Document K67o80bEbe9gz0ndqyvp0r6yw

Message From: Sent: To: Subject: Tracy Mehan [tmehan@awwa.org] 7/18/2018 2:03:00 PM Tracy Mehan [tmehan@awwa.org] from Water Finance and Management JULY 17, 2018 According to the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) in its Monday Morning Briefing for July 16, things got heated on Capita! HiSI last week when supporters of the proposed SRF WIN Act clashed with committee members over the bill during a Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee hearing. According to AMWA, proponents of the SRF WIN Act argued the new bill is necessary to allow rural states to bundle multiple small water infrastructure projects together into a single application for Water Infrastructure Finance and innovation Act (WiFiA) program funding. However, no participants in the hearing acknowledged that small project bundling is already possible through the existing WIFIA program. Critics of the bill were not invited to testify. The discussion about SRF WIN came during a hearing calied to examine "the long-term value to U.S. taxpayers of low-cost federal infrastructure loans," AMWA said. During the meeting, committee members pushed back against a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate released last month which found that changes to the WIFIA program in a version of the SRF WiN Act included in a EPW-approved water resources bill would cost the federal government approximately $2.6 biilion over the next 10 years. Committee members said that bill would be revised to lower the budget score before it goes before the full Senate, possibly as soon as this week. Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 5 ED 002061 00097221-00001 AMWA said the hearing was aiso used as an opportunity for supporters to advocate in favor of adding SRF WIN as "another tool in the water infrastructure financing toolbox," AMWA, the American Waterworks Association (AWWA) and the Water Environment Federation (WEF) are three of the more prominent wafer sector organizations that have been critical of the SRF WIN proposai. According to AMWA's update Monday, the association was not invited to testify, but said it did submit a letter to the EPW Committee that highlighted several problems with the bili that otherwise went unmentioned at the hearing. These inciude the fact that the current WiFSA already allows states to bundle muitiple projects together into a single application, that SRF WIN would charge California, New York and 13 other states higher interest rates for water infrastructure loans than would be paid by smaller and more rural states and that this additional subsidization for rural states would reduce the overall amount of funding availabie through WIFiA. The water resources bill that includes the SRF WIN Act could go to the Senate floor as early as this week, though the funding authorization for the SRF WIN provision may be dramatically reduced to address the budget scoring issue, AMWA said it plans to continue to oppose the measure, noting it wants to "make members of Congress aware of the numerous problems" with the legislation. Source: AMWA Tags: AMWA, AWWA. ERA, SRF WIN, WEF, WIFIA SHARE THIS POST This communication is the property of the American Water Works Association and may contain confidential or privileged information. Unauthorized use of this communication is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this communication in error, please immediately notify the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the communication and any attachments. American W aterw orks Association Dedicated to the World's Most Important Resource Sierra Club v. EPA 18cv3472 NDCA Tier 5 ED 002061 00097221-00002