Boozman’s Water Infrastructure Bill Gains Support from 29 Organizations

ARRA News Service: The nation’s leading construction, engineering, municipal, conservation, public works, infrastructure finance, labor and manufacturing organizations shared their support for legislation introduced by U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) that will modernize investment in water infrastructure. In a letter sent to leaders of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, the groups urged members to include Boozman’s Securing Required Funding for Water Infrastructure Now (SRF WIN) Act as a provision in the committee’s Water Resources Development Act legislation.

“We believe the inclusion of the SRF WIN Act in the America’s Water Infrastructure Act will make a really good bill even better,” the letter states noting that Boozman’s bill “is a fiscally responsible approach to providing States over $10 B (billion) annually for critical improvements to our nation’s rural and urban water infrastructure.”

The letter was signed by 27 organizations including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Society of Civil Engineers, Ducks Unlimited, the National Rural Water Association and Arkansas Natural Resources Commission. For a complete list of signees click to read the letter here.

Additionally, the Associated General Contractors of America and California Association of State Agencies also sent letters to the EPW Committee advocating for the SRF WIN Act’s inclusion in the America’s Water Infrastructure Act.

The Securing Required Funding for Water Infrastructure Now (SRF WIN) Act — introduced by Sens. Boozman, Cory Booker (D-NJ), Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)—rejects the fix-as-fail approach currently used to upgrade the nation’s infrastructure and instead empowers states to invest in multiple water infrastructure projects.

The bill combines the best aspects of state revolving funds (SRFs) with the leveraging power of the Water Infrastructure and Innovation Act (WIFIA) to make the process easier and more affordable for states to meet their underserved or unmet water infrastructure needs.

The SRF WIN Act would:

• Authorize $200 million annually over five years to support state revolving fund projects exclusively, creating over $50 billion in project money.
• Encourage states to bundle their projects by waiving the $100,000 application fee and streamlining the application process to a maximum 180-day turnaround.
• Simplify the federal approval process by allowing thousands of vetted drinking water and wastewater projects to receive funding, eliminating the need for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to process thousands of additional loan applications.

Preserve the successful state revolving funds (SRFs) and the Water Infrastructure and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan program.

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