Bill > HR6229

This bill amends the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014 to expand and clarify several provisions related to water infrastructure financing. The bill defines "rural water project" to include a broader range of water supply projects, establishes a definition for "small community" as a place with 25,000 or fewer inhabitants, and reduces the minimum project cost for eligibility from $5 million to $1 million. It provides technical assistance to small communities to help them develop project proposals, creates an outreach plan to promote financial assistance to small communities, and expands project eligibility to include state-led storage projects, transferred works, and congressionally authorized water resources development projects. The bill also introduces collaborative project delivery methods like design-build and construction management at-risk approaches, and allows for longer loan maturity dates (up to 55 years) for projects with extended useful lives. Additionally, the bill reauthorizes funding for water infrastructure programs, with $68 million allocated to the Environmental Protection Agency and $15 million to the Army Corps of Engineers annually from 2025 to 2029. The legislation requires reports to Congress on program implementation and mandates a Government Accountability Office study on project delivery methods.

Agriculture and Natural Resources, Transportation and Infrastructure

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/6229/all-info