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Summit Strategies April Local Government Update
Budget Update
Reconciliation 2.0
On April 21st, the Senate voted 52-46 to advance a second reconciliation package to fund immigration enforcement and other agencies for three years at $70 billion amid the DHS shutdown. Marathon voting sessions began April 22nd and ended in a 50-48 vote approving the spending package, as Republicans aim to deliver the resolution to the floor by the week of May 11th. While GOP leadership have attempted to keep the package as narrow as possible, some Republicans proposed amendments on a range of conservative priorities such as portions of the SAVE Act, while Democrats similarly targeted affordability issues with occasional bipartisan support.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) has yet to take up the narrow resolution, as many House Republicans do not believe a third reconciliation package including their policy priorities, add- ons, and pay-fors omitted from the current package could be introduced before the midterms.
Without congressional action on reconciliation and the DHS funding bill passed by the Senate in late March, workers across the Department from TSA to FEMA will again miss their paychecks beginning May 8th.
President’s Budget Request
On April 3rd, the White House released its budget request for FY 2027. President Trump has proposed the following:
• $1.7 billion in cuts to state and local assistance from DOJ; • $600 million in cuts to stakeholder and regional development from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA);
• $3.7 billion reduction in EPA funds for state implementation of environmental laws; • And the elimination of Community Violence Intervention (CVI) grants, the Community Development Block Grant (CBDG), and Continuum of Care (COC) program.
As always, the President’s Budget Request is a political message and not an obligation for Congress. Many of the steepest cuts included in the request will likely not be enacted.
Surface Transportation Reauthorization Aiming for Mid-May Markup
A spokesperson for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has delayed the markup to an undetermined date in May. Chair Sam Graves (R-MO-06) had previously announced that the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization bill would be ready for a scheduled markup on April 29th.
The bill proposed by Chair Graves is expected to focus on more traditional transportation issues such as roads and bridges for a total of approximately $500 million, though negotiations are still
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ongoing. Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-WA-02) has reportedly indicated interest in expanding the scope of the bill. In response, Chair Graves has signaled a willingness to surpass $600 billion. In comparison, the reauthorization passed in 2021 totaled $1.2 trillion and previously included provisions bolstering emissions reduction and clean energy.
Chair Graves, with the backing of Ranking Member Larsen, has also proposed a registration fee for electric vehicles (EVs) and potentially hybrids to support the depleted Highway Trust Fund.
A similar fee was proposed in 2025 and would have cost $250 for EVs and $150 for hybrids, but was ultimately dropped. Chair Graves has said that the final fee would likely be lower.
Treasury and IRS Release New Opportunity Zones Guidance On April 6th, the Treasury Department and IRS released new guidance for states about how to designate certain low-income areas as a qualified opportunity zone (QOZ). By doing so, these cities and rural areas can qualify for tax breaks to incentivize private investment and attract increased economic activity.
The program caps the number of census tracts that can be designated an Opportunity Zone at 25 percent of the total number of low-income census tracts within a state. States can begin nominating areas on July 1st and throughout the following 90-day period. The designation itself will take effect on January 1st. Opportunity zones will be renominated every 10 years. The list of 25,332 eligible census tracts can be found here.
Since Last Month
21st Century Road to Housing Act
Offices for House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill (R-AK) and Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) have been engaged in collaborative efforts to amend the bill, which is under threat of being sent to a bicameral conference. Amendments are expected to focus on provisions proposed by the House but dropped by the Senate, as well as limits on private investors included in the version passed in March. A bipartisan coalition of 76 House members from the Build America Caucus and Congressional Real Estate Caucus signed a letter outlining their opposition to the requirement that large private investors sell off their single-family homes after seven years, arguing the limits amounted to a ban on build-to-rent and would further restrict the nation’s housing supply.
Brownfields Reauthorization
Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have indicated they are considering support for a clean reauthorization of the EPA’s Brownfields and Land Revitalization program. This comes after Republicans proposed several bills that generated concern among cities about the program prioritizing the private sector and waiving certain National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements.
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Open Grant Opportunities
Youth Gang Prevention and Intervention Program: This funding opportunity supports the implementation of intervention and suppression strategies to reduce youth gang crime and violence and promote public safety.
• Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention • Funding Range: Floor-Ceiling: $0; $500,000
• Estimated Total Program Funding: $3,500,000
• Application Deadline: May 21, 2026
Safe Streets and Roads for All Funding Opportunity: This funding opportunity supports planning and demonstration activities, as well as projects and strategies to prevent death and serious injury on roads and streets for all users.
