Lead-Free Drinking Water for All Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2272 To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to increase funding for lead reduction projects, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 24, 2021 Mr. PADILLA (for himself, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. BOOKER, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. WARREN, Mr. WYDEN, and Mr. MAR- KEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to increase funding for lead reduction projects, 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 ‘‘Lead-Free Drinking 4 Water for All Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. REDUCING LEAD IN DRINKING WATER. 6 Section 1459B of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 7 U.S.C. 300j–19b) is amended— 8 (1) in subsection (a)— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:23 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2272.IS S2272 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2272 IS (A) in paragraph (1), by striking subpara- 1 graph (D) and inserting the following: 2 ‘‘(D) a qualified nonprofit organization 3 with experience in lead reduction, as determined 4 by the Administrator; and’’; 5 (B) in paragraph (2)(A)— 6 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘publicly 7 owned’’; and 8 (ii) by striking clause (iii) and insert- 9 ing the following: 10 ‘‘(iii) providing assistance to eligible 11 entities to inventory and replace lead serv- 12 ice lines, with priority for disadvantaged 13 communities based on the affordability cri- 14 teria established by the applicable State 15 under section 1452(d)(3), low-income 16 homeowners, and landlords or property 17 owners providing housing to low-income 18 renters.’’; and 19 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘an indi- 20 vidual provided’’; 21 (2) in subsection (b)— 22 (A) in paragraph (5)— 23 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 24 ‘‘to provide assistance’’ and all that follows 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:23 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2272.IS S2272 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2272 IS through the period at the end and insert- 1 ing ‘‘to inventory and replace lead service 2 lines, with first priority given to assisting 3 disadvantaged communities based on the 4 affordability criteria established by the ap- 5 plicable State under section 1452(d)(3), 6 low-income homeowners, and landlords or 7 property owners providing housing to low- 8 income renters.’’; and 9 (ii) in subparagraph (B)— 10 (I) by striking ‘‘to a low-income 11 homeowner’’; 12 (II) by striking ‘‘privately owned 13 portion of the’’; and 14 (III) by striking ‘‘line’’ and in- 15 serting ‘‘lines’’; 16 (B) in paragraph (6)— 17 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 18 ‘‘any publicly owned portion of’’; and 19 (ii) by striking subparagraphs (B) 20 through (E) and inserting the following: 21 ‘‘(B) shall offer to replace the full lead 22 service line at no cost to the property owner; 23 and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:23 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2272.IS S2272 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2272 IS ‘‘(C) shall notify relevant State and local 1 authorities of any planned replacement of lead 2 service lines under this subsection and coordi- 3 nate, where practicable, with other relevant in- 4 frastructure projects.’’; 5 (C) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(7) PREVAILING WAGES.—In carrying out lead 7 service line replacement using amounts made avail- 8 able under this section, section 1452(a)(5) shall 9 apply. 10 ‘‘(8) TIMELY COMPLETION OF PROJECTS.— 11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that 12 receives assistance under this section shall en- 13 sure that all lead service lines being serviced by 14 the eligible entity are fully replaced not later 15 than the date that is 10 years after the date on 16 which the eligible entity first receives funding 17 for a lead reduction project for which assistance 18 is provided under this section after the date of 19 enactment of this paragraph. 20 ‘‘(B) PLAN REQUIRED.—An eligible entity 21 that receives assistance under this section shall 22 submit to the Administrator a plan that de- 23 scribes how the eligible entity intends to meet 24 the requirement under subparagraph (A).’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:23 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2272.IS S2272 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2272 IS (3) in subsection (d)— 1 (A) by inserting ‘‘(except for subsection 2 (e))’’ after ‘‘this section’’; and 3 (B) by striking ‘‘$60,000,000 for each of 4 fiscal years 2017 through 2021’’ and inserting 5 ‘‘$4,500,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 6 through 2031’’; 7 (4) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as 8 subsections (f) and (g), respectively; and 9 (5) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol- 10 lowing: 11 ‘‘(d) DELEGATION TO AND COORDINATION WITH 12 STATES.— 13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator— 14 ‘‘(A) shall, in carrying out this section, co- 15 ordinate with each State that has established a 16 State drinking water treatment revolving loan 17 fund under section 1452; and 18 ‘‘(B) may delegate the implementation of 19 this section to any State described in subpara- 20 graph (A). 