Local infrastructure funding depends on budget and water negotiations

The final resolution to our infrastructure priority probably will not be resolved until the very end of session. The state capital budget is almost always one of the final bills to pass in any session but this year is even stretching that. Right now, the two chambers are not even talking to each other. Capital budget negotiations are currently on hold as the Senate is insisting that the House and Governor agree to a resolution to the Hirst water resources issues. Negotiations on that front are slow going. The disposition of Public Works Trust Fund (PWTF), Model Toxics Control Accounts, and the Centennial Clean Water fund are waiting for resolution of this impasse.

We have been in contact with budget writers in both chambers and continue to hear positive signals on funding for the PWTF construction loan list and the prospects for final passage of the PWTF reform proposal that AWC and other stakeholders have been working on. All of that progress may be for naught if budget negotiators cannot settle other unrelated issues.