Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1019 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 1019
5	5	To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to establish
6	6	an emergency preparedness and response technical assistance program
7	7	to assist entities that operate rural water or wastewater systems in
8	8	preparing for and responding to natural or manmade disasters.
9	9	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
10	10	MARCH13, 2025
11	11	Ms. C
12	12	ORTEZMASTO(for herself and Mrs. HYDE-SMITH) introduced the fol-
13	13	lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agri-
14	14	culture, Nutrition, and Forestry
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development
17	17	Act to establish an emergency preparedness and response
18	18	technical assistance program to assist entities that oper-
19	19	ate rural water or wastewater systems in preparing for
20	20	and responding to natural or manmade disasters.
21	21	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
22	22	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
23	23	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
24	24	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rural Water System 4
25	25	Disaster Preparedness and Assistance Act’’. 5
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29	29	SEC. 2. EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE 1
30	30	TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 2
31	31	Section 306(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 3
32	32	Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1926(a)) is amended by add-4
33	33	ing at the end the following: 5
34	34	‘‘(27) E
35	35	MERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND RE -6
36	36	SPONSE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM .— 7
37	37	‘‘(A) I
38	38	N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 8
39	39	establish an emergency preparedness and re-9
40	40	sponse technical assistance program to provide 10
41	41	grants to eligible entities to assist associations 11
42	42	described in paragraph (1) that operate rural 12
43	43	water or wastewater systems in preparing for 13
44	44	and responding to natural or manmade disas-14
45	45	ters, as determined by the Secretary. 15
46	46	‘‘(B) E
47	47	LIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An entity eligi-16
48	48	ble to receive a grant under subparagraph (A) 17
49	49	is a nonprofit organization that— 18
50	50	‘‘(i) has demonstrated experience pro-19
51	51	viding emergency technical assistance for 20
52	52	disaster preparation, recovery, and re-21
53	53	sponse activities to water and wastewater 22
54	54	utilities nationwide; and 23
55	55	‘‘(ii) has the capacity to deploy per-24
56	56	sonnel that possess— 25
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60	60	‘‘(I) an active water or waste-1
61	61	water system operators’ license; or 2
62	62	‘‘(II) knowledge of water and 3
63	63	wastewater utilities necessary to carry 4
64	64	out activities described in subpara-5
65	65	graph (C). 6
66	66	‘‘(C) E
67	67	LIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—An eligible 7
68	68	entity that receives a grant under subparagraph 8
69	69	(A) shall use the grant— 9
70	70	‘‘(i) to provide onsite personnel and 10
71	71	equipment to assist with water and waste-11
72	72	water systems in the event of a disaster; 12
73	73	‘‘(ii) to coordinate with statewide 13
74	74	emergency response networks to assist with 14
75	75	water and wastewater systems; 15
76	76	‘‘(iii) to facilitate the development of 16
77	77	disaster action plans between associations 17
78	78	described in subparagraph (A), units of 18
79	79	local government, the Federal Emergency 19
80	80	Management Agency, and State emergency 20
81	81	management agencies; 21
82	82	‘‘(iv) to improve resiliency and mitiga-22
83	83	tion planning with respect to water or 23
84	84	wastewater systems; 24
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88	88	‘‘(v) to provide geographic information 1
89	89	system mapping of water and wastewater 2
90	90	systems; 3
91	91	‘‘(vi) to prepare or update predisaster 4
92	92	vulnerability assessments, emergency re-5
93	93	sponse plans, communication protocols, or 6
94	94	hazard recognition and evaluation skills 7
95	95	with respect to water and wastewater sys-8
96	96	tems; 9
97	97	‘‘(vii) to conduct preliminary damage 10
98	98	assessments of critical infrastructure in the 11
99	99	event of a disaster; 12
100	100	‘‘(viii) to provide emergency services 13
101	101	with respect to water and wastewater sys-14
102	102	tems to restore service in the event of a 15
103	103	disaster, including— 16
104	104	‘‘(I) pump and motor evaluation 17
105	105	and repair; 18
106	106	‘‘(II) water disinfection and 19
107	107	flushing; 20
108	108	‘‘(III) leak detection; 21
109	109	‘‘(IV) line repair; 22
110	110	‘‘(V) water main and valve loca-23
111	111	tion; 24
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115	115	‘‘(VI) emergency power genera-1
116	116	tion; 2
117	117	‘‘(VII) bypass pumping; 3
118	118	‘‘(VIII) water treatment; and 4
119	119	‘‘(IX) maintaining safety meas-5
120	120	ures; 6
121	121	‘‘(ix) to address outstanding defi-7
122	122	ciencies focused on resolving health-based 8
123	123	regulatory, operational, financial, and man-9
124	124	agerial deficiencies that impact the sus-10
125	125	tainability of water and wastewater sys-11
126	126	tems; 12
127	127	‘‘(x) to assist with application and re-13
128	128	porting requirements for Federal and State 14
129	129	agencies, including the Federal Emergency 15
130	130	Management Agency and insurance recov-16
131	131	ery claims, with respect to water and 17
132	132	wastewater systems; and 18
133	133	‘‘(xi) to provide for disaster prepara-19
134	134	tion, support, and response activities tar-20
135	135	geted to disadvantaged communities that 21
136	136	lack the financial resources and human 22
137	137	capital necessary to adequately address 23
138	138	significant health, safety, or sanitary con-24
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142	142	cerns with respect to the water and waste-1
143	143	water systems of those communities. 2
144	144	‘‘(D) U
145	145	SE OF FUNDS.— 3
146	146	‘‘(i) I
147	147	N GENERAL.—An eligible entity 4
148	148	that receives a grant under subparagraph 5
149	149	(A) may use the grant for salaries, sup-6
150	150	plies, and expenses relating to the activities 7
151	151	described in subparagraph (C). 8
152	152	‘‘(ii) L
153	153	IMITATION.—Not more than 25 9
154	154	percent of the amount of a grant under 10
155	155	subparagraph (A) may be used to purchase 11
156	156	or reimburse the rental costs of appro-12
157	157	priate emergency equipment, as determined 13
158	158	by the Secretary. 14
159	159	‘‘(E) R
160	160	ESTRICTION.—An eligible entity 15
161	161	that receives a grant under subparagraph (A) 16
162	162	may not use the grant funds to pay for eligible 17
163	163	activities for which the eligible entity receives 18
164	164	other Federal funds. 19
165	165	‘‘(F) A
166	166	UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA -20
167	167	TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 21
168	168	to carry out this paragraph $20,000,000 for 22
169	169	each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029.’’. 23
170	170	Æ
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