Amends TCA Title 68, Chapter 221.

This bill makes the following changes to present law concerning clean water:<br /> <br /> (1) Removes reference to the director of the division of construction grants and loans within the department of environment and conservation from the Wastewater Facilities Act of 1987;<br /> <br /> (2) Expands the definition of "wastewater facility" to include stormwater facilities, stormwater management projects, or other eligible projects as outlined in the Clean Water Act, thereby making such projects eligible for financing via low cost loans to local governments under the Wastewater Facilities Act of 1987;<br /> <br /> (3) Present law authorizes the department and the Tennessee local development authority to use any federal funds allocated to the state to make loans and to subsidize loans made through the program authorized by the Wastewater Facilities Act of 1987, through such mechanisms as forgiveness of principal and negative interest rates. This bill replaces the reference to "negative interest rates" with "other loan forgiveness, and through refinancing or restructuring of debt";<br /> <br /> (4) Authorizes the commissioner to promulgate emergency rules for the programs authorized by the Wastewater Facilities Act of 1987 and the Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund Act of 1997 if deemed to be necessary by the commissioner to make full use of available federal funding;<br /> <br /> (5) Makes the same change as described in (3) to the Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund Act of 1997;<br /> <br /> (6) Under present law, in any case in which the state makes a loan pursuant to the Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund Act of 1997 to a water system serving a disadvantaged community or a community that the state expects to become a disadvantaged community as the result of a proposed project, the state may provide additional subsidization (including forgiveness of principal). For each fiscal year, the total amount of loan subsidies may not exceed 30 percent of the amount of the capitalization grant received by the state for the year. This bill removes the 30 percent cap on subsidies and specifies that the state may provide refinancing or restructuring of debt as alternatives to loan forgiveness; and<br /> <br /> (7) Authorizes the department to establish a grant program to further the purposes of the Wastewater Facilities Act of 1987 and the Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund Act of 1997 utilizing federal funds allocated and state funds appropriated for such purposes. Eligible recipients of the grants must be limited to the types of entities eligible for low-cost loans under the Wastewater Facilities Act of 1987 and the Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund Act of 1997 or otherwise eligible as provided by federal law for the capitalization grants authorized for the loan programs established by such Acts. The commissioner will be authorized to promulgate emergency rules for the grant program if deemed to be necessary by the commissioner to make full use of available federal funding.<br />