Public Works Employment Act

(Measure passed Senate, amended, roll call #48 (74-11))

=Title I: Public Works Employment= - Public Works Employment Act - Authorizes the appropriation of a sum not to exceed $4,000,000,000 for fiscal year 1978, for the purpose of making grants: (1) to States and local governments for local public works projects with respect to which unsuccessful applications for grants were made prior to December 23, 1976, under the Public Works Employment Act of 1976; (2) for local public works projects eligible for grants under Title I of the Public Works Employment Act of 1976; and (3) for projects for construction, renovation, repair, or other improvements of health care or rehabilitation facilities owned and operated by private nonprofit entities.

Requires that special consideration be given to projects which would result in energy conservation. Requires that consideration be given to projects which demonstrate a probability of reducing unemployment by stimulating private investment, generating construction in addition to the project, and creating new long-term employment opportunities.

Stipulates that up to two and one-half percent of funds appropriated shall be available for projects requested by Indian tribes or Alaska Native villages. Sets forth guidelines for making grants under this title including a grant allocation formula based on unemployment rates. Stipulates that grants under this title shall be made only for projects where the applicant gives assurance that the project will be accessible to the handicapped and the elderly and that the project will not have a significant adverse effect on the human environment.

Directs the President to study public works investment in the United States and the implications for the future of recent trends in such investment.

Directs the President to study the economic stimulus created by public works projects and the tax expenditures per job. Directs the President to study the impact of public works upon the employment of minority groups.

Requires special consideration for specified disabled veterans and Vietnam veterans in employment related to carrying out public works projects.

Requires, with specified exceptions, that funded projects procure at least ten percent of their materials and supplies from minority business enterprises. Requires, with specified exceptions, that all supplies and materials used in funded projects be products of the United States.

=Title II: Federal Water Pollution Control Act Authorizations= - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to authorize the appropriation of $350,000,000 per fiscal year for fiscal years 1976, 1977, and 1978, to carry out the general purposes of the Act. Authorizes the appropriation of $148,800,000 per fiscal year for fiscal years 1977 and 1978 for specified research, development, and demonstration programs.

Authorizes the appropriation of $75,000,000 per fiscal year for fiscal years 1976, 1977, and 1978, for grants to State and interstate programs. Authorizes the appropriation of $25,000,000 per fiscal year for fiscal years 1977 and 1978 for grants to States and localities for waste treatment facilities. Specifies a formula for allotment of such funds to States.

Adds $40,000,000 to the construction grant program for each of fiscal years 1977 and 1978 to ensure that no State receives less than one-third of one percent of the total allotment.

Revises procedures for allocation of grants for areawide waste treatment management programs. Authorizes the appropriation of $150,000,000 per fiscal year for fiscal years 1977 and 1978 for such grants.

Authorizes the appropriation of $150,000,000 per fiscal year for fiscal years 1976, 1977, and 1978, for grants to States for clean lakes programs as authorized by the Act.

=Title III: Federal Public Works Project Continuation= - Negates any prospective deferral or rescission by the Executive branch of funding for specified water projects, with the exception of those appropriations or expenditures relating to the Meramec Park Lake project in Missouri.