Water Infrastructure Subcontractor and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2025
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Water Infrastructure Subcontractor and Taxpayer Protection Act amends WIFIA project eligibility and selection requirements. For construction projects receiving Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act assistance, the Secretary or EPA Administrator must ensure payment and performance security. State or local payment and performance security satisfies the requirement only if applicable law requires it and the amount is at least 50 percent of the total construction contract. If no state or local requirement applies, or if the required amount is below that 50 percent threshold, the Secretary or Administrator must require payment and performance bonds meeting the federal construction bond requirements in 40 U.S.C. 3131(b)(1) and (2).
Who Benefits and How
Water infrastructure subcontractors benefit because payment security reduces the risk of nonpayment on WIFIA-funded construction. Taxpayers benefit if performance security protects federally assisted projects from contractor default costs. Surety bond providers benefit when projects lacking sufficient state or local security must use federal bond requirements. EPA and Army Corps WIFIA administrators benefit from a clear payment and performance security standard.
Who Bears the Burden and How
WIFIA project sponsors must ensure qualifying payment and performance security before construction proceeds. Prime contractors may face added bonding costs when state or local security is absent or below 50 percent. The EPA Administrator and Secretary must evaluate state and local security rules against the 50 percent threshold. Borrowers may face higher project costs if federal bond requirements apply.
Key Provisions
- Requires payment and performance security for WIFIA-assisted construction projects.
- Allows state or local security to satisfy the rule only when it covers at least 50 percent of the construction contract.
- Requires federal payment and performance bonds when no adequate state or local requirement applies.
- Protects subcontractors and taxpayers from payment failure and construction performance risk.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires payment and performance security for WIFIA-assisted water infrastructure construction, using state or local security if it reaches 50 percent of the contract amount and federal bond requirements otherwise.
Key Policy Areas
Water Infrastructure, Construction, Federal Loans
Primary Purpose
Requires payment and performance security for WIFIA-assisted water infrastructure construction, using state or local security if it reaches 50 percent of the contract amount and federal bond requirements otherwise.
Policy Domains
Resolution provisions
Identified Gains
- Water infrastructure subcontractors
- Taxpayers
- Surety bond providers
- WIFIA administrators
Identified Costs
- WIFIA project sponsors
- Prime contractors
- EPA Administrator
- Borrowers
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Bost (for himself and Mr. Pappas) introduced the following …
Referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.
Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in …
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Prime contractors, Water infrastructure subcontractors
Positive-direction: Water infrastructure subcontractors
Negative-direction: Prime contractors
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology