Congress is set to vote in the coming days on a sweeping two-year budget deal that will raise the federal debt limit until mid-2021 and increase current spending caps put in place by the 2011 Budget Control Act by $320 billion over the next two years.

NACWA convened its 49th Annual Association Business Meeting during the 2019 Utility Leadership Conference in Minneapolis last week. In addition to reports from NACWA’s President, Treasurer and CEO, the membership took action to elect a slate of new and returning Board Members and to amend the Association’s bylaws.

NACWA’s 2019 Utility Leadership Conference drew more than 200 participants last week to Minneapolis, MN to discuss a variety of emerging utility leadership challenges – including workforce, rate setting and affordability, and community and customer engagement – and how today’s clean water utility executives can best positions themselves to adapt to these challenges at both the national and local levels.

EPA announced last week that it has received 51 requests in the third round of funding for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program totaling $6.6 billion, which exceeds the $6 billion EPA has available in funding for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019. This demonstrates the critical need for investment in our nation’s water infrastructure and the strong interest in the WIFIA program.

The US House of Representatives passed PFAS legislation last week, as part of the annual National Defense Authorization (NDAA) bill, that has potential serious consequences for public clean water utilities.

EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance released a memo last week further empowering states to take the lead on environmental enforcement issues, furthering EPA’s efforts to place states in the lead of enforcement actions.