Georgia PFAS bills stall, leaving advocates wary of future changes

No news is good news in the world of the Georgia legislature when it comes to regulations involving PFAS, commonly known as “forever chemicals.”

Mark Woodall, the volunteer legislative chair of the Sierra Club in Georgia, said that several bills were introduced that would limit the liability of companies that use the chemicals, but luckily, none have passed.

“So no progress on PFAS, so that’s unfortunate. At least no bad bills have passed,” he said.

PFAS refers to a large group of manmade chemicals that have been used in manufacturing and consumer products. Rachel Rodgers, managing toxicologist at Gradient, said that the mobility of the chemicals through waterways and the environment make it hard to control exposure.

“People can be exposed to PFAS when they use consumer products that contain PFAS or when they consume food that was grown or raised in PFAS-contaminated areas,” she said.

In February, advocates were lobbying lawmakers to pass legislation to limit exposure, but instead, several bills were introduced that would limit accountability for companies.

Although none of those bills passed before Crossover Day, the legislative session isn’t over, and some measures still have time to be inserted into existing bills through amendments.

Here are some of the proposals from the session that the Sierra Club has deemed “bad bills:”

• Senate Bill 577 reserves PFAS claims to the state meaning that cities and counties could no longer file those claims.
• House Bill 1212, or the PFAS Removal and Remediation Promotion Act, would impose an excise tax on specific proceeds from settlements intended for the abatement, removal, and remediation of PFAS contamination of land but unused for that purpose.
• House Bill 211, or the PFAS Receiver Shield Act, would provide immunity to carpet makers, a large user of forever chemicals, from future PFAS litigation.

Here are some bills that would require more transparency from companies who use PFAS:

• House Bill 611, or the Forever Chemicals Transparency Act, would require PFAS users to disclose to the sewer providers which chemicals and how much will be found in the waste stream.
• Senate Bill 538 is the sister bill of House Bill 611.