Res 0144-2024

Whereas, President Biden and the United States Congress passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which provides $50 billion for water and wastewater projects; and Whereas, In New York State (NYS or State), most of the funds provided by the BIL are controlled by NYS's Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC); and Whereas, The EFC's established guidelines were carefully crafted to prevent New York City (NYC) from equitably receiving needed capital; and Whereas, The guidelines preclude municipalities with a population equal to or greater than 300,000 from receiving interest-free hardship financing from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, which is in part funded by the BIL; and Whereas, Determining hardship financing eligibility on the basis of population unjustly harms NYC, which is the only municipality in NYS with a population equal to or greater than 300,000; and Whereas, The BIL did not impose these guidelines, but rather they are solely a product of EFC decision-making; and Whereas, NYS also limited the water infrastructure funding available to NYC in the Clean Water Infrastructure Act of 2017, which prohibited any one municipality from receiving more than 10 percent of funds authorized by the act, even though NYC represents approximately 44 percent of the State's population; and Whereas, Due to the EFC's hardship financing guidelines and funding restrictions in the Clean Water Infrastructure Act, NYC only received two percent of NYS's water infrastructure grant funds in 2022 and, according to U.S. Representatives Nicole Malliotakis, Grace Meng, and Nydia Vel�zquez, NYC can only receive six percent of the water and wastewater project funding made available to NYS in 2023 through the BIL; and Whereas, These inequitable policies promulgated by NYS disproportionally impact minority and low-income communities; and Whereas, NYC has a majority minority population, the largest minority population in NYS, and 59 percent of the State's disadvantaged communities; and Whereas, Hardship financing is designed to help municipalities pay for water infrastructure projects that benefit the residents of disadvantaged communities, and yet NYC is ineligible to receive this financing solely on the basis of its population; and Whereas, According to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, disadvantaged communities are at heightened risk of being negatively impacted by climate change; and Whereas, Critical water infrastructure upgrades would improve the quality of life, and reduce the risk of climate change, for the millions of NYC residents living in disadvantaged communities; and Whereas, NYS should end its discriminatory environmental and water infrastructure policies that punish NYC and its residents; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation to remove restrictive barriers and uncap funds New York City can receive for water infrastructure upgrades. Session 13 LS #14021 JEB/AGB 03/28/2024 Session 12 LS #14021 JEB 8/1/23