Sponsors
The bill speeds and lowers the cost of water infrastructure repairs by allowing projects to bypass Section 106 historic-preservation review, but does so at the cost of reduced protections for historic and cultural resources—disproportionately risking harm to Indigenous and marginalized communities—and raises the possibility of legal challenges.
Communities served by affected water systems (rural and urban) will see faster restoration of safe water and reduced service outages because rehabilitation and upgrades can move forward more quickly.
Local governments and water utilities can complete rehabilitation and upgrade projects faster by opting to skip Section 106 historic-preservation reviews when exclusions are requested.
Project sponsors (and ultimately ratepayers or taxpayers) may face lower administrative costs and potentially lower overall project costs because the review burden is reduced.
Indigenous and other historically marginalized communities near water infrastructure face increased risk that upgrades will damage archaeological or cultural resources due to reduced oversight.
Communities may lose historic-preservation review for projects affecting historic sites, weakening protections for cultural and historic resources.
Eliminating Section 106 review could prompt legal challenges from stakeholders, producing delays and litigation costs for agencies, local governments, and taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Allows federal agencies to exclude Section 106 historic-preservation review for projects primarily rehabilitating or upgrading public water systems or treatment works when the sponsor requests exclusion.
Introduced December 2, 2025 by Stephanie I. Bice · Last progress December 2, 2025
Waives the federal historic-preservation review known as Section 106 for federal projects that are carried out primarily to structurally rehabilitate or upgrade public water systems or treatment works, if the entity carrying out the project asks the responsible federal agency to exclude the project from Section 106. Key terms—such as “public water system,” “treatment works,” “responsible agency,” and “undertaking”—are defined by cross-reference to existing federal law and regulations.