Public when there are water problems such as what we saw in flint. One of the central issues in flint was that the e. P. A. , the federal e. P. A. And state regulators knew that there could have been a led problem early in early 2015 more than a year ago. And they didnt tell the public for months. This really didnt start to get out to the public until much later in 2015 after people had already been drinking the water for a while. So this bill takes a couple steps to make sure that the e. P. A. And Water Utilities are properly telling their customers when lead levels get to be very high beyond the regulatory limits or even when they get to be even much higher than that. What is the e. P. A. s current role in terms of notification or oversight of city Water Systems . Right. So the primary responsibility for Drinking Water is usually at the state level. The e. P. A. Still has to enforce the law, though. So the e. P. A. Is supposed to have sort of stringent oversight over whether states and cities were doing. So e. P. A. Often knows when these problems are coming or when they happen because theyre in constant communication with the states. But usually the states and the cities are still the main responsibility to make sure that this doesnt happen or that when it does happen that its fixed promptly. The bill is being cosponsored by fellow michiganer and the chairman of the Energy Committee republican fred upton. What other legislation may be in the works on the house side in terms of dealing with the flint crisis . From the house side just like in the senate they have been working on sort of the money aspect to get some money to flint to help out on this. On the house side the democrats still would like to get there to get some hundreds of millions of dollars to flint to help them get through this and replace their lead pipes or repair them to a point where the lead isnt a problem any more. So that might come down the line. But for now this killedee bill and upton bill is sort of the first action of the house is taking on flint. Theres also the House Democrats today are doing a hearing into the crisis. Their main witness is going to be karen weve the mayor of flint. And thats a hearing to figure out what went wrong and who is responsible. Michigans gove nor was invited that hearing but he has declined invitation and refused o testify. It was brought u up also in the House Oversight committee is it possible the governor would attend one of these hearings . It might be possible some day. The committee is chaired by fred upton is planning a hearing in march. They havent said either way if to get going to try rick snyder to go. But so far republicans on both republicans in the house have focused more on the federal sides of things and the e. P. A. Than trying to wade into what the state and local governments have done or should have been doing in response to this crisis. Last, lets look at the senate. The issue of the flint crisis brought up in debate over the Energy Legislation over the past week or so michigan senators tried to bring fors forth funding to their amendment your headline senators no deal on flint aid and energy bill. What was the hold up in the senate . So in the senate as you said senators stab now and peters from michigan were trying to get initially a 600 million package for flint attached to the energy bill. As far as we can tell theyre still negotiating on that. That might turn out to be something that ends up being separated from the energy bill so the senate will still consider its energy bill independent of that. And then separately consider what to do about flint. And that will probably include money but its hard to see where thats going right now because democrats initially wanted to attach it to the energy bill as a mustpass and easy relatively easy thing to pass so they could get through on that. But the negotiations are still ongoing on both the flint side of things and the energy side of things in the senate right now. Energy and environment reporter. Read more at the hill. Com and follow him at twitter. Thanks for that update. Thanks. The clean Drinking Water measure passed 4162. Michigan representatives dan lled yee a democrat and fred upton a republican introduced the bill. Heres that debate. I may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Upton mr. Speaker, i wish we werent here today. I really wish we werent. I wish this bill was not necessary. But it is. And our heart, all of us, go out to the folks of flint, michigan, the system let them down at every level. And that is frankly unacceptable. All folks want is the peace of mind that their governments are looking out for their best interest and their water is safe. This bill is the first step. Imagine if you went to draw a cup of cold water from your kitchen faucet and suddenly to think about whether its safe to drink or not. Now put yourself into the shoes of a parent whose son or