Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2656 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2656
5	5	To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to provide grants for nitrate and
6	6	arsenic reduction projects, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	APRIL3, 2025
9	9	Mrs. T
10	10	ORRESof California (for herself and Mr. VALADAO) introduced the
11	11	following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to provide grants
14	14	for nitrate and arsenic reduction projects, and for other
15	15	purposes.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Removing Nitrate and 4
20	20	Arsenic in Drinking Water Act’’. 5
21	21	SEC. 2. NITRATE AND ARSENIC REDUCTION GRANT PRO-6
22	22	GRAM. 7
23	23	(a) I
24	24	NGENERAL.—Part E of the Safe Drinking 8
25	25	Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j et seq.) is amended by insert-9
26	26	ing after section 1459G the following: 10
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29	29	•HR 2656 IH
30	30	‘‘SEC. 1459H. NITRATE AND ARSENIC REDUCTION GRANT 1
31	31	PROGRAM. 2
32	32	‘‘(a) D
33	33	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
34	34	‘‘(1) A
35	35	RSENIC REDUCTION PROJECT .—The term 4
36	36	‘arsenic reduction project’ means a project or activ-5
37	37	ity the primary purpose of which is to reduce the 6
38	38	concentration of arsenic in water for human con-7
39	39	sumption. 8
40	40	‘‘(2) E
41	41	LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en-9
42	42	tity’ means— 10
43	43	‘‘(A) a community water system; 11
44	44	‘‘(B) a nontransient noncommunity water 12
45	45	system; 13
46	46	‘‘(C) a qualified nonprofit organization 14
47	47	with experience in nitrate or arsenic reduction, 15
48	48	as determined by the Administrator; and 16
49	49	‘‘(D) a municipality or State, interstate, or 17
50	50	intermunicipal agency, including a special-pur-18
51	51	pose unit of local government. 19
52	52	‘‘(3) N
53	53	ITRATE REDUCTION PROJECT .—The 20
54	54	term ‘nitrate reduction project’ means a project or 21
55	55	activity the primary purpose of which is to reduce 22
56	56	the concentration of nitrate in water for human con-23
57	57	sumption. 24
58	58	‘‘(4) L
59	59	OW-INCOME.—The term ‘low-income’, 25
60	60	with respect to assistance under subsection (b)(4), 26
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63	63	•HR 2656 IH
64	64	has such meaning as may be given the term by the 1
65	65	Governor of the State in which the eligible entity is 2
66	66	located, based upon the affordability criteria estab-3
67	67	lished by the State under section 1452(d)(3). 4
68	68	‘‘(5) N
69	69	ONTRANSIENT NONCOMMUNITY WATER 5
70	70	SYSTEM.—The term ‘nontransient noncommunity 6
71	71	water system’ means a noncommunity water system 7
72	72	that regularly serves at least 25 of the same persons 8
73	73	over a 6 month period, or more, per year. 9
74	74	‘‘(b) G
75	75	RANTPROGRAM.— 10
76	76	‘‘(1) E
77	77	STABLISHMENT.—Subject to the avail-11
78	78	ability of appropriations, the Administrator shall es-12
79	79	tablish a grant program to provide assistance to eli-13
80	80	gible entities for nitrate or arsenic reduction projects 14
81	81	in the United States. 15
82	82	‘‘(2) P
83	83	RECONDITION.—As a condition of receipt 16
84	84	of assistance under this subsection, an eligible entity 17
85	85	shall take steps to identify— 18
86	86	‘‘(A) the source of nitrate or arsenic, as 19
87	87	applicable, in the public water system that is 20
88	88	subject to human consumption; and 21
89	89	‘‘(B) the means by which the proposed ni-22
90	90	trate or arsenic reduction project would mean-23
91	91	ingfully reduce the concentration of nitrate or 24
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94	94	•HR 2656 IH
95	95	arsenic in water provided for human consump-1
96	96	tion by the applicable public water system. 2
97	97	‘‘(3) P
98	98	RIORITY APPLICATION .—In providing 3
99	99	grants under this subsection, the Administrator shall 4
100	100	give priority to an eligible entity that the Adminis-5
101	101	trator determines, based on affordability criteria es-6
102	102	tablished by the State under section 1452(d)(3), to 7
103	103	be a disadvantaged community and— 8
104	104	‘‘(A) has not been in compliance with the 9
105	105	maximum contaminant level of nitrate or ar-10
106	106	senic, as applicable, at any time during the 3- 11
107	107	year period preceding the date of submission of 12
108	108	the application of such eligible entity; or 13
109	109	‘‘(B) proposes to address nitrate or arsenic 14
110	110	levels, as applicable, in water for human con-15
111	111	sumption at a school, daycare, or other facility 16
112	112	that primarily serves children or other vulner-17
113	113	able human subpopulation described in section 18
114	114	1458(a)(1). 19
115	115	‘‘(4) L
116	116	OW-INCOME ASSISTANCE.—An eligible en-20
117	117	tity may use a grant provided under this subsection 21
118	118	to purchase and install treatment technology that re-22
119	119	duces the amount of nitrate or arsenic, as applica-23
120	120	ble, in drinking water, with first priority given to as-24
121	121	sisting disadvantaged communities based on the af-25
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124	124	•HR 2656 IH
125	125	fordability criteria established by the applicable 1
126	126	State under section 1452(d)(3), low-income home-2
127	127	owners, and landlords or property owners providing 3
128	128	housing to low-income renters. 4
129	129	‘‘(c) L
130	130	IMITATION ONUSE OFFUNDS.—Not more 5
131	131	than 4 percent of funds made available for grants under 6
132	132	this section may be used to pay the administrative costs 7
133	133	of the Administrator. 8
134	134	‘‘(d) A
135	135	UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 9
136	136	is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section— 10
137	137	‘‘(1) $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2026; and 11
138	138	‘‘(2) $15,000,000 for each fiscal year there-12
139	139	after.’’. 13
140	140	(b) R
141	141	EVIEW.—The Administrator of the Environ-14
142	142	mental Protection Agency shall conduct a review on the 15
143	143	extent the nitrate and arsenic reduction grant program 16
144	144	under the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j et 17
145	145	seq.), as added by subsection (a), takes into consideration 18
146	146	equity to improve equity outcomes, including taking into 19
147	147	consideration the diverse needs of economically disadvan-20
148	148	taged and underserved populations. 21
149	149	Æ
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