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9A Page 12 special grants. This year, the House and Senate will determine the program's FY 2009 funding level. The Department of Energy is expected to organize guidelines. The Affordable Housing Trust Fund The House passed the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act (HR 2985, HR 1852, HR 1427) last October. Together, these three bills would provide more than $1 billion in new resources annually for the production, preservation, and rehabilitation of 1.5 million affordable homes over 10 years. Cities and towns would receive 60 percent of the funds with the remaining 40 percent going to states. These funds could be used for construction, rehabilitation, acquisition, and preservation of affordable housing. The Senate will consider its version of the legislation (S. 2523) this year. Federal Foreclosure Legislation The Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007 (HR 3915), passed by the House last November, would aid subprime loan holders with repayment and refinancing. The Senate passed similar legislation (S 2338) in December. The House and the Senate must now reconcile differences between the two measures and secure White House approval before it can be signed into law. No timeline has been established for accomplishing this and additional legislative efforts on this issue will likely emerge this session_ Gang Abatement and Prevention Act of 2007 Sen. Diane Feinstein's Gang Abatement and Prevention Act of 2007 (S 456) was approved by the Senate in September. The House version of the measure (HR 3547) is scheduled to receive committee-level consideration early this session, though no date for committee review of the measure has been set yet. The bills would create High Intensity Interstate Gang Activity Areas (HIIGAA) and provide Federal assistance to local governments to combat, investigate and prosecute criminal street gangs. The COPS Improvements Act of 2007 The COPS Improvement Act of 2007(HR 1700) passed the House in May. The legislation would authorize $1.15 million annually through FY 2014 for COPS. The Senate version of the measure (S 368) was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in Mayas well, and is awaiting final action on the Senate floor. No date has been scheduled for consideration of the measure. The Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2007 The House passed its version of this legislation (HR 980) in July, while the Senate attempted to attach its version (S 2123) of the measure to the Food and Energy Security Act of 2007 in December. Although this failed, this legislation should gain momentum this session. In addition to imposing Federal collective bargaining requirements on states and local governments that do not currently permit collective bargaining, this legislation may impose the federal requirements on those states that already permit collective bargaining. The Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007 The House and Senate will continue hearings on their versions of the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007 (HR 2421 and S 1870 respectively) in 2008. The measures would amend the Clean Water Act to replace the term "navigable waters" throughout the Act with the term "waters of the United States." This term would be defined to mean all waters subject to the ebb and flow of the tide, the territorial seas, and all interstate and intrastate waters and their tributaries to the fullest extent that the waters, or activities affecting them, are subject to the legiSlative power of Congress under the Constitution. 5