Water Investment Act of 2002
Latest action. Placed on Senate legislative calendarThe list of measures reported out of committee and eligible for floor action. Being on the calendar is not a promise of a vote.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) under General Orders. Calendar No. 527.
Water Investment Act of 2002 - Title I: Federal Water Pollution Control Act Modifications - (Sec. 102) Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) to increase the limit on amounts authorized for grants for development of waste management plans and sewage treatment works to serve Indians. (Sec. 103) Revises State water pollution control revolving fund provisions concerning: (1) project eligibility; (2) loan payments and subsidization (making special provision for small treatment works); (3) community development conditions; (4) State priority systems; (5) strategies for technical, managerial, operations, maintenance, and financial capacity and sustaining compliance with applicable laws; (6) project restructuring conditions; (7) technical assistance for small treatment works located in rural areas; (8) allocation of funds; and (9) intended use plans and progress reports. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2003 through 2007 to carry out the State water pollution control revolving fund program. Allows the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reserve up to a specified amount annually for surveys of the construction costs of needed publicly owned treatment works. (Sec. 104) Authorizes appropriations for FY 2004 through 2007 for grants for sewer overflow treatment works. Title II: Safe Drinking Water Act Modifications - Subtitle A: State Revolving Loan Fund Projects and Activities - (Sec. 201) Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to authorize appropriations for FY 2003 through 2010 for assistance to New York State for the New York City watershed protection program. (Sec. 202) Expands requirements for coverage under the Davis-Bacon Act (which requires that the locally prevailing wage rate be paid to various classes of laborers and mechanics working under federally-financed or federally-assisted contracts for construction, alteration, and repair of public buildings or public works) of laborers and mechanics employed on construction projects financed under SDWA. (Sec. 203) Includes among authorized uses of amounts in a State revolving loan fund: (1) planning, design, and associated preconstruction expenditures and projects for consolidation among community water systems; and (2) activities to increase security of a public water system. (Sec. 204) Revises funding limitations to allow restructuring public water systems to include the formation of regional partnerships among operations changes agreed to by owners or operators. Requires States that enter into capitalization agreements to provide significant public outreach in preparation of annual intended use plans. Revises conditions for loans made under State loan funds. Exempts assistance to be used solely for planning, design, or security measures not requiring significant capital expenditures from certain management conditions. Requires recipients of assistance to demonstrate to the State that they will coordinate and consult with agencies with authority to develop land use, transportation, and watershed plans. Expands eligibility of source water protection programs for funding. (Sec. 205) Revises provisions for loan subsidies to disadvantaged communities to allow a State to provide additional subsidization to a community that does not meet the definition of a disadvantaged community if the recipient demonstrates that it directs the subsidization to the maximum extent practicable to disadvantaged users (defined by affordability criteria). (Sec. 206) Makes private utilities eligible for assistance if a State includes their needs in the public water system capital needs survey. (Sec. 207) Includes technology assessment among the responsibilities of small public water system technology assistance centers and imposes review requirements. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2003 through 2007. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2003 through 2007 for university-based environmental finance centers. (Sec. 208) Authorizes appropriations for FY 2003 through 2007 to carry out the State revolving loan fund program. Allows the Administrator to reserve up to a specified amount annually for water system capital needs surveys and surveys of water treatment facilities needs of Indian tribes. Subtitle B: Small Public Water System Assistance - Small Community Drinking Water Funding Act - Amends SDWA to require the Administrator to establish a Small Public Water System Assistance Program, including a program for Indian tribes, to assist small water systems in complying with national primary drinking water regulations. Requires annual reports to Congress, and separate reports by Indian tribes to the Administrator, on activities funded under program grants. Subtitle III: Innovations in Fund and Water Quality Management - (Sec. 302) Directs the Administrator to establish a demonstration program of research and development grants and contracts to promote technological innovations and alternative approaches to water quality management or water supply and to reduce municipalities' FWPCA and SDWA compliance costs. Includes among projects those addressing such matters as excessive nutrient growth, water conservation, nonpoint source pollution, monitoring deficiencies, and sewer overflows. Requires that higher priority be given to those that address multiple problems and are regionally applicable. Requires biennial reports to Congress. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 303) Directs the Administrator to contract with the National Academy of Sciences to study public water system and treatment works rate structures of selected communities. Requires a report to Congress. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 304) Directs the Administrator to consult with States, treatment works, and public water systems to identify improvements in the application and review process for provision of assistance from the State water pollution control and drinking water revolving funds under FWPCA and SDWA, respectively. Requires a report to Congress. (Sec. 305) Amends FWPCA and SDWA to allow a Governor to reserve and transfer a specified percentage of capitalization grants made under each Act between the water pollution control and drinking water treatment revolving funds. Title IV: Water Resource Planning - Directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the United States Geological Survey, to: (1) assess the state of the Nation's water resources; and (2) coordinate a process to develop and publish a list of water resource research priorities focusing on monitoring and improving the quality of information available to water resource managers and a process to develop an effective system to communicate water resource information. Requires a report to Congress. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Miscellaneous - Amends FWPCA to require the Administrator to establish within EPA a program of grants to upgrade nutrient removal technologies so that they reduce total nitrogen to an average annual concentration of not more than four milligrams per liter or the limit of such technologies in a particular geographical area, whichever is less. Authorizes appropriations.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to Senate with amendment(s)" stage on July 29, 2002. 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 July 29, 2002: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 527.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- 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 107th Congress (2001-02), 377 of the 9,126 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 4.1 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?
DANIEL GRAHAM (D-FL) introduced it on February 15, 2002, and 6 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
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 February 15, 2002, 8973 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 8809 days ago, on July 29, 2002.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 107th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2003 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
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers