Past Events

The increasing unaffordability of household water—which threatens basic water access for millions of Americans—requires a re-examination of the key tenets of water utility law. Utilities often interpret these principles as prohibiting any form of cross subsidization, which prevents them from using water revenue to fund affordability programs, even when it may make financial sense. The talk will highlight several examples from across the country to demonstrate how states or local governments could modify their utility laws to overcome legal barriers to affordability. The presentation will conclude with a suggested policy reform: developing a model state law through the Uniform Law Commission.

Video of event recording available

This program will only be offered online and you must register for the Zoom Webinar using the link below. Following registration, you will receive an email with a link to join the Webinar. To enable participation in the polling throughout the webinar for CLE credit, please ensure that you are joining the webinar from the Zoom application (desktop or mobile). Note that joining the webinar from a web browser is not compatible and doing so will result in not receiving CLE credit.

E-mail certificates will be provided certifying attendance for those wishing to apply for CLE credit outside of Indiana.

CEU Certificates are available for Indiana Behavioral Health & Human Services Providers.

About the Speaker:

Sharmila L. Murthy is a Professor of Law and Public Policy at Northeastern University. Previously, she served as Director for Environmental Justice at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), and prior to that, as Senior Counsel at CEQ. She played a key role in advancing the Biden-Harris Administration’s environmental justice agenda.

Sharmila is an award-winning scholar, teacher, mentor, and leader. Her scholarship focuses on examining legal barriers to achieving environmental justice, improving access to water, and addressing climate change. She was named the 2021 Haub Environmental Law Distinguished Junior Scholar by the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University and also received the Charles P. Kindregan Scholarship Award from Suffolk University Law School in 2022 where she was Professor of Law and Director of Faculty Scholarship. Recognized with multiple teaching awards while at Suffolk University, she also received several awards for her mentorship of students, including being named Faculty Advisor of the Year by the American Constitution Society (ACS) in 2021. She also served as chair of the Environmental Law Section of the American Association of Law Schools, which received the Section of the Year Award in 2019 under her direction.

As a visiting scholar and fellow at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Sharmila co-founded the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation Program at Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. In 2014, she was selected as a finalist for the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation. She began her legal career as a public interest poverty lawyer. She was awarded a Skadden Fellowship to work with the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, where she received the New Advocate of the Year award from the Tennessee Alliance of Legal Services.

Sharmila received her JD from Harvard Law School, her MPA from Harvard Kennedy School of Government and her BS in natural resources from Cornell University.