Washington Report – October 30, 2023

After three candidates fell short, House Republicans united around Louisiana U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson, who previously served as vice chair of the House Republican Conference and chair of the Republican Study Committee;
A shutdown remains a looming threat as Congress took three weeks to elect a new speaker, leaving little time to pass or negotiate FY24 appropriations bills;
Speaker Johnson has proposed a continuing resolution that would extend funding levels from Nov. 17 to either Jan. 15 or April 15 depending on what agreement can be reached by the Republican conference;
The situation remains in flux and subject to potentially rapid changes as lawmakers haggle over cuts, foreign aid, and policy changes relating to the border.

The Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency (CISA) will again serve as the lead federal agency during Critical Infrastructure and Resilience Month;
Visit the CISA website during November for additional information and best practice recommendations.

The Biden administration announced it will seek $23.5B from Congress to address disaster response;
The additional funding request includes:
- $9B to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Disaster Relief Fund (DRF)
- $2.8B for the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to address housing and infrastructure needs caused by major disasters
- $634M to the U.S. Dept. of Transportation (DOT) to repair federal highways and roads damaged in disasters
- $127M for U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster loans
- Unspecified amount of funds for recovery needs related to wildfires on Maui, the Guam typhoon, hurricanes in Florida and the southeastern U.S., floods in California and Vermont, tornadoes in Mississippi and other natural disasters across the nation.

Under a new finalized rule, facilities will no longer be able to invoke a “de minimis” provision from the Trump administration that allowed them to avoid reporting releases of small quantities of PFAS when they represent less than 1% of a total mixture;
PFAS will be considered “chemicals of special concern” reported to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI);
The designation means facilities will have to share data on all releases when exceeding thresholds of 0.1 grams up to 100 pounds;
EPA justified the move saying many PFAS are used in low concentrations in mixtures;
Advocates opposed the exemption saying it ran contrary to Congress’s intent requiring EPA to routinely add new PFAS to the TRI, in turn making relevant industries inform regulators of the quantities and types of chemicals they release;
TRI data indicated a climb in toxic releases of various contaminants with emissions rising 8% in 2021 including a spike in PFAS primarily in the hazardous waste sector.

In its 6th IIJA webinar on the historic infrastructure law, the APWA Government Affairs Team hosted U.S. Reps. Scott Peters (D-CA-50) and Garret Graves (R-LA-06), both leaders in their respective parties on permitting reform;
APWA President Gary Losier and CEO Scott Grayson moderated the event;
Click here for a recording of the webinar, and feel free to share it.