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 re-
ferred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to pro-
vide additional assistance to rural and disadvantaged
communities under the State water pollution control re-
volving loan fund program, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rural Community
Wastewater Treatment Affordability Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY.
(a) ACQUISITION
OF
LANDS, EASEMENTS, AND
RIGHTS-OF-WAYS.—Sections 601(a) and 603(c) of the
Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1381(a)
and 1383(c)) are each amended by inserting before ‘‘(2)’’
the following: ‘‘including acquisition of lands, easements,
and rights-of-ways necessary for construction of a treat-
ment works,’’.
(b) RURAL NONPROFIT WATER ASSOCIATION.—Sec-
tion 603(c)(1) of such Act is amended by inserting ‘‘or
any nonprofit corporation, association, or district eligible
for assistance to provide wastewater treatment and water
supply services to communities under section 306(a)(1) of
the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7
U.S.C. 1926(a)(1))’’ after ‘‘State agency’’.
SEC. 3. CAPITALIZATION GRANT AGREEMENTS.
Section 602(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Con-
trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1382(b)) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph
(9);
(2) by striking the period at the end of para-
graph (10) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(11) the State will encourage the use of inno-
vative and cost-effective technologies in the construc-
tion of treatment works financed with assistance
provided from the fund.’’.
SEC. 4. TYPES OF ASSISTANCE.
(a) LOAN PROGRAM.—Section 603(d)(1) of the Fed-
eral Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383(d)(1))
is amended—
(1) by inserting before the semicolon at the end
of subparagraph (A) the following: ‘‘and such loans
are made to rural and disadvantaged communities at
or below market interest rates, including interest
free loans and negative-interest loans (or the equiva-
lent of negative-interest loans), at terms not to ex-
ceed 40 years or the useful life of the project being
financed with the proceeds of the loan, whichever is
earlier’’;
(2) in subparagraph (B) by inserting after
‘‘completion’’ the following: ‘‘and, in the case of
loans to rural and disadvantaged communities, at
terms not to exceed 40 years after completion of the
project or the useful life of the project, whichever is
earlier’’; and
(3) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) and
(D) as subparagraphs (D) and (E), respectively, and
inserting after subparagraph (B) the following:
‘‘(C) not to exceed 15 percent of all loans
made from the water pollution control revolving
fund after the date of the enactment of this
subparagraph will be used to make negative-in-
terest loans to rural and disadvantaged commu-
nities under this paragraph;’’.
(b) PLANNING GRANTS TO DISADVANTAGED COMMU-
NITIES.—Section 603(d) of such Act is further amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph
(6);
(2) by striking the period at the end of para-
graph (7) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(8) for making grants to rural and disadvan-
taged communities to pay not to exceed 75 percent
of planning and predevelopment costs incurred by
such communities with respect to construction or im-
provement of treatment works without regard to
whether or not actual construction of the project is
carried out; except that amounts available for mak-
ing such grants in any fiscal year shall not be less
than 1 percent, and shall not exceed 2 percent, of
the Federal grant awards to the water pollution con-
trol revolving fund in such fiscal year and except
that the aggregate amount of such grants with re-
spect to any project shall not exceed $75,000.’’.
(c) DEFINITIONS.—Section 603 of such Act is further
amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this title, the following defini-
tions apply:
‘‘(1) RURAL
AND
DISADVANTAGED
COMMU-
NITIES.—The term ‘rural and disadvantaged com-
munities’ means a service area of a publicly owned
treatment works as defined by the concerned State.
Except as otherwise provided by the Administrator,
the term shall not include a service area which has
a population of 10,000 or more as determined by the
latest decennial census of the United States and the
residents of which have a median household income
of more than 75 percent of the national median
household income as determined by such census.
‘‘(2) NEGATIVE
INTEREST
LOAN.—The term
‘negative-interest loan’ means a loan made by a
State from its water pollution control revolving fund
to a rural and disadvantaged community pursuant to
section 603(d)(1) under which the interest rate is
zero percent per year and, in addition, the State for-
gives an amount of the principal of the loan not to
exceed 2 percent per year if the maximum total for-
giveness of principal does not exceed 20 percent of
the principal over the term of the loan.’’.
SEC. 5. ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.
Section 603(d)(7) of the Federal Water Pollution
Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383(d)(7)) is amended by strik-
ing ‘‘except that’’ and all that follows through the period
and inserting ‘‘except that in a fiscal year such amounts
shall not exceed 4 percent of the total amount of funds
deposited into the fund in such fiscal year, including Fed-
eral and State funds and repayments of principal and in-
terest on loans made from the fund.’’.
SEC. 6. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.
(a) GRANT PROGRAM.—Title VI of the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1381–1387) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘SEC. 608. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may make
grants to the National Rural Water Association, the Rural
Community Assistance Program, and the Small Flows
Clearinghouse and any other appropriately qualified orga-
nizations as determined by the Administrator to provide
training and technical assistance to rural and disadvan-
taged communities with respect to the planning, construc-
tion, and operation of treatment works.
‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There
is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section
$15,000,000 per fiscal year for each of fiscal years 1995
through 1999. Such funds shall remain available until ex-
pended.’’.
(b) CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—Section 607 of
such Act (33 U.S.C. 1387) is amended by inserting
‘‘(other than section 608)’’ after ‘‘title’’.
Æ