• Agency: Department of Transportation
• Funding Range: Floor-Ceiling: $100,000; $25,000,000
• Estimated Total Program Funding: $993,488,194
• Application Deadline: May 26, 2026
Cooperative Landslide Hazard Mapping and Assessment Program: This funding opportunity provides resources to assist state, local, Tribal, and territorial governments in reducing landslide risk through hazard mapping, risk assessments, public education, and interagency coordination. • Agency: U.S. Geological Survey
• Funding Range: Floor-Ceiling: $10,000; $250,000
• Estimated Total Program Funding: $1,000,000
• Application Deadline: June 8, 2026
Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program: This funding opportunity supports highway-rail or pathway-rail grade crossing improvement projects that focus on improving the safety and mobility of people and goods.
• Agency: Federal Railroad Administration
• Funding Range: Floor-Ceiling: $0; $1,146,528,000
• Estimated Total Program Funding: $1,146,528,000
• Application Deadline: June 8, 2026
Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Grant Program: This funding opportunity supports projects that improve the safety, efficiency, and reliability of intercity passenger and freight rail.
• Agency: Federal Railroad Administration
• Funding Range: Floor-Ceiling: $0; $ 2,039,246,480
• Estimated Total Program Funding: $ 2,039,246,480
• Application Deadline: June 22, 2026
Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC): This funding opportunity makes federal funds available to states, U.S. territories, federally recognized tribal governments, and local governments for hazard mitigation activities.
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• Agency: Federal Emergency Management Agency
• Funding Range: Floor-Ceiling: $0; $150,000,000
• Estimated Total Program Funding: $1,000,000,000
• Application Deadline: July 23, 2026
Title X Family Planning Services Grants: This funding opportunity supports voluntary family planning projects that offer a broad range of acceptable and effective family planning methods and services (including natural family planning methods, infertility services, and services for adolescents).
• Agency: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health
• Funding Range: Floor-Ceiling: $200,000; $22,000,000
• Estimated Total Program Funding: $257,000,000
• Application Deadline: January 9, 2027
Legislative Tracking
• H.R. 2289: American Broadband Deployment Act
o Date Introduced: March 24, 2025
o Sponsor: Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA-01)
o Status: Placed on Union Calendar
o Summary: This bill excludes certain requests to modify an existing wireless tower or base station from specified environmental and historic preservation review requirements.
• H.R. 5200: Emergency Reporting Act
o Date Introduced: September 8, 2025
o Sponsor: Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA-07)
o Status: Placed on Senate Calendar
o Summary: This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to investigate and report on emergency communications outages (e.g., 9-1-1 outages).
The FCC must also hold annual public hearings on events for which the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) was activated for at least a week.
• H.R. 6409: FENCES Act
o Date Introduced: December 3, 2025
o Sponsor: Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX-11)
o Status: Passed House
o Summary: This bill modifies standards under the Clean Air Act to exempt states from penalties for emissions outside of the state’s control. The bill specifies that an area within a state may not be designated as a nonattainment area regarding any new or revised NAAQS for a pollutant if the state demonstrates it would be in attainment but for emissions emanating from outside of the country, regardless of whether the emissions resulted from human activity.
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• H.R. 7386: First Responder Network Authority Reauthorization Act o Sponsor: Rep. Neal Dunn (R-FL-02)
o Status: Passed House
o Summary: This bill extends through FY2037 and modifies the management of the First Responder Network. The bill removes the FirstNet Authority’s independent status and establishes an associate administrator in the NTIA to manage the FirstNet Authority’s operations.
Regulatory Tracking
• EPA: Interim Guidance on the Destruction and Disposal of PFAS and Materials Containing PFAS
o Status: Notice
o Deadline: N/A
o Summary: This notice identifies available, effective and methods to remediate, dispose of and destroy PFAS contamination. This non-binding guidance will help decision-makers select technologies based on characteristics of the waste and options available to prevent releases and keep PFAS out of the environment.
• HUD: Implementation Guidance and Inspection Standards for the HOME Investment Partnerships and Housing Trust Fund Programs
o Status: Notice
o Deadline: N/A
o Summary: This notice clarifies applicable HOME and HTF property standards requirements and establishes the specific deficiencies that must be corrected in HOME- and HTF-assisted housing projects based on the unified NSPIRE Standards established in the “National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate:
Inspection Standards” notice published on June 22, 2023.
• HUD: Housing and Community Development Act of 1980: Verification of Eligible Status o Status: Closed
o Deadline: April 21, 2026
o Summary: Section 214 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980, as amended, prohibits the Secretary of HUD from making financial assistance available to persons other than United States citizens or certain categories of eligible noncitizens in HUD’s public and specified assisted housing programs. This proposed rule would revise HUD’s Section 214 implementing regulations to require the verification of U.S. citizenship or the eligible immigration status of all applicants and recipients of assistance under a covered program regardless of age.