21 ‘‘(2) ALLOTMENT OF FUNDS TO DELEGATED 22 STATES.— 23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If the Administrator 24 delegates implementation of this section to a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:23 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2272.IS S2272 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2272 IS State under paragraph (1)(B), the Adminis- 1 trator shall, for each fiscal year, allot to the 2 State an amount equal to the product obtained 3 by multiplying— 4 ‘‘(i) the total amount made available 5 to carry out this section (except for sub- 6 section (e)) for the fiscal year; by 7 ‘‘(ii)(I) for fiscal years 2022 and 8 2023, the proportion that— 9 ‘‘(aa) the amount allotted to the 10 State under section 1452(a)(1)(D) for 11 the fiscal year; bears to 12 ‘‘(bb) the amount allotted to all 13 States under section 1452(a)(1)(D) 14 for the fiscal year; and 15 ‘‘(II) for each of fiscal years 2024 16 through 2031, the proportion that— 17 ‘‘(aa) the need for lead service 18 line replacement within the State, as 19 documented in the most recent needs 20 assessment under section 1452(h)(2); 21 bears to 22 ‘‘(bb) the need for lead service 23 line replacement within all States, as 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:23 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2272.IS S2272 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2272 IS documented in the most recent needs 1 assessment under section 1452(h)(2). 2 ‘‘(B) USE OF FUNDS.— 3 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Amounts allotted 4 to a State under subparagraph (A) shall be 5 used by the State only to make grants for 6 inventorying or replacing lead service lines 7 in accordance with this section. 8 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION.—Of the amounts 9 allotted to a State under subparagraph 10 (A), not more than 4 percent may be used 11 to pay the administrative costs of the 12 State. 13 ‘‘(iii) NO STATE CONTRIBUTION.— 14 Notwithstanding any other provision of 15 law, including section 1452(e), no State 16 contribution requirement may be imposed 17 on amounts allotted to a State under sub- 18 paragraph (A). 19 ‘‘(e) LEAD INVENTORYING UTILIZATION GRANT 20 PILOT PROGRAM.— 21 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 22 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligi- 23 ble entity’ means a municipality that is served 24 by a community water system or a nontransient 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:23 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2272.IS S2272 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2272 IS noncommunity water system in which not less 1 than 30 percent of the service lines are known, 2 or suspected, to contain lead, based on available 3 data, information, or resources, including exist- 4 ing lead inventorying. 5 ‘‘(B) PILOT PROGRAM.—The term ‘pilot 6 program’ means the pilot program established 7 under paragraph (2). 8 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator 9 shall establish a pilot program under which the Ad- 10 ministrator shall provide grants to eligible entities to 11 carry out lead reduction projects that are dem- 12 onstrated to exist or are suspected to exist, based on 13 available data, information, or resources, including 14 existing lead inventorying of those eligible entities. 15 ‘‘(3) SELECTION.— 16 ‘‘(A) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to re- 17 ceive a grant under the pilot program, an eligi- 18 ble entity shall submit to the Administrator an 19 application at such time, in such manner, and 20 containing such information as the Adminis- 21 trator may require. 22 ‘‘(B) PRIORITIZATION.—In selecting recipi- 23 ents under the pilot program, the Administrator 24 shall give priority to— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:23 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2272.IS S2272 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 2272 IS ‘‘(i) an eligible entity that meets the 1 affordability criteria of the applicable State 2 established under section 1452(d)(3); and 3 ‘‘(ii) an eligible entity that is located 4 in an area other than a State that has es- 5 tablished affordability criteria under sec- 6 tion 1452(d)(3). 7 ‘‘(4) REPORT.—Not later 2 years after the Ad- 8 ministrator first awards a grant under the pilot pro- 9 gram, the Administrator shall submit to the Com- 10 mittee on Environment and Public Works of the 11 Senate and the Committee on Energy and Com- 12 merce of the House of Representatives a report de- 13 scribing— 14 ‘‘(A) the recipients of grants under the 15 pilot program; 16 ‘‘(B) the existing lead inventorying that 17 was available to recipients of grants under the 18 pilot program; and 19 ‘‘(C) how useful and accurate the lead 20 inventorying described in subparagraph (B) was 21 in locating lead service lines of the eligible enti- 22 ty. 23 ‘‘(5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 24 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:23 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2272.IS S2272 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 2272 IS the pilot program $10,000,000, to remain available 1 until expended.’’. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:23 Jul 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2272.IS S2272 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS