Water Debt Relief Act of 2021

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) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protec- tion Agency to carry out a residential emergency relief program to provide payment assistance for households to retain water service, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Water Debt Relief Act 4 of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3292.IH H3292 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3292 IH SEC. 2. EMERGENCY RELIEF PROGRAM. 1 Part F of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 2 300j–21 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 3 lowing new section: 4 ‘‘SEC. 1466. EMERGENCY RELIEF PROGRAM. 5 ‘‘(a) EMERGENCY RELIEF PROGRAM.—The Adminis- 6 trator shall establish and carry out a residential emer- 7 gency relief program to provide payments to public water 8 systems to reimburse such public water systems for pro- 9 viding forgiveness of arrearages and fees incurred by eligi- 10 ble residential customers before the date of enactment of 11 this section to help such eligible residential customers re- 12 tain water service. 13 ‘‘(b) CONDITIONS.—To receive funds under this sec- 14 tion, a public water system shall agree to— 15 ‘‘(1) except as provided in paragraph (2), use 16 such funds to forgive all arrearages and fees relating 17 to nonpayment or arrearages incurred by eligible 18 residential customers before the date of enactment 19 of this section; 20 ‘‘(2) if forgiveness of all arrearages and fees de- 21 scribed in paragraph (1) is not possible given the 22 amount of funds received, use such funds to reduce 23 such arrearages and fees for each eligible residential 24 customer by, to the extent practicable, a consistent 25 percentage; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3292.IH H3292 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3292 IH ‘‘(3) take no action that negatively affects the 1 credit score of an eligible residential customer, or 2 pursue any type of collection action against such eli- 3 gible residential customer, during the 5-year period 4 that begins on the date on which the public water 5 system receives such funds; and 6 ‘‘(4) not disconnect or interrupt the service of 7 any eligible residential customer as a result of non- 8 payment or arrearages during such 5-year period. 9 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE CUSTOMERS.—To be eligible for for- 10 giveness or reduction of arrearages and fees pursuant to 11 the program established under subsection (a), a residential 12 customer of a public water system shall have accrued new 13 arrearages on or after March 1, 2020. 14 ‘‘(d) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—The Adminis- 15 trator may authorize— 16 ‘‘(1) States to implement the program estab- 17 lished under subsection (a); and 18 ‘‘(2) a State implementing such program to use 19 up to 4 percent of funds made available to carry out 20 such program in such State for administrative ex- 21 penses. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3292.IH H3292 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3292 IH ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 1 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 2 $4,000,000,000, to remain available until expended.’’. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3292.IH H3292 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS