House Introduces Water Resources & Development Act

On Sept. 11, House Transportation & Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) joined with Committee Ranking member Nick Rahall (D-WV) to introduce the Water Resources Reform & Development Act of 2013 (WRRDA), H.R. 3080, which authorizes approximately $10 billion for new construction projects through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) Civil Works program (i.e., navigation, flood control, locks, dams, and environment restoration).  Take action and urge your U.S. Representative to support H.R. 3080. The House bill includes a number of AGC-supported legislative priorities. First, the bill establishes a new authorization process whereby USACE would request new project proposals from non-federal entities and then submit approved proposals and USACE priority projects to Congress for authorization annually. While the bill authorizes about $10 billion in new construction projects, it deauthorizes $12 billion-worth of projects, which have been on the books for decades and never received funding.  In addition, the bill provides for a seven-year expiration date on project authorizations—called project deauthorization—which have not received appropriations for construction after that time. The combination of these two deauthorization measures will ensure that USACE focuses on priority projects that have the funding, rather than ones languishing on the books. Second, the bill streamlines USACE pre-construction study processes by setting a three-year deadline for final feasibility studies at a cost of no more than $3 million for concurrent review by all three levels of USACE (District, Division and Headquarters). This will allow projects to hit the street for contractor bidding after three years rather than the 10 to 15 years under the existing policy. Moreover, the bill provides for environmental streamlining by setting deadlines for permitting and environmental impact statements. Third, the bill sets a target appropriation level for spending out of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund. Specifically, the bill would gradually—by 2020—seek to increase funding levels to 80 percent of the revenues generated by the Harbor Maintenance Tax (HMT) for dredging. As it stands, only 50 percent of the $1.6 billion generated by the HMT goes to harbor maintenance and dredging. Lastly, the bill includes a public-private partnership pilot program through which 15 water resources projects could be delivered through innovative financing means. Innovative financing methods are a great supplement to federal funding. However, there remains no substitute for adequate and certain federal funding to maintain and improve our nation’s ports, inland waterways, flood control, drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. The Senate overwhelmingly passed its version, the Water Resources Development Act bill, S. 601, by an 83 to 14 vote in May.  If the House passes a WRDA bill, a conference committee comprised of members from both chambers will commence to reconcile the differences between the bills before final passage. AGC will continue to press for enactment of a WRDA bill that includes the construction industry’s priorities. Again, please take action and urge your U.S. Representative to support H.R. 3080. For more information, please contact Jimmy Christianson at (703) 837-5325 or christiansonj@agc.org.