• HUD: Establishing Flexibility for Implementation of Work Requirements and Term Limits o Status: Open for comments
o Deadline: May 1, 2026
o Summary: This proposed rule would amend HUD regulations to provide Public Housing Agencies and certain Multifamily Housing Owners with the option to implement work requirements for work-eligible adults and term limits for non-
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elderly, non-disabled families residing in public housing or receiving assistance through Housing Choice Vouchers, Project-Based Vouchers, or Project-Based Rental Assistance.
• EPA: Proposed 2026 Financial Capability Assessment for Clean Water Act Obligations o Status: Open for comments
o Deadline: May 26, 2026
o Summary: EPA invites written feedback on its Clean Water Act Financial Capability Assessment Guidance. The FCA Guidance provides information on how to assess a community’s financial capability as part of negotiating implementation schedules under both permits and enforcement agreements.
• DOJ: Extension of Compliance Dates for Accessibility of Web Information and Services of State and Local Government Entities
o Status: Open for comments
o Deadline: June 22, 2026
o Summary: The compliance date for State and local government entities with a total population of 50,000 or more is extended from April 24, 2026, to April 26, 2027. The compliance date for public entities with a total population of less than 50,000, or any special district government, is extended from April 26, 2027, to April 26, 2028.
Agency Activities
EPA, HHS Announce Historic Actions to Protect Americans from Microplastics and Safeguard Drinking Water
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced coordinated actions to address microplastics contamination. For the first time in the program's history, EPA is including microplastics as a priority contaminant group in its draft Sixth Contaminant Candidate List (CCL 6). CCL 6 also includes pharmaceuticals as a group, along with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), disinfection byproducts, 75 individual chemicals, and nine microbes that may be present in public drinking water systems.
U.S. Department of Labor Updates National Emphasis Program to Protect Workers from Indoor, Outdoor Heat Hazards
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration updated its National Emphasis Program that protects workers from outdoor and indoor heat- related hazards by focusing inspections and outreach in industries and workplaces where heat stress risks are most likely to occur. The revised emphasis program also eliminates the former numerical inspection goal.
FERC to Act on Large Load Interconnection Docket by June 2026 The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said that it will take action by June 2026 on the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANOPR) proceeding initiated by the U.S.
Secretary of Energy. The ANOPR directs the Commission to consider potential reforms
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designed to ensure the timely, orderly, and equitable integration of significant electrical loads—such as the increasing demand from data centers—into the nation’s transmission infrastructure.
EPA Launches PFAS OUT Initiative to Help Proactively Address PFAS in Drinking Water
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrator for Water Jess Kramer launched a new initiative called PFAS OUT. PFAS OUT is a proactive outreach initiative to provide information on resources, including funding and technical assistance, to drinking water systems with PFAS challenges. This outreach will provide practical, interactive location-specific resources, including webinars and information, on how to access funding and technical assistance to address PFAS.
EPA Issues Title V Permitting Guidance to Ensure Certainty for American Businesses and Alleviate Permitting Backlogs
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued guidance to streamline the Clean Air Act title V operating permit renewal process. The guidance reaffirms EPA’s position that the agency’s state, local, and Tribal air permitting partners do not need to require or be provided additional information from the original title V application to meet CAA requirements when an entity is renewing an unchanged permit.
Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Launches Initiative to Eliminate Traffic Bottlenecks Across America
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and the Federal Highway Administration today launched the Freedom to Drive initiative: an opportunity for states to collaborate with USDOT on tackling increasing congestion corridors across America. The Secretary requests Governors identify two to five of their states’ worst congestion bottlenecks and outline actionable steps to address them.
News Roundup
• Cities, states, environmental groups sue EPA over repeal of mercury and air toxics standards. Smart Cities Dive
• New EPA Initiative Targets Struggling Rural Drinking Water Systems. Governing • ‘Creepy surveillance’: why some cities are shutting down Flock cameras amid privacy concerns. The Guardian
• Pro-Iran hackers appear to ramp up critical infrastructure cyberattacks. Route Fifty • Local government staffing shortages threaten housing development, experts say. Smart Cities Dive
• HUD drops appeal of lawsuit over homelessness program but is still pursuing changes, official says. KBZK
• Big-city politicians are starting to worry about the World Cup. Politico • As DOJ prepares to share state voter data with DHS, a key privacy officer resigns. NPR • DOJ readies up to $3.5 billion in law enforcement grants, 1 year after steep cuts elsewhere. CBS