HB611: HB611 Forever Chemicals Transparency Act; enact

PFAS, known as 'forever chemicals,' are man-made compounds that persist in the environment and have been found in Georgia's surface water and drinking water systems. This bill responds by requiring publicly owned treatment works (municipal or state sewage treatment systems) to find out whether the industrial businesses that discharge waste water into them are a source of PFAS. By December 31, 2025, each treatment works must ask its industrial users whether they manufacture PFAS, make products containing PFAS, or use materials that likely contain PFAS. Businesses that answer yes must identify the substances and describe any steps taken to reduce PFAS discharges. Starting April 1, 2026, industrial users must report this information annually to the treatment works and to the state's Environmental Protection Division, and must include it when applying for or renewing discharge permits. Submissions must be certified as true under penalty of law. The bill also lets the Board of Natural Resources write rules to carry out these requirements.

• Creates a new Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 12-5-30.5) requiring publicly owned treatment works to ask industrial users about PFAS manufacturing or use by December 31, 2025.
• Requires industrial users who manufacture or use PFAS-containing materials to identify the substances and describe steps taken to reduce discharges.
• Requires industrial users and significant industrial users to report this PFAS information annually, starting April 1, 2026, to both the treatment works and the state's Environmental Protection Division.
• Requires PFAS disclosure information to be included in pretreatment permit applications submitted on or after April 1, 2026.
• Requires all PFAS submissions to be certified as true and accurate under penalty of law, including possible fines and imprisonment for false statements.
• Authorizes the Board of Natural Resources to adopt rules to implement and enforce these disclosure requirements.

Publicly owned sewage treatment systems run by cities, counties, or the state; industrial businesses that discharge waste water into those systems, especially 'significant industrial users' that discharge large volumes; the state's Environmental Protection Division; and, indirectly, ratepayers who fund water and sewer utilities.

Georgians on public water systems could get clearer information about whether local industries are sending PFAS into the sewage systems that ultimately feed drinking water sources. It shifts reporting work onto industrial dischargers and treatment works but does not itself ban PFAS discharges or set new cleanup requirements.

• Section 1 names the bill the 'Forever Chemicals Transparency Act.'
• Section 2 adds new Code section 12-5-30.5, opening with legislative findings that PFAS are widespread, persistent, linked to health risks, and costly to remove from water, and that the public has a right to know about industrial PFAS discharges.
• Subsection (b) defines key terms including PFAS, industrial user, significant industrial user, pretreatment, and publicly owned treatment works.
• Subsection (d) requires treatment works to request PFAS-related information from industrial users by December 31, 2025.
• Subsection (e) requires industrial users to submit that PFAS information annually starting April 1, 2026, with a copy sent to the state's Environmental Protection Division.
• Subsection (f) requires PFAS disclosure in pretreatment permit applications and renewals starting April 1, 2026.
• Subsection (g) requires a written certification of accuracy, with a warning that false submissions can bring fines or imprisonment.
• Subsection (h) authorizes the Board of Natural Resources to adopt rules necessary to implement the section.

1. 2025-02-27House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-26House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-24House Hopper (House)

• Eddie Lumsden (R, HD-012)Primary sponsor
• Bill Hitchens (R, HD-161)
• Kasey Carpenter (R, HD-004)
• Victor Anderson (R, HD-010)
• Buddy DeLoach (R, HD-167)
• Devan Seabaugh (R, HD-034)

• PFAS forever chemicals
• water pollution
• drinking water safety
• industrial regulation
• environmental disclosure