ASDWA’s Letter on Impacts to SRFs from Earmarks
ASDWA recently sent a letter to the Hill (below) to educate Members and their staff about the impacts to the State Revolving Loan Funds (SRFs) from Congressionally Directed Spending, otherwise known as earmarks. The current use of the State and Tribal Assistance Grant (STAG) funding for the earmarks, as opposed to separate appropriations, impacts the long-term sustainability of the SRFs even with the additional infrastructure funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). With Congress using the SRF capitalization grants to fund “earmarks,” DWSRF funding was reduced by $393 million or 35% and, for the CWSRF, the funding was reduced by $425 million or 27%.
Additionally, the SRFs are state operated programs. States expend a significant amount of time and resources with staff, project management, project inspections, day-to-day operations, etc. The “earmarks” reduce the funding through set-asides that is available for state staff to appropriately manage these critical funding programs and to provide the appropriate technical assistance to disadvantaged communities.
Beyond the negative impacts on long-term viability, using the SRF capitalization grants to fund “earmarks” ignores the states’ proven processes for prioritizing the limited funding for water infrastructure. As a result, construction of the highest priority projects in a state will be delayed, which can potentially increase the risk to public health and the environment.
ASDWA’s letter parallels an earlier letter from the Council of Infrastructure Financing Authorities (CIFA) that raises the same concerns with the current funding process for earmarks.
