Press Release
Posted:
Washington – Today, Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-04) voted to pass the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, a set of six domestic funding bills focused on helping families and communities across the United States. The investments in the bill will help families with the cost of living, create and sustain good-paying jobs, and help people in need.
“Funding the government is one of the most important responsibilities for Congress, and today’s set of bills, while not perfect, will fund our government and ensure we can continue working to keep our economy strong,” said Thompson. “These bills include funding I secured for priority projects in Napa County, and I look forward to seeing President Biden sign this bill into law.”
The Consolidated Appropriations Act included $1,759,752 in funding for three projects in Napa County. The projects are:
• $959,752 for the Water Treatment Plant Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System/Microgrid in St. Helena
• $800,000 for the Napa River Ecology Center
One additional Napa County project is expected to be included in the second tranche of government funding bills set to be considered at the end of the month.
Background on these projects can be found below.
The Water Treatment Plant SCADA and Microgrid project seeks to increase resiliency and redundancy to this critical water supply facility. The facility’s existing outdated Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system only notifies operators of after-hours alarms. It does not provide them remote operational access to monitor and change elements of the treatment process. Implementation of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition upgrades is essential for remote operation of the facility, especially as we explore regional operational models for delivery of services. The need for the microgrid system became keenly apparent with the wildfires from the last few years. While the facility is equipped with an emergency generator, extended periods of time without power (e.g. Public Safety Power Shutoffs or damaged grid from wildfires) requires regular refueling of generator, which can be problematic due to the access road for the facility (aka impassible during wildfire events).
The Napa River Ecology Center project will repurpose an unused industrial building, bringing it up to code and making it ADA compliant, so that it can be used as a community education and program center. Once complete, the building will become the Napa River Ecology Center and will host community events for local families, after school programs in conjunction with the project’s partner Napa Valley Unified School District, conservation programs, and citizen science.
This first government package invests in America’s future and delivers for the American people by:
• Helping with the high cost of living, creating and sustaining tens of thousands of good paying jobs, fighting inflation, and providing full funding for key lifelines such as food assistance and more affordable housing and homeownership.
• Protecting women’s rights by blocking attempts to limit women’s access to reproductive health care, including abortion, and by increasing funding for gender-based violence prevention and prosecution programs.
• Confronting the climate crisis, fighting climate change, and ensuring America’s energy independence with robust, transformative investments in deploying clean energy technologies in communities across the country, and providing funding for cutting-edge scientific and climate-related research.
• Honoring our commitments to our veterans by ensuring they receive the care and benefits that they have earned and investing in veterans’ health care, including targeted investments that advance women's health, mental health, and homelessness assistance.
• Funds community projects: Responds directly to pressing needs in Lake County and districts like mine by supporting underserved areas and fostering the economic development that makes communities healthier, safer, and stronger through community projects.
This package includes the following funding bills: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies; Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies; Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies; Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies; and Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.
The remaining six appropriations bills for fiscal year 2024 are expected to be released in the coming days and be voted on ahead of their expiration on March 22.