Clean Water Current
Legislation Introduced to Provide Greater Use of Private Activity Bonds
(August 28, 2018) – Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) re-introduced bipartisan legislation last week, S.3358, the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Investment Act of 2018, which would modify the tax code to remove state volume caps on the issuances of government private activity bonds (PABs) used by water and wastewater systems for infrastructure investment.
PABs are a form of tax-exempt financing for state and local governments, in conjunction with a private entity, to aid in the funding of a particular infrastructure project. Currently, Federal law limits the use of PABs through state volume caps for water and wastewater projects. The legislation builds upon the use of current federal investment in water and wastewater infrastructure by providing public utilities with another financing tool to encourage increased investment to meet our nation’s growing water and wastewater needs. Similar bipartisan legislation was introduced the House of Representatives earlier this Congress, H.R. 3009
For more information, please contact Jason Isakovic, NACWA’s Legislative Director.