HB193: HB193 Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 2025; enact

Georgia law does not currently require businesses to warn customers or the public about exposure to cancer-causing or reproductive-toxicity chemicals, or bar them from discharging such chemicals into drinking water sources. This bill, closely modeled on California's Proposition 65, would create a new chapter of Georgia's health code doing both. Businesses with ten or more employees would have to give clear warnings before knowingly exposing anyone to a listed chemical, and could not knowingly discharge such chemicals where they would reach drinking water. The Governor would have to publish and update a list of covered chemicals starting January 1, 2027. The Attorney General, district attorneys, and even private citizens (after giving notice) could sue violators for injunctions and civil penalties up to $2,500 per day, with most penalty money going into a new Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Fund. The bill includes a special 'right to cure' process for small businesses on certain exposures like alcohol, tobacco smoke, or cooked food. Crucially, the whole Act only takes effect if Georgia voters approve a constitutional amendment creating the fund at the 2026 General Election; otherwise it is automatically repealed.

• Bars businesses with ten or more employees from knowingly exposing anyone to a chemical the state has listed as causing cancer or reproductive harm without a clear warning.
• Prohibits businesses from knowingly discharging or releasing such listed chemicals into water or land that could reach a source of drinking water.
• Requires the Governor to publish and annually update a public list of chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity, starting by January 1, 2027.
• Authorizes the Attorney General, district attorneys, and private citizens who follow a notice process to sue violators for injunctions and civil penalties up to $2,500 per violation per day.
• Creates the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Fund to receive 75 percent of collected penalties, with the remaining 25 percent going to whichever office or person brought the case.
• Sets up a special compliance process letting small violators pay a $500 penalty and fix certain listed exposures (like onsite alcohol, cooked food chemicals, tobacco smoke, or parking garage exhaust) to avoid a lawsuit.

Georgia businesses with ten or more employees (smaller businesses, governments, and public water systems are exempt), the Attorney General's office, district attorneys, private citizens who wish to bring enforcement actions, the Governor's office, the Department of Economic Development, and any Georgian who could be exposed to listed chemicals through products, food, or drinking water.

If enacted and approved by voters, businesses would face new legal exposure and warning obligations similar to California's well-known Proposition 65 labels, and Georgians would gain a new legal tool, including private lawsuits, to challenge undisclosed chemical exposures and drinking water contamination.

• Section 1 adds a new Chapter 55 to Title 31, naming it the 'Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 2025' and also the 'Georgia Proposition 25 Act' (O.C.G.A. § 31-55-1).
• O.C.G.A. § 31-55-3 bans knowingly discharging listed chemicals where they could reach drinking water; § 31-55-4 bans knowingly exposing people to listed chemicals without clear warning.
• O.C.G.A. § 31-55-5 sets civil penalties up to $2,500 per day per violation and lets the Attorney General, district attorneys, or private citizens (after a 60-day notice period) bring enforcement actions.
• O.C.G.A. § 31-55-6 requires the Governor to publish an initial chemical list by January 1, 2027 and update it at least yearly, based on sources like the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
• O.C.G.A. § 31-55-7 and § 31-55-8 create exemptions, including discharges that won't reach drinking water in significant amounts and exposures within 12 to 20 months of a chemical's listing.
• O.C.G.A. § 31-55-9 creates the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Fund, directing 75 percent of penalties there and 25 percent to the enforcing office or private plaintiff.
• O.C.G.A. § 31-55-9(k) lets small violators cure certain listed exposures (alcohol served on premises, cooked food chemicals, secondhand smoke, parking garage exhaust) by paying a $500 penalty within set deadlines instead of facing a lawsuit.
• Section 2 makes the entire Act contingent: it takes effect January 1, 2027 only if voters approve a constitutional amendment creating the fund at the 2026 General Election, and is otherwise repealed automatically.

1. 2025-02-27House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
2. 2025-02-04House Second Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-03House First Readers (House)
4. 2025-01-30House Hopper (House)

• Angela Moore (D, HD-091)Primary sponsor

• toxic chemical warnings
• drinking water safety
• consumer protection
• environmental enforcement
• Proposition 65-style law