S105 - 2021 Appropriations Act. (SL 2021-180)

Overview: Section 12.14 of S.L. 2021-180 establishes the Local Assistance for Stormwater Infrastructure Investments Fund (Fund), a special fund within the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), to be used to provide grants to eligible entities for projects that will improve or create infrastructure for controlling stormwater quantity and quality.

A city or county may be eligible to qualify for a grant under this Fund if it documents a specific stormwater issue and demonstrates that it would experience significant hardship raising the revenue necessary to finance stormwater management activities itself. Nonprofit entities and regional council of governments can qualify as eligible entities if they partner with a city or county.

DEQ may provide two categories of grants from the Fund:

• Construction grant: May be awarded to an eligible entity for developing and implementing new stormwater utility or stormwater control measures (SCM), rehabilitating existing SCMs, or for the installation of innovative technologies or nature-based solutions. These grants may not exceed $15 million per grant.
• Planning grant: May be awarded to an eligible entity for research or investigative studies, alternative analyses, the preparation of engineering concept plans or designs, and similar activities intended to help an eligible entity determine the best solutions for the entity's stormwater quality or quantity issue. These grants may not exceed $500,000 per grant.

DEQ must report on the activities of the Fund, including an accounting of expenditures, a description and status update of funded projects, and recommendations for legislative changes and additional funding needs for small and financially distressed communities to comply with stormwater standards and mitigate the impacts of stormwater-related flood events. This report is due beginning September 1, 2022, to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources and various other entities, and continues each year until all the funds have been expended by grant recipients.

This section became effective July 1, 2021.