S. 2094: Clean Water Affordability Act of 2012

112th Congress · introduced 2012-02-09 · Environmental Protection · Latest: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

federal

Follow this bill, step by step

Where it came from: introduced 2012-02-09 · official record
Who proposed it: Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH] · what a sponsor is
What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
Where it stands now: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.

What does this mean?

Official title

Clean Water Affordability Act of 2012

Plain summary

Clean Water Affordability Act of 2012- Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to: (1) make grants to states for the purpose of providing grants to local or regional authorities or municipalities for use in planning, designing, and constructing treatment works to intercept, transport, control, or treat municipal combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and sanitary sewer overflows; and (2) make grants directly to local or regional authorities or municipalities for such purposes. Requires the Administrator to establish a comprehensive and integrated planning approach to the obligations under the national pollutant discharge elimination system of a publicly owned treatment work (POTW) or a municipal separate storm sewer system. Authorizes states to approve a permit to discharge into navigable waters with a term of more than 5 years but fewer than 25 years if a permittee has an approved interrelated plan. Requires the Administrator to: (1) amend the CSO control policy to allow a POTW that has an approved long-term control plan to modify the plan to incorporate green infrastructure and energy-efficient technologies on a showing that the use of such technologies can cost-effectively help to meet the terms of the POTW's CSO compliance obligations, and (2) allow for 30 years to meet compliance obligations under such modified plans. Requires the Administrator to: (1) ensure that EPA's Office of Water, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, Office of Research and Development, and Office of Policy promote the use of green infrastructure in, and coordinate the integration of green infrastructure into, permitting programs, planning efforts, research, technical assistance, and funding guidance; (2) direct EPA's regional offices to promote and integrate the use of green infrastructure within the region; (3) promote sharing of green infrastructure information and provide technical assistance regarding green infrastructure approaches for reducing water pollution, protecting water resources, complying with regulatory requirements, and achieving other environmental, public health, and community goals; and (4) establish a voluntary green infrastructure portfolio standard to increase the percentage of annual water managed by eligible entities that use green infrastructure. Allows loans from a state water pollution control revolving fund to have a term of the lesser of 30 years or the design life of the project to be financed with the proceeds of the loan. (Currently the term of the loan is capped at 20 years.) Requires the Administrator, no later than December 31, 2010 (currently, 2003) and periodically thereafter, to report to Congress on recommended funding levels for sewer overflow control grants. Requires the Administrator to update the guidance entitled "Combined Sewer Overflows -- Guidance for Financial Capability Assessment and Schedule Development," dated February 1997, to ensure that the evaluations by the Administrator of financial capability assessment and schedule development meet specified criteria, including criteria used in assessing financial capability of a community to make investments necessary to make water quality-related improvements and in implementing water quality-related improvements. Requires such updated guidance to indicate that it is appropriate for the reconsideration and modification of financial capability determinations and implementation schedules to be based on such criteria.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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A “Yea” vote

If it passes both chambers and is signed, it becomes law.

A “Nay” vote

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What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

Clean Water Affordability Act of 2012

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)

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Alternatives

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How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH] · 1 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Words on this page, explained (3)

Appropriation: Money a legislature sets aside by law for a specific purpose. Government agencies may spend public money only as it has been appropriated.
Authorization: A law that creates or continues a government program and says what it may do, often with a suggested spending ceiling. An authorization alone does not provide money; a separate appropriation does.
Obligation: A binding promise by a government agency to pay money, for example by signing a contract or awarding a grant. Spending data such as USAspending.gov counts money when it is obligated, which can be before it is actually paid out.

Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.

Sources

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
Congress.gov
Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-112s2094.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/112/s>

Record fed-us-cong112-s2094 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong112 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong112