| 1 | 1 | | II |
|---|
| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
|---|
| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
|---|
| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 783 |
|---|
| 5 | 5 | | To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to provide |
|---|
| 6 | 6 | | additional assistance to rural water, wastewater, and waste disposal sys- |
|---|
| 7 | 7 | | tems, and for other purposes. |
|---|
| 8 | 8 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
|---|
| 9 | 9 | | FEBRUARY27, 2025 |
|---|
| 10 | 10 | | Mrs. S |
|---|
| 11 | 11 | | HAHEEN(for herself and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill; |
|---|
| 12 | 12 | | which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nu- |
|---|
| 13 | 13 | | trition, and Forestry |
|---|
| 14 | 14 | | A BILL |
|---|
| 15 | 15 | | To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development |
|---|
| 16 | 16 | | Act to provide additional assistance to rural water, |
|---|
| 17 | 17 | | wastewater, and waste disposal systems, and for other |
|---|
| 18 | 18 | | purposes. |
|---|
| 19 | 19 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
|---|
| 20 | 20 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
|---|
| 21 | 21 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
|---|
| 22 | 22 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Assistance for Rural 4 |
|---|
| 23 | 23 | | Water Systems Act of 2025’’. 5 |
|---|
| 24 | 24 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S783.IS S783 |
|---|
| 25 | 25 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
|---|
| 26 | 26 | | •S 783 IS |
|---|
| 27 | 27 | | SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR RURAL WATER SYS-1 |
|---|
| 28 | 28 | | TEMS. 2 |
|---|
| 29 | 29 | | Subtitle A of the Consolidated Farm and Rural De-3 |
|---|
| 30 | 30 | | velopment Act is amended by inserting after section 306A 4 |
|---|
| 31 | 31 | | (7 U.S.C. 1926a) the following: 5 |
|---|
| 32 | 32 | | ‘‘SEC. 306B. ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR RURAL WATER 6 |
|---|
| 33 | 33 | | SYSTEMS. 7 |
|---|
| 34 | 34 | | ‘‘(a) D |
|---|
| 35 | 35 | | EFINITION OFELIGIBLEENTITY.—In this sec-8 |
|---|
| 36 | 36 | | tion, the term ‘eligible entity’ means a rural water, waste-9 |
|---|
| 37 | 37 | | water, or waste disposal facility with respect to which as-10 |
|---|
| 38 | 38 | | sistance may be provided under a water, wastewater, or 11 |
|---|
| 39 | 39 | | waste disposal program under section 306(a), 306A, 12 |
|---|
| 40 | 40 | | 306C, or 306D. 13 |
|---|
| 41 | 41 | | ‘‘(b) A |
|---|
| 42 | 42 | | DDITIONALASSISTANCE.— 14 |
|---|
| 43 | 43 | | ‘‘(1) G |
|---|
| 44 | 44 | | RANTS AND LOANS.—The Secretary may 15 |
|---|
| 45 | 45 | | provide a grant, a zero percent interest loan, or a 1 16 |
|---|
| 46 | 46 | | percent interest loan to an eligible entity. 17 |
|---|
| 47 | 47 | | ‘‘(2) E |
|---|
| 48 | 48 | | XISTING LOANS.—The Secretary may— 18 |
|---|
| 49 | 49 | | ‘‘(A) forgive principal or interest or modify 19 |
|---|
| 50 | 50 | | any term or condition of an outstanding loan 20 |
|---|
| 51 | 51 | | made to an eligible entity; or 21 |
|---|
| 52 | 52 | | ‘‘(B) refinance part or all of any other loan 22 |
|---|
| 53 | 53 | | (if the purpose of the loan is an eligible purpose 23 |
|---|
| 54 | 54 | | under section 306(a)(1) or 306C) made to an 24 |
|---|
| 55 | 55 | | eligible entity. 25 |
|---|
| 56 | 56 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S783.IS S783 |
|---|
| 57 | 57 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
|---|
| 58 | 58 | | •S 783 IS |
|---|
| 59 | 59 | | ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may not pro-1 |
|---|
| 60 | 60 | | vide assistance under paragraph (2) with respect to 2 |
|---|
| 61 | 61 | | a loan made under paragraph (1). 3 |
|---|
| 62 | 62 | | ‘‘(c) E |
|---|
| 63 | 63 | | LIGIBLEPURPOSES.—The Secretary may pro-4 |
|---|
| 64 | 64 | | vide assistance to an eligible entity under subsection (b) 5 |
|---|
| 65 | 65 | | as the Secretary determines is necessary— 6 |
|---|
| 66 | 66 | | ‘‘(1) to ensure that the eligible entity has the 7 |
|---|
| 67 | 67 | | necessary resources to maintain public health, safe-8 |
|---|
| 68 | 68 | | ty, or order; or 9 |
|---|
| 69 | 69 | | ‘‘(2) to address financial hardships of the eligi-10 |
|---|
| 70 | 70 | | ble entity, if the eligible entity is located in a dis-11 |
|---|
| 71 | 71 | | advantaged or economically distressed area, as deter-12 |
|---|
| 72 | 72 | | mined under subsection (d). 13 |
|---|
| 73 | 73 | | ‘‘(d) D |
|---|
| 74 | 74 | | ETERMINATION.—To determine whether an el-14 |
|---|
| 75 | 75 | | igible entity may receive assistance pursuant to subsection 15 |
|---|
| 76 | 76 | | (c)(2), the Secretary shall establish— 16 |
|---|
| 77 | 77 | | ‘‘(1) a residential indicator of affordable water 17 |
|---|
| 78 | 78 | | services in each State or local or geographic area, 18 |
|---|
| 79 | 79 | | calculated using the cost per household as a percent-19 |
|---|
| 80 | 80 | | age of median household income; and 20 |
|---|
| 81 | 81 | | ‘‘(2) factors relating to disadvantaged or eco-21 |
|---|
| 82 | 82 | | nomically distressed areas.’’. 22 |
|---|
| 83 | 83 | | Æ |
|---|
| 84 | 84 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 Mar 14, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S783.IS S783 |
|---|
| 85 | 85 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
|---|