 (2) To low-income persons and very low-income 

22 persons residing within the metropolitan area (or 

23 nonmetropolitan county) in which the covered assist24 ance is expended. 

25 (3) To residents of an area described in para26 graph (1) or (2) who are provided any assistance 


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1 under a means-tested program administered by a 

2 Federal agency, including housing, supplemental nu3 trition, and temporary needy family assistance. 

4 (4) To participants in YouthBuild programs 

5 under section 171 of the Workforce Innovation and 

6 Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3226) or the Job Corps 

7 program under subtitle C of title I of such Act (29 

8 U.S.C. 3191 et seq.). 

9 (c) STATE PLANS AND REPORTS.—With respect to 

10 a covered entity that is a State, the Administrator shall 

11 require the State to— 

12 (1) submit to the Administrator for approval a 

13 plan for carrying out the requirements of this sec14 tion; and 

15 (2) annually submit to the Administrator a re16 port containing data on job training, apprenticeship, 

17 employment, and contract opportunities created in 

18 the State pursuant to this section, including, for 

19 each covered project carried out by the State or for 

20 which covered assistance is provided by the State— 

21 (A) how many jobs and other opportunities 

22 were created to comply with this section; 

23 (B) the total of amount of covered assist24 ance used on the covered project; and 


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1 (C) the amount of covered assistance used 

2 to hire low-income persons and very low-income 

3 persons to comply with this section. 

4 (d) REGULATIONS.— 

5 (1) DEADLINE.—Not later than 180 days after 

6 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 

7 shall issue regulations to implement this section. 

8 (2) APPLICATION DATE.—The regulations 

9 issued under paragraph (1) shall apply to covered 

10 assistance made available beginning in the first full 

11 fiscal year following the date of enactment of this 

12 Act. 

13 (3) COMPLAINT PROCESS.—The Administrator 

14 shall include in the regulations issued under para15 graph (1) a process by which affected persons or en16 tities may file a complaint alleging a violation of this 

17 section. 

18 (e) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out this section, the 

19 Administrator shall consult with the Secretary of Labor, 

20 the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Sec21 retary of Commerce, the Secretary of Housing and Urban 

22 Development, the Secretary of Transportation, the Admin23 istrator of the Small Business Administration, and such 

24 other Federal agencies as the Administrator determines 

25 are necessary. 


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1 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis3 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ4 mental Protection Agency. 

5 (2) APPRENTICESHIP.—The term ‘‘apprentice6 ship’’ means an apprenticeship registered under the 

7 Act of August 16, 1937 (commonly known as the 

8 ‘‘National Apprenticeship Act’’; 50 Stat. 664, chap9 ter 663; 29 U.S.C. 50 et seq.). 

10 (3) BUSINESS CONCERN THAT PROVIDES ECO11 NOMIC OPPORTUNITIES.—The term ‘‘business con12 cern that provides economic opportunities’’ has the 

13 meaning given such term in section 3 of the Housing 

14 and Urban Development Act of 1968 (12 U.S.C. 

15 1701u). 

16 (4) COVERED ASSISTANCE.—The term ‘‘covered 

17 assistance’’ means financial assistance provided 

18 under or pursuant to section 1452 of the Safe 

19 Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–12), title VI of 

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

21 1381 et seq.), or the Water Infrastructure Finance 

22 and Innovation Act of 2014 (33 U.S.C. 3901 et 

23 seq.). 

24 (5) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en25 tity’’ means— 


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1 (A) an entity that receives covered assist2 ance; and 

3 (B) a contractor or subcontractor of such 

4 entity with respect to a covered project. 

5 (6) COVERED PROJECT.—The term ‘‘covered 

6 project’’ means a project for which an entity receives 

7 covered assistance. 

8 (7) LOW-INCOME PERSON; VERY LOW-INCOME

9 PERSON.—The terms ‘‘low-income person’’ and 

10 ‘‘very low-income person’’ have the same meanings 

11 given the terms ‘‘low-income families’’ and ‘‘very 

12 low-income families’’, respectively, in section 3(b) of 

13 the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 

14 1437a(b)). 

Æ 


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