Section 4753a - Awards from revolving loan funds(a) Pollution control. The General Assembly shall approve all categories of awards made from the special funds established by section 4753 of this title for water pollution abatement and facility construction, in order to assure that such awards conform with State policy on water quality and pollution abatement, and with the State policy that municipal entities shall receive first priority in the award of public monies for such construction, including monies returned to the revolving funds from previous awards. To facilitate this legislative oversight, the Secretary of Natural Resources shall annually on or before January 15 report to the House Committees on Corrections and Institutions and on Natural Resources, Fish, and Wildlife and the Senate Committees on Institutions and on Natural Resources and Energy on all awards made from the relevant special funds during the prior and current fiscal years, and shall report on and seek legislative approval of all the types of projects for which awards are proposed to be made from the relevant special funds during the current or any subsequent fiscal year. Where feasible, the specific projects shall be listed. The provisions of 2 V.S.A. § 20(d) (expiration of required reports) shall not apply to the report to be made under this subsection.(d) Loan forgiveness; pollution control. Notwithstanding any other provision of law regarding loan forgiveness, upon the award of a loan from the Vermont Environmental Protection Agency Pollution Control Revolving Fund (CWSRF), the Secretary of Natural Resources, in a manner that is consistent with federal grant provisions, may provide loan forgiveness.(e) Loan forgiveness; drinking water.(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law regarding loan forgiveness, upon the award of a loan from the Vermont Environmental Protection Agency Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF), the Secretary of Natural Resources, in a manner that is consistent with federal grant provisions, may provide loan forgiveness.(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law regarding loan forgiveness, upon the award of a loan from the Vermont Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund, the Secretary of Natural Resources may provide loan forgiveness for preliminary engineering and final design costs when a municipality undertakes such engineering on behalf of a household that has been disconnected involuntarily from a public water supply system for reasons other than nonpayment of fees, provided it is not the same municipality that is disconnecting the household.(f) Loan forgiveness standard. The Secretary shall establish standards, policies, and procedures as necessary for implementing subsections (d) and (e) of this section for allocating the funds among projects and for revising standard priority lists in order to comply with requirements associated with federal capitalization grant agreements.Added 1997, No. 148 (Adj. Sess.), § 52, eff. 4/29/1998; amended 2007, No. 52, § 47, eff. 5/28/2007; 2011, No. 117 (Adj. Sess.) , § 4; 2011, No. 161 (Adj. Sess.) , § 15; 2013, No. 142 (Adj. Sess.), § 40; 2015 , No. 26, § 39, eff. 5/18/2015; 2015, No. 97 (Adj. Sess.), § 58; 2015, No. 103 (Adj. Sess.), § 27, eff. 5/12/2016; 2017, No. 113 (Adj. Sess.), § 159a.