HB 909: Firefighter Health and Environmental Safety Act; enact

Firefighters are regularly exposed to PFAS, a class of long-lasting synthetic chemicals linked to health risks, through firefighting foam and protective gear. This bill sets up a multi-year phase-out of PFAS in firefighting equipment, requires monitoring of PFAS contamination at fire departments and training sites, and creates a Firefighter Health Advisory Council to study health risks and run a new Firefighter PFAS Initiative. Starting July 1, 2030, use of firefighting equipment containing intentionally added PFAS would be banned, with civil penalties up to $10,000 per day for violations. Manufacturers would have to label PFAS-containing gear starting the same date. The Environmental Protection Division would set decontamination and safe-disposal rules by 2028. Fire departments would have to provide insurance covering PFAS blood testing for firefighters starting July 1, 2026, and both individual and group health insurers would have to cover periodic PFAS blood testing for firefighters statewide.

• Bans discharge or use of firefighting equipment containing PFAS as an intentionally added chemical beginning July 1, 2030, with civil penalties up to $10,000 per day.
• Requires manufacturers to label newly made firefighting equipment containing PFAS starting July 1, 2030, with a $100 per-item penalty for noncompliance.
• Directs the Environmental Protection Division to monitor PFAS levels at fire departments and training sites and adopt decontamination and safe-disposal rules by 2028.
• Creates the 12-member Firefighter Health Advisory Council to study firefighter health risks and run the Firefighter PFAS Initiative, a data-tracking and research program.
• Requires fire departments to carry insurance covering PFAS blood testing for firefighters starting July 1, 2026, after 12 months of service.
• Requires individual and group health insurance policies covering firefighters to include PFAS blood testing at set intervals.

Career and volunteer firefighters and fire departments statewide, manufacturers and sellers of firefighting foam and protective gear, health and accident insurers, the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources, and state agencies including the Department of Public Health and the Georgia Fire Academy.

Firefighters would gain new tracking of PFAS exposure at their workplaces, guaranteed blood testing coverage, and an eventual end to PFAS in the foam and gear they use daily, while manufacturers and fire departments face new compliance costs, labeling duties, and potential penalties for violations.

• Section 3 adds O.C.G.A. § 12-2-12, requiring the Environmental Protection Division to monitor PFAS levels at fire department and training sites starting January 1, 2027, and set decontamination rules by January 1, 2028.
• Section 4 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 25-2-41 to ban PFAS-containing firefighting foam and equipment use by July 1, 2030, require PFAS labeling on new equipment, and set civil penalties (up to $10,000 per day for illegal use, $100 per item for labeling violations).
• Section 5 creates O.C.G.A. §§ 25-2-42 and 25-2-43, establishing the 12-member Firefighter Health Advisory Council and the Firefighter PFAS Initiative to collect health and contamination data and report annually to the Governor and General Assembly.
• Section 6 amends O.C.G.A. § 25-3-23 to require fire departments to insure firefighters for PFAS blood testing claims starting July 1, 2026, after 12 consecutive months of service.
• Section 7 adds PFAS exposure training to the Georgia Fire Academy's required professional training curriculum.
• Sections 9 and 10 add O.C.G.A. §§ 33-29-3.5 and 33-30-4.6, requiring individual and group accident and sickness insurance policies covering firefighters to include PFAS blood testing coverage at set intervals.

1. 2026-01-12House Second Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
2. 2025-04-04House First Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
3. 2025-04-02House Hopper (Cámara de Representantes)

• Karla Drenner (D, HD-085)Patrocinador principal
• Sandra Scott (D, HD-076)
• Viola Davis (D, HD-087)
• Kim Schofield (D, HD-063)
• Marvin Lim (D, HD-098)

• firefighter health
• PFAS chemicals
• environmental regulation
• insurance coverage
• public safety