Get the Lead Out Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3300 To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act with respect to replacement of lead service lines, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 18, 2021 Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself and Mr. CUELLAR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act with respect to replacement of lead service lines, 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 ‘‘Get the Lead Out 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. PLANS FOR REPLACEMENT OF LEAD SERVICE 6 LINES. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part E of the Safe Drinking 8 Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j et seq.) is amended by adding 9 at the end the following: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3300.IH H3300 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3300 IH ‘‘SEC. 1459E. REPLACEMENT OF LEAD SERVICE LINES. 1 ‘‘(a) PLANS.— 2 ‘‘(1) SUBMISSION.— 3 ‘‘(A) SYSTEMS SERVING 3,300 OR MORE.— 4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause 5 (ii), each community water system serving 6 a population of 3,300 or more shall— 7 ‘‘(I) not later than 1 year after 8 the date of enactment of this section, 9 submit to the Administrator a plan to 10 inventory and fully replace all of the 11 lead service lines of the community 12 water system, including the portions 13 of such lead service lines that are 14 owned by the community water sys- 15 tem and any remaining portions of 16 such lead service lines; and 17 ‘‘(II) not later than 3 years after 18 the date of enactment of this section, 19 complete such inventory. 20 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—The plan of a 21 community water system under clause (i) 22 shall not allow the partial replacement of 23 the lead service lines of the system, except 24 in the case of an emergency, in which case 25 the community water system shall ensure 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3300.IH H3300 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3300 IH prompt full replacement of the lead service 1 lines of the system not more than 90 days 2 after the end of the emergency. 3 ‘‘(iii) PROCEDURES.—Not later than 4 1 year after the date of enactment of this 5 section, the Administrator shall establish 6 procedures to ensure that inventories con- 7 ducted pursuant to a plan under clause (i) 8 are rigorous and complete. 9 ‘‘(B) SMALL SYSTEMS.—Each community 10 water system serving fewer than 3,300 persons 11 shall— 12 ‘‘(i) by such deadline as the Adminis- 13 trator determines appropriate, but not 14 later than 5 years after the date of enact- 15 ment of this section, submit to the Admin- 16 istrator a plan to inventory and fully re- 17 place all the lead service lines of the com- 18 munity water system, as described in sub- 19 paragraph (A)(i) and subject to subpara- 20 graph (A)(ii); and 21 ‘‘(ii) not later than 5 years after the 22 date of enactment of this section, complete 23 such inventory. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3300.IH H3300 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3300 IH ‘‘(2) INCLUSIONS.—Each plan submitted under 1 this subsection shall include a plan and schedule 2 for— 3 ‘‘(A) notifying persons served by the appli- 4 cable community water system that the commu- 5 nity water system will install interim filters that 6 meet the criteria under paragraph (3) on all 7 primary drinking water taps served by the com- 8 munity water system with lead service lines; 9 ‘‘(B) installing such interim filters and 10 providing replacement filter cartridges in ac- 11 cordance with manufacturer instructions for so 12 long as such interim filters are in use; 13 ‘‘(C) not later than 10 years after such 14 plan is approved under subsection (b), fully re- 15 placing all of the lead service lines of the com- 16 munity water system; and 17 ‘‘(D) including local community-based or 18 other local organizations, as deemed appro- 19 priate by the community water system, in train- 20 ing the public in the proper use and mainte- 21 nance of the interim filters. 22 ‘‘(3) FILTER CRITERIA.—Interim filters, and 23 any replacement thereof, installed pursuant to a 24 plan under this section— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3300.IH H3300 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3300 IH ‘‘(A) shall— 1 ‘‘(i) be certified for lead reduction in 2 compliance with NSF International/Amer- 3 ican National Standards Institute (‘ANSI’) 4 Standard 53–2017, ‘Drinking Water 5 Treatment Units—Health Effects’, pub- 6 lished by NSF International; and 7 ‘‘(ii) incorporate an integral perform- 8 ance indication device as specified in sec- 9 tion 6.1 of NSF/ANSI standard 53–2017; 10 or 11 ‘‘(B) shall be certified as compliant with 12 any standards for lead reduction adopted by 13 NSF International, ANSI, or the Agency that 14 are more stringent than the standards under 15 subparagraph (A). 16 ‘‘(b) APPROVAL.