April 5, 2021 - Introduced by Senators Cowles, Marklein, Felzkowski, Ballweg
and Feyen, cosponsored by Representatives Kitchens, Thiesfeldt, Krug,
Armstrong, Cabral-Guevara, Duchow, Edming, James, Knodl, Kurtz,
Loudenbeck, Moses, Mursau, Oldenburg, Petryk, Rozar, Snyder,
Swearingen, Tranel, Wittke and Zimmerman. Referred to Joint Committee
on Finance.

SB271,1,3 1An Act to create 281.73 of the statutes; relating to: allocation of federal
2American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funds for certain environmental purposes
3and granting rule-making authority.

This bill requires the governor to allocate funds accepted under the federal
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) for certain environmental purposes.

Under current law, the Department of Administration and the Department of
Natural Resources administer the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program (SDWLP),
which provides low-interest loans and grants in the form of principal forgiveness to
municipalities for drinking water infrastructure projects to help them comply with
federal drinking water standards. DNR establishes a funding list for SDWLP
projects, and DOA allocates funding for those projects. The current program does not
provide financial assistance to private users of public water systems.

The bill requires the governor to allocate $40,000,000 of the ARPA funds
received by the state to provide, under SDWLP, principal forgiveness to
municipalities to 1) cover up to 50 percent of the costs of lead service line replacement
on private property or 2) provide grants to private users of public water systems to
cover up to 50 percent of the costs of lead service line replacement on private property.