Safe Drinking Water Funds & Language

Item 315 #1c

Language
Page 218, line 12, strike "$7,526,131" and insert "$37,526,131".
Page 218, after line 25, insert:
"A.  It is the intent of the General Assembly that the Virginia Department of Health be the agency designated to receive and manage general and nongeneral funds appropriated pursuant to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act of 1996."
Page 218, line 26, strike "A" and insert "B".
Page 218, strike lines 32 through 43.
Page 218, line 32, insert:
"C.  Out of this appropriation, $4,000,000 the first year shall be provided in the form of a loan to the Coalfield Water Development Fund, Inc.  The funds shall be used to assist in the financing of new drinking water facilities in the following rural communities in southwestern Virginia, where no such facilities existed on the date of enactment of the Safe Drinking Water Amendments of 1996, and where such communities are experiencing economic hardship:  the Counties of Lee, Wise, Scott, Dickenson, Russell, Buchanan, Tazewell, and the City of Norton.  The terms and conditions of repayment, including interest rates, shall be agreed upon by the Board of Directors of the Coalfield Water Development Fund, Inc., and the Virginia Department of Health. "

Explanation
(This amendment appropriates $30 million in federal funds allocated to Virginia the first year under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. This amendment deletes language in the introduced budget, which would have authorized the state Department of Health to collect matching funds from local water system operators. New language is added, which designates the Virginia Department of Health as the agency to receive and manage the appropriated funds and provides a portion of the federal funds as a loan to economically stressed localities in Southwest Virginia -- as authorized in the federal legislation.)