—Not later than 6 months after a 17 community water system submits a plan under this sec- 18 tion, the Administrator shall approve the plan or notify 19 the community water system in writing of revisions the 20 Administrator determines necessary to approve the plan. 21 ‘‘(c) IMPLEMENTATION.— 22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 10 years 23 after a plan under this section of a community water 24 system is approved by the Administrator, the com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3300.IH H3300 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3300 IH munity water system shall submit to the Adminis- 1 trator a certification that all the lead service lines of 2 the community water system have been fully re- 3 placed pursuant to such plan except for any lead 4 service line that— 5 ‘‘(A) is not owned by the community water 6 system; and 7 ‘‘(B) with respect to which the owner has 8 declined replacement by the community water 9 system at the system’s expense. 10 ‘‘(2) PAYMENT.—The community water sys- 11 tem— 12 ‘‘(A) shall pay the full costs of all lead 13 service line replacements and filters required 14 pursuant to the system’s plan under subsection 15 (a); and 16 ‘‘(B) may incorporate into its rate base the 17 costs of replacement and filters not fully cov- 18 ered by grants and other Federal and non-Fed- 19 eral assistance. 20 ‘‘(d) EXTENSION.— 21 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION.—A community water sys- 22 tem may submit an application to the Administrator 23 for an extension of the 10-year deadline applicable 24 under subsection (c). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3300.IH H3300 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3300 IH ‘‘(2) APPROVAL.—The Administrator shall ap- 1 prove an application for an extension under para- 2 graph (1) only if— 3 ‘‘(A) the community water system submit- 4 ting the application has held a public hearing 5 and solicited public comment prior to submit- 6 ting the application; 7 ‘‘(B) the Administrator determines that 8 lead service line replacement by the community 9 water system is not feasible by the 10-year 10 deadline applicable under subsection (c); and 11 ‘‘(C) the community water system submit- 12 ting the application has more than 100,000 13 known or suspected lead service lines. 14 ‘‘(3) PERIOD OF EXTENSION.—The Adminis- 15 trator may only grant an extension under this sub- 16 section for the minimum period of time necessary for 17 the applicable community water system to replace all 18 of the lead service lines of the community water sys- 19 tem. 20 ‘‘(e) ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY.—The Adminis- 21 trator may take action to enforce a requirement of this 22 section pursuant to section 1414(a)(2) with respect to a 23 community water system in a State regardless of whether 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3300.IH H3300 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3300 IH the State has primary enforcement responsibility for pub- 1 lic water systems. 2 ‘‘(f) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘lead 3 service line’ has the meaning given such term in section 4 1459B(a). 5 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 6 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 7 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 and 2023.’’. 8 (b) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 1414(i)(1) of the Safe 9 Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300g–3(i)(1)) is amended 10 by striking ‘‘or 1445’’ and inserting ‘‘1445, or 1459E’’. 11 SEC. 3. STATE REVOLVING LOAN FUNDS. 12 (a) USE OF FUNDS.—Paragraph (2) of section 13 1452(a) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j– 14 12(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 15 ‘‘(H) REPLACEMENT OF LEAD SERVICE 16 LINES.—Financial assistance under this section 17 may also be used for replacement of lead service 18 lines in accordance with section 1459E, with 19 priority given to loans and loan guarantees for 20 disadvantaged communities (as defined in sub- 21 section (d)(3)).’’. 22 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 23 1452(m) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 24 300j–12(m)) is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3300.IH H3300 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3300 IH (1) in paragraph (1)— 1 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking 2 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 3 (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking the 4 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 5 (C) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(D) $6,600,000,000 for each of fiscal 7 years 2022 through 2031.’’; and 8 (2) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(3) Of the amount authorized by paragraph 10 (1)(D) to be appropriated for each of fiscal years 11 2022 through 2031, $4,650,000,000 shall be for re- 12 placement of lead service lines as described in sub- 13 section (a)(2)(H).’’. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3300.IH H3300 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS