Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 2016
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 2016
This bill amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to revise regulations for drinking water contaminants, including by:
requiring the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to determine whether or not to regulate no fewer than 10 contaminants every 3 years (current law requires 5 contaminants every 5 years);
revising the process and requirements for setting maximum containment levels in national primary drinking water regulations;
directing the EPA to revise national primary drinking water regulations for lead and copper;
setting deadlines for the EPA to publish maximum contaminant level goals and promulgate national drinking water regulations for perchlorate, perfluorinated compounds, and microcystin (algal) toxin;
establishing grant programs for reducing lead in drinking water in schools;
requiring community water systems to assess their vulnerabilities to contamination, including vulnerabilities from climate change or sabotage, and develop plans for addressing those vulnerabilities;
establishing the Drinking Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Program, under which the EPA may award grants for community water systems to increase their resiliency to those threats;
removing a regulatory exemption for hydraulic fracturing;
requiring the EPA to develop a strategic plan for assessing and managing the risks of drought to drinking water provided by public water systems;
revising requirements for the drinking water state revolving fund (SRF);
creating a process for consolidating water systems that repeatedly fail to comply with drinking water standards;
requiring the EPA to create an inventory of data about drinking water violations;
directing the EPA to revise regulations for consumer confidence reports;
establishing research grants for monitoring technology; and
requiring the EPA to study the presence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in drinking water sources.
The bill reauthorizes specified programs under the Act, including reauthorizing through FY2021 the SRF.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on September 22, 2016. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on September 22, 2016: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
FRANK PALLONE (D-NJ) introduced it on September 22, 2016, and 9 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 9 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on September 22, 2016, 3640 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3640 days ago, on September 22, 2016.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers