Hearings on Comprehensive PFAS BAN ACTS of 2024: Email your Legislators!

Hearings on Comprehensive PFAS BAN ACTS of 2024: Email your Legislators!

Time Range For Action Alert: 
Mar 19 2024 to Mar 22 2024

S 2152: Senate Environment & Agriculture Committee Hearing, Wed, 3/20/2024 (Sen. Lounge, 4 pm)
H 7356House Environment & Natural Resources Committee Hearing, 3/21/24 (Room 135, At the Rise)
The bills enact the Comprehensive PFAS Ban Act of 2024, prohibiting the intentional addition of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances of PFAS in products offered for sale or manufactured in the state as of January 1, 2027.

For further information on PFAS, go to CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry:   PFAS chemicals 

Please send your emails by Friday, if not before. Though the bills are being heard on 3/20/24 and 3/21/24, decisions are rarely made the day of the hearing.

1. Review the sponsors of each bill (see links for the bill numbers) as well as the members of the Environment Committee (see links for the committees named above) that is holding the hearing in each of the chambers. If your legislator is a sponsor of either bill, thank them. If they are committee members, thank them for their work and urge them to vote this bill out of committee with a positive recommendation for passage.
**Many of your legislators are sponsors or members of one of these committees. They would be happy to hear from you, their constituent, that you appreciate their work.
2. Send an email to your Representative and another to your Senator this week. Use the RI Secretary of State Voter Information site
3. Click on “Find Your Elected Officials”
4. On the General Assembly website, select House or Senate, then click on each legislator’s bio page and use their email contact link and ask each legislator to support H 7356 or S 2152 (whichever is appropriate). Blind copy the email to yourself for your records.
5. Introduce yourself to your legislator if you have not already done so.
6. If helpful in drafting your response, use some/not all points from the draft of my League testimony - which I have bulleted below. Close by urging your legislators to support this bill and vote it out to the floor of the appropriate chamber.
 

Consider using some of points below in your emails to legislators:

• This Comprehensive PFAS Ban would prohibit the intentional addition of PFAS in products offered for sale or manufactured in the state as of January 1, 2027. The Act would further ban the sale of Class B firefighting foam that contains intentionally added PFAS. It would also ban ALL USES of PFAS by December 31, 2032, unless such use in a product is considered unavoidable.
• Rhode Islanders need protection from the many toxic Per- and Polyflouroakyl Substances which are ever-present in our communities.
• PFAS are a class of manmade chemicals used to create coatings and products that will resist heat, oil, stains, grease, and water. But these substances pose health risks to both people and animals.
• And they are everywhere - in the food we eat, the air we breathe, the landfills in our cities and towns, and the ground and surface water that surrounds us.
• PFAS are also present in our bodies and in the many products we own and are exposed to in our everyday lives. Non-stick cookware as well as water-repellant and stain-resistant clothing, rugs, and mattresses are noted for the prevalence of these toxins.
• Fire-fighting foam, in particular, has been cited as a key PFA contaminant.
• These toxic chemicals pose serious health risks to people and animals. Research points out a strong correlation between increased PFAS exposure and multiple health concerns. Such exposure can negatively affect pregnancy and lower infant birth weight. ISuch exposure can also increase the risk of a wide variety of cancers.
• Eliminating PFAS needs to be a top priority. These “forever chemicals” remain toxic for a long time. Any perceived benefits far outweigh the health risks to everyone.

Issues referenced by this action alert: 
This action alert is related to which committees: 
LWVRI - Advocacy - Issues