Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HB2955

Sen. Ram Villivalam

Filed: 5/20/2025

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AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 2955

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 2955 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the PFAS and Microplastics Wastewater Citizen Protection Act.

Section 5. Findings; policy.

(a) The General Assembly finds that:

(1) Current scientific research suggests that exposure to certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and microplastics may cause adverse human health impacts.

(2) Once released, PFAS and microplastics do not naturally degrade and may be difficult and costly to remove from the environment.

(3) PFAS and microplastics enter wastewater treatment plants through wastewater discharges associated with consumer products, industrial products, and solid waste streams, such as landfill leachate.

(4) Wastewater agencies do not manufacture, intentionally use, or sell PFAS or microplastics.

(5) Wastewater treatment plants, which are generally owned by wastewater agencies and funded by the customers within a specific service area, are not designed for or easily adapted to treat wastewater for PFAS and microplastics.

(6) If wastewater agencies are required to treat wastewater for PFAS or microplastics in the future, that treatment will come at a significant operational and capital cost.

(b) Therefore, it is the policy of the State of Illinois that, as it relates to PFAS and microplastics, and PFAS and microplastics elimination and mitigation in wastewater:

(1) The State should follow sound science, use existing source control regulatory frameworks, avoid unintended negative consequences to the citizens of the State, and facilitate funding to eliminate or mitigate PFAS and microplastics in wastewater.

(2) The economic impact upon wastewater agencies and Illinois citizens for the costs to implement any federal or State policy, rule, or regulation relating to PFAS and microplastics monitoring, elimination, and mitigation, including requirements in permits issued to any wastewater agency, should be minimized to the extent practicable.

(3) All stakeholders, including wastewater agencies and their customers, industry, and regulators benefit from increased understanding and advancements in PFAS and microplastics remediation and destruction technology.

(4) Compliance with this Act should not relieve any person of responsibility for compliance with the Environmental Protection Act or any other applicable federal, State, or local law.

Section 10. Definitions. In this Act:

"Agency" means the Environmental Protection Agency.

"Committee" means the PFAS and Microplastics Wastewater Citizen Protection Committee created under this Act.

"Director" means the Director of the Environmental Protection Agency.

"Microplastics" means a solid polymeric material to which chemical additives or other substances may have been added and that has at least 3 dimensions and is less than 5 millimeters in size in every dimension. "Microplastics" does not include polymers that are derived from nature and are not chemically modified.

"PFAS" means per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. "PFAS" includes PFAS as defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 40 CFR 704.3 or any successor regulations.

"State" means the State of Illinois.

"Wastewater agencies" means municipal wastewater agencies and units of local government organized under the Sanitary District Act of 1907, North Shore Water Reclamation District Act, Sanitary District Act of 1917, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Act, Sanitary District Act of 1936, Metro-East Sanitary District Act of 1974, or Eastern Will Sanitary District Act.

Section 15. PFAS and Microplastics Wastewater Citizen Protection Committee.

(a) The PFAS and Microplastics Wastewater Citizen Protection Committee is created within the Agency for the purposes of:

(1) monitoring developments and reviewing data related to PFAS, PFAS regulation, and PFAS elimination and mitigation technology for wastewater treatment systems;

(2) monitoring developments and reviewing data related to microplastics, microplastics regulation, and microplastics mitigation technology for wastewater treatment systems;

(3) determining how to best implement the findings and policy in Section 5 of this Act, including in relation to federal statutes and regulations;

(4) determining the range of options to mitigate the presence of PFAS, including, if necessary, costs to install treatment technology to reduce PFAS and microplastics in wastewater treatment systems;

(5) determining how to offset the costs to wastewater agencies needed to install PFAS and microplastics elimination and mitigation technology in wastewater treatment systems by identifying all potential sources of funding, including indirect discharge fees, State and federal funding, and manufacturers and commercial and industrial users of PFAS and microplastics;

(6) making recommendations regarding policies, including legislation and rulemaking, necessary to implement the findings and policy in Section 5 of this Act; and

(7) making recommendations regarding the funding of elimination and mitigation technology for wastewater treatment systems.

(b) No later than one year after the effective date of this Act, the Committee shall issue a report containing a PFAS and Microplastics Action Plan based on the purposes stated in subsection (a) of this Section. The report shall be submitted to the Governor's Office, the General Assembly, and the Agency.

(c) The Committee shall monitor the status of and, if necessary, advocate for the execution of the PFAS and Microplastics Action Plan submitted with its report under subsection (b) of this Section.

(d) The Committee shall continue to periodically meet after submittal of the PFAS and Microplastics Action Plan under subsection (b) of this Section. The Committee shall annually update the PFAS and Microplastics Action Plan, and shall submit a report annually to the Governor's Office, the General Assembly, and the Agency with any updates to the PFAS and Microplastics Action Plan and a summary of:

(1) the latest developments in related science and technology, as well as the latest developments in approaches to PFAS and microplastics elimination and mitigation in wastewater;

(2) any updated policy recommendations the Committee feels necessary to implement the findings and policy in Section 5 of this Act;

(3) any cost updates for addressing any policy recommendations the Committee feels necessary to implement the findings and policy in Section 5 of this Act; and

(4) any updated developments or recommendations regarding the identification of potential sources of funding to offset the costs to wastewater agencies.

Section 20. Committee membership. The Committee shall be composed of the following members:

(1) the Governor or the Governor's designee, who shall serve as chairperson;

(2) the Director or the Director's designee;

(3) one member appointed by the President of the Senate;

(4) one member appointed by the Minority Leader of the Senate;

(5) one member appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives;

(6) one member appointed by the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives; and

(7) the following members appointed by the Director:

(A) 2 members who are representatives of a wastewater agency with a service population of 25,000 or less;

(B) 2 members who are representatives of a wastewater agency with a service population of more than 25,000 but less than or equal to 125,000;

(C) 2 members who are representatives of a wastewater agency with a service population of more than 125,000 people;

(D) one member who is a representative of a statewide organization representing wastewater agencies;

(E) one member who is a representative of a statewide organization representing publicly owned drinking water agencies; and

(F) one member who is a researcher from a university in the Great Lakes region who specializes in PFAS and microplastics.

Appointments to the Committee shall be made within 30 days after the effective date of this Act. The Committee shall meet at the call of the chairperson. Committee members shall serve without compensation. If a vacancy occurs in the Committee membership, the vacancy shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment for the remainder of the Committee.

Section 25. Committee technical assistance. The Prairie Research Institute's Illinois Sustainable Technology Center shall provide technical assistance to the Committee.

Section 85. Applicable federal, State, and local laws. Compliance with this Act does not relieve any person of responsibility for compliance with the Environmental Protection Act or any other applicable federal, State, or local law.

Section 90. Repeal. This Act is repealed on December 31, 2044.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.".