The dust has settled after four weeks of intense negotiation on legislation designed to stimulate the economy and put people back to work. On Tuesday February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009– that’s not really news to anyone at this point. What may be news is the final language of the key sections that we have been tracking; Title I which provides funding to communities through the US Department of Agriculture’s rural development programs, and Title VII which increases funding in the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds for water infrastructure projects.

We have selected key language from the ARRA and republished it here for your review. The important sections of Title I begin on page 3 of our abridged version, and the discussion of the Revolving Funds in Title VII begin on page 6.

In the end, not less than 50% of the capitalization grants (which provide money for the Revolving Funds) must be used for subsidization for “shovel ready” projects. No less than 20% of the dollars are to be used for green infrastructure projects. The total amount of funding was $6b; a division of $4b and $2b between the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water revolving fund programs, respectively.

Thanks for being patient with us as we’ve tried to keep you up to date with all of the changes. Now that the ink has dried on ARRA, we can go to work.

Please contact us if you have any questions.