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Committee advances proposal to create a short-term fund for water and wastewater projects
Summary
Lawmakers and water-system managers told the Senate committee a proposed fund (House Bill 1681) would help counties and cities address urgent water and wastewater infrastructure needs; the committee voted the bill out after testimony from utilities and debate over funding sources and program structure.
A bill to authorize a short-term fund to support water and wastewater infrastructure projects was presented to the Senate Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development Committee as House Bill 1681.
The bill sponsor (presented in committee as a state representative) told the committee the measure responds to large, documented needs for water and sewer repairs and upgrades across the state. The sponsor summarized prior surveys and higher estimates of need: "When we started looking at this, 4 years ago, this was a $5,000,000,000 tag ... in 2024 ... it was 9,000,000,000 plus in water sewer or water and wastewater needs in Arkansas," the sponsor said. The sponsor described a structure that would split funds between larger,…
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