Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 938 To establish a trust fund to provide for adequate funding for water and sewer infrastructure, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 22, 2023 Mr. SANDERS (for himself, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. MERKLEY, Ms. WARREN, and Mr. WELCH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To establish a trust fund to provide for adequate funding for water and sewer infrastructure, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reli- 5 ability Act of 2023’’. 6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 7 this Act is as follows: 8 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Definition of Administrator. Sec. 3. Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability Trust Fund. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 047007 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S938.IS S938 pbinns on DSKBC47HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 938 IS Sec. 4. Report on affordability, discrimination and civil rights violations, public participation in regionalization, and data collection. Sec. 5. Household water well systems. Sec. 6. Use of State revolving funds under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. Sec. 7. Use of State revolving loan funds under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Sec. 8. Drinking water grant programs. Sec. 9. Labor provisions. Sec. 10. Drinking water assistance to colonias. SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF ADMINISTRATOR. 1 In this Act, the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad- 2 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. 3 SEC. 3. WATER AFFORDABILITY, TRANSPARENCY, EQUITY, 4 AND RELIABILITY TRUST FUND. 5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter A of chapter 98 7 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by 8 adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘SEC. 9512. WATER AFFORDABILITY, TRANSPARENCY, EQ- 10 UITY, AND RELIABILITY TRUST FUND. 11 ‘‘(a) CREATION OF TRUST FUND.—There is estab- 12 lished in the Treasury of the United States a trust fund 13 to be known as the ‘Water Affordability, Transparency, 14 Equity, and Reliability Trust Fund’ (referred to in this 15 section as the ‘Trust Fund’), consisting of such amounts 16 as may be appropriated or credited to such Trust Fund 17 as provided in this section or section 9602(b). 18 ‘‘(b) TRANSFERS TO FUND.— 19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There are hereby appro- 20 priated to the Trust Fund such amounts as the Sec- 21 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 047007 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S938.IS S938 pbinns on DSKBC47HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 938 IS retary from time to time estimates are equal to the 1 increase in Federal revenues attributable to the 2 amendment made by section 3(b) of the Water Af- 3 fordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability 4 Act of 2023. 5 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The sum of the amounts 6 appropriated under paragraph (1) during any fiscal 7 year shall not exceed the larger of— 8 ‘‘(A) $35,000,000,000, and 9 ‘‘(B) one-twentieth of the sum of— 10 ‘‘(i) the 20-year need identified in the 11 most recent assessment conducted by the 12 Administrator of the Environmental Pro- 13 tection Agency in accordance with section 14 1452(h) of the Safe Drinking Water Act 15 (42 U.S.C. 300j–12(h)), plus 16 ‘‘(ii) the 20-year need identified in the 17 most recent needs survey submitted by the 18 Administrator pursuant to sections 205(a), 19 516, and 609 of the Federal Water Pollu- 20 tion Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1285(a), 21 1375, 1389). 22 ‘‘(c) EXPENDITURES.—Amounts in the Trust Fund 23 are available, without further appropriation and without 24 fiscal year limitation, for the purposes described in section 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 047007 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S938.IS S938 pbinns on DSKBC47HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 938 IS 3(c) of the Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, 1 and Reliability Act of 2023.’’. 2 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of 3 parts for subchapter A of chapter 98 of such Code 4 is amended by inserting after the item relating to 5 section 9511 the following new item: 6 ‘‘Sec. 9512. Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability Trust Fund.’’. (b) INCREASE IN CORPORATE TAX RATE.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 11(b) of the Internal 8 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘21’’ 9 and inserting ‘‘24.5’’. 10 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 11 by this subsection shall apply to taxable years begin- 12 ning after December 31, 2022. 13 (c) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—The Administrator, 14 the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Health 15 and Human Services shall allocate, for a fiscal year, the 16 amount available, at the beginning of that fiscal year, in 17 the Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reli- 18 ability Trust Fund established by section 9512(a) of the 19 Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as follows: 20 (1) CLEAN WATER PROGRAMS.