Committee members reviewed Clean Water Fund board recommendations and agency information for FY26 funding and agreed with staff recommendations to include: $3,000,000 for Agency of Agriculture water‑quality grants (to be administered through VHCB and similar partners) and $4,000,000 for municipal pollution grants to be awarded to the highest ranked projects on the FY26 priority list.

Why it matters: committee staff emphasized that demand outstrips available funds; the $3,000,000 request for agriculture water‑quality grants and the $4,000,000 municipal pollution allocation would be used to advance projects prioritized by the Clean Water Fund board and the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR). Members noted many applications are pending and that the state has existing balances in revolving funds.

Key details from the discussion
Staff described prior balances and pipeline: the agencies reported 83 drinking‑water applications and 25 clean‑water applications in current cycles and discussed the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funds that were “parked” earlier — committee staff reported roughly $14.5 million of IIJA funds that had been set aside for drinking water match. The committee asked staff to confirm how prior federal earmarks and leftover balances affected FY26 requests.

The committee signaled support for the $3,000,000 and $4,000,000 figures for FY26 but asked staff to follow up with the agencies for updated project lists and to verify how much of earlier appropriations remain unspent or in process.

Next steps
Staff will confirm outstanding balances, coordinate with the Clean Water Fund Board and agencies, and finalize bill language and spreadsheet entries for the drinking‑ and wastewater revolving loan funds and municipal pollution grant items.

Ending
Committee members said they expect the requested amounts to be needed to address a backlog of priority projects and directed staff to reconcile fund balances in the spreadsheet for the next draft.