Relates to the wastewater infrastructure and drinking water program; appropriation

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why James Skoufis says this is needed

In 2022, the Construction Industry Council collaborated with Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress on a report that examined the past 10 years of infrastructure investments across a nine-county region directly north of New York City. The most urgent findings of the report were related to water and sewer infrastructure. Since 2015, the NYS Legislature has appropriated approximately $4 billion to upgrade these systems, but only 18% of that money reached our communities. The research showed that many small and medium-sized communities found the application process chal- lenging, the up-front costs intimidating, or they wrongly believed the programs were not intended for their villages, hamlets, or towns. As a result, money is not reaching the communities so desperately in need of these infrastructure upgrades. This legislation is one of two steps that can be taken legislatively in the near term to minimize these challenges facing small and medium communities. Currently, Environmental Planning Grants are managed by New York State. Environmental Facilities Corporation steers small and medium towns to state funding to provide vital help with up-front engineering assist- ance. In prior years, about 3 million dollars were awarded statewide for wastewater projects annually. This same engineering/planning is also necessary to improve access to drinking water funds. This legislation will expand the current Wastewater Infrastructure Engineering Planning Grant to include Drinking Water so that water quality projects will be affordable for all communities.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.