—Of that 21 amount, the Administrator shall use— 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 047007 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S938.IS S938 pbinns on DSKBC47HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 938 IS (A) 0.5 percent for making grants under 1 section 104(b)(8) of the Federal Water Pollu- 2 tion Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1254(b)(8)); 3 (B) 1.5 percent for making grants under 4 section 106 of that Act (33 U.S.C. 1256); 5 (C) 2.5 percent for making grants under 6 section 226 of that Act (33 U.S.C. 1302d); 7 (D) 2.5 percent for making grants under 8 subsections (h) and (i) of section 319 of that 9 Act (33 U.S.C. 1329); and 10 (E) 42.25 percent for making capitaliza- 11 tion grants under title VI of that Act (33 12 U.S.C. 1381 et seq.). 13 (2) SAFE DRINKING WATER FUNDING.—Of that 14 amount, the Administrator shall use— 15 (A) 0.5 percent for providing technical as- 16 sistance under section 1442(e) of the Safe 17 Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–1(e)); 18 (B) 42.25 percent for making capitaliza- 19 tion grants under section 1452 of that Act (42 20 U.S.C. 300j–12); 21 (C) 3 percent for making grants under sec- 22 tion 1465 of that Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–25); and 23 (D) 0.5 percent for making grants under 24 section 1456 of that Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–16) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 047007 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S938.IS S938 pbinns on DSKBC47HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 938 IS and for making grants under section 307 of the 1 Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 2 (33 U.S.C. 1281 note; Public Law 104–182). 3 (3) HOUSEHOLD WATER WELL SYSTEMS.—Of 4 that amount, the Secretary of Agriculture shall use 5 1 percent for making grants under section 306E of 6 the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act 7 (7 U.S.C. 1926e). 8 (4) COLONIAS.—Of that amount, the Secretary 9 of Agriculture shall use 0.5 percent for making 10 grants under section 306C of the Consolidated Farm 11 and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1926c) to en- 12 tities described in subsection (c) of that section. 13 (5) INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE.—Of that 14 amount, the Secretary of Health and Human Serv- 15 ices, acting through the Director of the Indian 16 Health Service, shall use 3 percent for making 17 grants for the planning, design, construction, mod- 18 ernization, improvement, and renovation of water, 19 sewer, and solid waste sanitation facilities that are 20 funded, in whole or part, by the Indian Health Serv- 21 ice— 22 (A) through, or provided for in, a contract 23 or compact with the Indian Health Service 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 047007 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S938.IS S938 pbinns on DSKBC47HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 938 IS under the Indian Self-Determination and Edu- 1 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.); 2 (B) pursuant to section 7 of the Act of Au- 3 gust 5, 1954 (68 Stat. 674, chapter 658; 42 4 U.S.C. 2004a); or 5 (C) pursuant to section 302 of the Indian 6 Health Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 7 1632). 8 (d) PROHIBITION.—None of the funds allocated pur- 9 suant to subsection (c) may be used for any activity de- 10 scribed in paragraphs (1) through (5) of section 203(a) 11 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act 12 of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 433(a)). 13 SEC. 4. REPORT ON AFFORDABILITY, DISCRIMINATION AND 14 CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, PUBLIC PARTICI- 15 PATION IN REGIONALIZATION, AND DATA 16 COLLECTION. 17 (a) STUDY.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall con- 19 duct a study on water and sewer services in accord- 20 ance with this subsection. 21 (2) AFFORDABILITY.—In conducting the study 22 under paragraph (1), the Administrator shall study 23 water affordability across the United States, includ- 24 ing— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 047007 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S938.IS S938 pbinns on DSKBC47HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 938 IS (A) rates for water and sewer services, in- 1 creases in those rates during the 10-year period 2 preceding the study, and water service dis- 3 connections due to unpaid water service 4 charges; and 5 (B) the effectiveness of funding under sec- 6 tion 1452 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 7 U.S.C. 300j–12) and under title VI of the Fed- 8 eral Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 9 1381 et seq.) for promoting affordable, equi- 10 table, transparent, and reliable water and sewer 11 service. 12 (3) DISCRIMINATION AND CIVIL RIGHTS.—In 13 conducting the study under paragraph (1), the Ad- 14 ministrator, in collaboration with the Civil Rights 15 Division of the Department of Justice, shall study— 16 (A) discriminatory practices of water and 17 sewer service providers; 18 (B) discriminatory practices of State pro- 19 gram administrators in allocating funding; and 20 (C) violations by those service providers 21 and program administrators that receive Fed- 22 eral assistance of civil rights under title VI of 23 the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 047007 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S938.IS S938 pbinns on DSKBC47HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 938 IS et seq.) with respect to equal access to water 1 and sewer services. 2 (4) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN REGIONALIZA- 3 TION.—In conducting the study under paragraph 4 (1), the Administrator shall evaluate efforts to re- 5 gionalize public water systems (as defined in section 6 1401 of the Safe Water Drinking Act (42 U.S.C. 7 300f)) and sewer services with respect to public par- 8 ticipation in— 9 (A) the decision to undergo that regional- 10 ization; and 11 (B) decisionmaking by the board of direc- 12 tors (or other governing body) of the entity that 13 provides, or oversees or coordinates the provi- 14 sion of, water by the public water systems sub- 15 ject to such regionalization. 16 (5) DATA COLLECTION.—In conducting the 17 study under paragraph (1), the Administrator shall 18 collect information, assess the availability of infor- 19 mation, and evaluate the methodologies used to col- 20 lect information with respect to— 21 (A) people living without water or sewer 22 services; 23 (B) water service disconnections due to un- 24 paid water service charges, including disconnec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 047007 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S938.IS S938 pbinns on DSKBC47HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 938 IS tions experienced by households containing chil- 1 dren, elderly persons, disabled persons, chron- 2 ically ill persons, or other vulnerable popu- 3 lations; 4 (C) tax liens and foreclosures due to un- 5 paid water service charges; and 6 (D) disparate effects, on the basis of race, 7 gender, or socioeconomic status, of water serv- 8 ice disconnections, tax liens and foreclosures 9 due to unpaid water service charges, and the 10 lack of public water service. 11 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 12 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit 13 to Congress a report that contains— 14 (1) the results of the study conducted under 15 subsection (a)(1); and 16 (2) recommendations for utility companies, 17 Federal agencies, and States relating to those re- 18 sults. 19 SEC. 5. HOUSEHOLD WATER WELL SYSTEMS. 20 Section 306E(d) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 21 Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1926e(d)) is amended by 22 striking ‘‘$20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 23 through 2023’’ and inserting ‘‘$348,500,000 for each fis- 24 cal year’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 047007 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S938.IS S938 pbinns on DSKBC47HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 938 IS SEC. 6. USE OF STATE REVOLVING FUNDS UNDER THE FED- 1 ERAL WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ACT. 2 (a) SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS.—Section 602(b) of 3 the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 4 1382(b)) is amended— 5 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘which will be 6 made to the State with funds to be made available’’ 7 and inserting ‘‘that were made to the State with 8 funds made available for fiscal year 2021’’; 9 (2) in paragraph (13)(B)(iii), by striking ‘‘and’’ 10 at the end; 11 (3) in paragraph (14), by striking the period at 12 the end and inserting a semicolon; and 13 (4) by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(15) the State will not provide financial assist- 15 ance using amounts from the fund for any project 16 that will provide substantial direct benefits to new 17 communities, lots, or subdivisions, other than a 18 project to construct an advanced decentralized 19 wastewater system; and’’. 20 (b) PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES ELIGIBLE FOR AS- 21 SISTANCE.—Section 603(c) of the Federal Water Pollution 22 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383(c)) is amended— 23 (1) in paragraph (11)(B), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 24 the end; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 047007 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S938.IS S938 pbinns on DSKBC47HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 938 IS (2) in paragraph (12)(B), by striking the period 1 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 2 (3) by adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘(13) to any municipality or intermunicipal, 4 interstate, or State agency for— 5 ‘‘(A) purchasing from a willing or unwill- 6 ing seller a privately owned treatment works; 7 and 8 ‘‘(B) expenses related to canceling a con- 9 tract for the operation or management of a 10 publicly owned treatment works.’’. 11 (c) INCREASING THE AMOUNT OF ADDITIONAL SUB- 12 SIDIZATION BY THE STATE.—Section 603(i)(3) of the 13 Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 14 1383(i)(3)) is amended by striking subparagraph (B) and 15 inserting the following: 16 ‘‘(B) REQU [Text truncated for display. 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