Washington Report – September 8, 2025

APWA Immediate Past President Dominick Longobardi is scheduled to testify before the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, Sept. 10, about the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act;
The SPEED Act would amend the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to clarify ambiguous provisions and facilitate a more efficient, effective, and timely environmental review process;
This legislation aligns with APWA’s public policy priorities on streamlining, and APWA has been consistently weighing-in on this issue, most recently submitting a letter supporting this bill when it was introduced in July;
Click here to watch the 10 a.m. ET hearing, Sept. 10.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) will expire Sept. 30, 2026, and it is time for Congress to focus on what will follow the largest broad federal investment made in our nation’s infrastructure;
APWA’s focus areas for surface transportation reauthorization include prioritizing safety, resilience, streamlining, and investing in the workforce;
Advocating on what is best for public works is APWA’s top priority, though to increase impact, APWA regularly works with dozens of organizations in D.C. on common priority areas and recent examples include:
The above letters relate to transportation, APWA solo and with infrastructure partners, as well as letters submitted to Congress and federal agencies on all APWA policy priorities and may be found and downloaded on our APWA Advocacy Letters webpage.

Many resources are available from the U.S. Dept. of Transportation (DOT) to keep up on funding opportunities, news related to IIJA, upcoming events, and key contacts:
- DOT Intergovernmental Update being held Sept. 10 at 1:30 p.m. ET;
- DOT social media
- Notice of Funding Opportunity from FHWA on Tribal Transportation Program Safety Funds
- APWA Government Affairs social media is on LinkedIn and X.

APWA led a coalition letter with local and state government and water associations and more than 400 of our joint membership in support of fully funding the Clean Water and Drinking Water state revolving funds (SRFs) and the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA);
Prior to the August recess, the House and Senate appropriations committees passed their FY26 infrastructure/environment bills out of committee;
Because the recommended funding allocations differ, the House and Senate will need to come up with an agreed-upon number before a budget can be passed;
No hearing has yet been scheduled for these appropriations bills.

The President’s FY26 budget proposal recommended cutting 90% of the Clean Water and Drinking Water state revolving funds (SRFs) and defunding the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA);
While the recently passed FY26 appropriations bills have reinstated some of the original funding, these bills are still recommending the SRFs get $2B less than previous funding levels;
APWA is calling on you to ACT NOW and tell your federal representatives to support full funding for WIFIA and the SRFs;
Sign up to receive APWA legislative action alerts by texting PWX to 52886.

September is National Preparedness Month, and this year’s theme is “Preparedness Starts at Home;”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the lead federal agency, has its Ready Campaign’s 2025 National Preparedness Month toolkit;
Visit Ready.gov for additional preparedness information and tips.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) seeks feedback on its 2025 Critical Infrastructure (CI) Program Customer Survey;
This survey is collecting data from state, local, tribal, and territorial critical-infrastructure organizations across the U.S. to inform how CISA selects services to offer critical infrastructure organizations in the future;
Congress has directed CISA to provide scalable commercial cybersecurity-shared services to the critical-infrastructure community to detect and prevent cybersecurity threats and mitigate vulnerabilities to improve America’s cybersecurity risk posture.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has released its updated National Geologic Map;
The Cooperative National Geologic Map was created using more than 100 preexisting geologic maps from various sources and is the first nationwide map to provide users with access to multiple layers of geologic data for one location;
This feature allows users to access the map’s multiple data sources to understand the ancient history of the nation recorded in rocks;
Currently, the map covers the lower 48 states, but plans are underway to add content for Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories.

The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is expanding its Flood Inundation Mapping Tool;
The new mapping tool covers approximately two-thirds of the continental United States.

FEMA will host a course, “E0431-Understanding the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC),” at the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, Maryland;
This course is designed to enhance understanding for emergency management, response and recovery personnel at state, tribal, territorial and local levels that use the EMAC system;
While there is no deadline to apply, space is limited–for more information, visit the NETC Online Admissions Application page or contact FEMA National Disaster and Emergency Management University Response and Recovery with questions at fema-emi-randr@fema.dhs.gov.

The Joint SAFECOM National Council of Statewide Interoperability Coordinators (NCSWIC) Project 25 (P25) Public Safety User Needs Working Group (UNWG) released a three-video series providing recommendations and guidance on land mobile radio (LMR) encryption;
P25 LMR systems provide critical tactical and emergency communications capabilities to public safety agencies nationwide;
These videos highlight the various types of LMR encryption available to first responders;
Phil Mann of Gainesville, Florida, serves as APWA’s member representative with SAFECOM.

Sept. 9 at 10:15 a.m., the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing, Public Safety Communications in the United States;
Sept. 9 at 11 a.m., the House Appropriations Committee will hold a full committee markup for the FY26 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill;
Sept. 10 at 10 a.m., the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold a full committee hearing on the Water Resources Development Acts Implementation: Review and Oversight of Past Provisions;
Sept 10 at 10 a.m., the House Natural Resources Committee will hold a full committee hearing on the SPEED Act and other NEPA amendments;
Sept. 10 at 10 a.m., the House Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing on the FY26 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies bill;
Sept. 11 at 9:30 a.m., the Senate Committee on Appropriations will hold a hearing on the FY26 Homeland Security Appropriations Act.