Federal Issues Briefing WEE Winter Meeting: Federal Issues Briefing Lynn Schloesser February 25, 2019

2019 Agenda: Infrastructure House T&I Chairman DeFazio’s approach: Transportation Water Vertical(?) Hazardous waste Emphasis on funding/financing

2019 Agenda: Infrastructure Potential Pay-Fors: Penny for Progress – issue 30-year bonds, repaid with an annual gas tax increase Passenger Facility Charge – raise/uncap to fund airport projects Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund – spend down existing balance to align funding with revenues Penny for Progress – issue 30-year bonds, repaid with an annual gas tax increase indexed to construction cost inflation and corporate average fuel economy; could raise $500 billion through FY2030. Passenger Facility Charge – raise/uncap current $4.50 limit on PFCs to fund airport projects. Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund – spend down existing balance to align funding with revenues.

2019 Agenda: Infrastructure Senate/Administration approach: FAST Act Reauthorization Catalyst for larger package Open to new revenues? WRDA Corps projects, water & wastewater provisions

2019 Agenda: Infrastructure Finance Proposals (transportation, water, public buildings) Rebuild America Act (Blumenauer) – increase fuels taxes National VMT pilot program (S. Graves) Move America Act (Wyden, Hoeven) – creates new tax-exempt PAB and infrastr. tax credit finance P3s (transportation, water and sewer) BUILD Act (Cornyn, Warner) – increases PAB cap from $15 billion to $20.8 billion for highway, freight projects TIFIA: RAPID Act (Cornyn, Kaine); TIFIA for Airports (Duckworth) Private Activity Bonds for Public Buildings (Blumenauer, Kelly) Rebuild America Act – increase gas and diesel tases 5 cents per gallon every year for 5 years, indexes for inflation National VMT Move America Act (Wyden, Hoeven) – creates new tax-exempt PAB and infrastructure tax credit to finance P3s; qualified projects include roads, bridges, transit, ports, rail, airports, water and sewer facilities, and broadband. BUILD Act (Cornyn, Warner) – increases PAB cap from $15 billion to $20.8 billion for highway, freight projects RAPID Act (Senators Cornyn and Kaine) – improve TIFIA: clarify eligibility/project credit rating requirements, streamline applications. TIFIA for Airports (Senator Duckworth) – expands TIFIA eligibility to airport projects, capped at $10 million per year. Private Activity Bonds for Public Buildings (Representatives Earl Blumenauer and Mike Kelly) – $5 billion in PABs for public buildings. 

Agenda for the New Congress Energy Bipartisan energy bill in Senate (“all of the above”) Green New Deal effects? Eminent Domain? NEPA, Federal Power Act? fossil/nuclear? Cyber Security? FERC Commissioner Vacancies - two to fill in 2019

Agenda for the New Congress Climate Change: Mitigation, Adaptation (review of 2018 disaster supplemental spending, DRRA implementation) Senate – Republican control - more measured approach House – Democrat control – Green New Deal Carbon management with substitution of fossil inputs for renewables: energy, agriculture, transportation (high-speed rail) manufacturing; carbon storage (soils, afforestation) to achieve net-zero emissions Socio-economic mobilization for benefit of “frontline and vulnerable communities” (education, jobs, …) GND implementation calls for an historic scale of mobilization comparable to WWII and the New Deal, but, by comparison, to deploy a broader more ambitious set of processes and policies to assure collaboration and shared benefits with “frontline and vulnerable communities” (“migrant communities, deindustrialized communities, depopulated rural communities, the poor, low-income workers, women, the elderly, the unhoused, people with disabilities, and youth”) including training, education, guaranteed local jobs, unionization, community investments with public ownership stakes, among other things. GND implementation is to assure that “eminent domain is not abused.”

Agenda for the New Congress Water and Environment Issues Superfund – efforts to reinstate the tax emerging contaminants a new driver (PFAS) climate change impacts on sites viewed as infrastructure issue PFAS – focus on accelerating MCL determination, funding for remediation WOTUS – Comments due April 15, 2019.

Agenda for the New Congress International: Trade agreements EX-IM Bank USAID “Transparency” legislation – mandate use of software to track computer usage Tax – extenders and technical corrections carbon, superfund, fuels?