AGC Members Take Action; Help Drive Forward Progress
After a concerted advocacy effort by AGC and its members, a bipartisan group of 85 members of the House of Representatives this week sent an AGC-supported letter urging appropriators to utilize Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) revenues at the levels set by the Water Resources Reform & Development Act of 2014 (WRRDA). WRRDA authorizes Congress to spend up to $1.25 billion—69 percent of HMTF revenues—on harbor maintenance activities in fiscal year (FY) 2016. However, the House Appropriations Committee must agree to actually spend that level of funding in FY 2016 for the promise in WRRDA to be realized.
The HMTF funds port and harbor dredging maintenance activities throughout the nation through revenues generated from a tax on shippers based on the value of the goods being shipped through ports. For many years, Congress has spent about half of the HMTF revenues on things other than harbor maintenance. WRRDA, which passed the House by a 412-4 vote last year, increased authorized funding of HMTF revenues for actual harbor maintenance through FY 2020 when all HMTF revenues are authorized for harbor maintenance activities.
Many AGC members contacted their representatives and urged them to sign the letter using AGC’s Action Center. And many of those representatives signed this letter. AGC will continue its efforts to work with House and Senate appropriators to meet the FY 2016 HMTF funding levels.
For more information please contact Jimmy Christianson at (703) 837-5325 orchristiansonj@agc.org. Return to Top