YourVoice.Now Summary
Your MoneyWorkers & JobsCivil LibertiesCriminal Justice & Due ProcessCorporate BenefitsEnvironmentTransparency & AccountabilityTargeted & Unrelated ProvisionsBans PFAS in food packaging, carpets, and baby products within a year, and ends most other uses by year ten.
Your Money
Two research centers would open within one to three years. Each must offer reliable PFAS water testing to nearby towns and residents at a reasonable cost.
Stores could not sell new carpets, rugs, fabric sprays, food packaging, baby and toddler products, or certain oil and gas products made with PFAS one year after the law takes effect. Used items can still be resold.
Workers & Jobs
Each yearly report must state how many workers are exposed to each PFAS chemical at work, and for how long. The EPA rule setting this up is due within three years.
Civil Liberties
Some states bar toxic injury claims after a set number of years, even if the harm shows up later. The clock would instead start when a person learns the harm was caused by the chemical.
A bankruptcy filing normally freezes related lawsuits. This change lets claims over PFAS and similar lasting chemicals go forward against a parent or sister company that is not itself bankrupt.
Any person could sue a company breaking these rules, or sue the EPA for skipping a duty it must perform. Notice of 60 to 90 days is required first, and courts may award legal fees.
Criminal Justice & Due Process
Anyone who recklessly breaks a PFAS standard could face prison and a fine set to erase what they gained. The fine can apply for each day the violation continues.
Corporate Benefits
The EPA has two years to set report and petition fees. If it does not, a flat $100,000 fee per report and per petition kicks in. Small makers may pay less.
The EPA could require monitoring gear, take samples, and enter company property with credentials. Records must be handed over within 30 days of a request.
Environment
Ten years in, no company could release PFAS at any level a validated test can detect. The EPA must publish the schedule and the test methods within seven years.
Any use counts as nonessential unless the EPA marks it essential, based on a National Academies review. Essential means it is critical for health or safety and has no safer substitute.
Transparency & Accountability
The EPA must post each company report within 180 days and take public comment for at least 90 days. Trade secrets stay protected under existing chemical law.
When PFAS pose an urgent danger, the company must pay to alert local schools, water plants, and residents right away. It must also hold public meetings and give updates.
The President could excuse a federal agency from PFAS rules for national security, one year at a time. A list of these goes to Congress by January 31 each year.
Both PFAS research centers close on that date by default. The EPA may keep them open if it tells Congress why and money is available.
Targeted & Unrelated Provisions
The main center needs a university spending at least $750 million a year on research, near a metro area of 5 million people, paired with a national lab. The rural center must sit in a set list of states and belong to a Rocky Mountain defense network.
More about this bill
Everyday products would stop containing PFAS on a fixed schedule. PFAS are man-made chemicals used to make things nonstick, waterproof, or stain-proof. They are called forever chemicals because they do not break down. One year after this bill takes effect, stores could not sell new carpets, rugs, or fabric sprays made with PFAS. They also could not sell food packaging or baby and toddler products made with PFAS. Cosmetics, handbags, indoor furniture, and most clothing would follow at two years. Outdoor furniture follows at four years. Rain gear for severe wet weather follows at five years. Used items could still be resold. Companies that make or use PFAS would take on new duties. The EPA would have three years to write a rule requiring yearly reports. Each report would list how much PFAS a company uses, what it releases, and how many workers it exposes. If the EPA misses a deadline to set fees, each report would cost the company $100,000. Companies would also file plans within three years to end nonessential uses. By year ten, those uses would be banned. Releases that can be detected at all would also be unlawful then. People harmed by PFAS would gain more ways to go to court. Some state laws cut off injury claims after a set number of years, even if the harm shows up later. Those limits could no longer cut off toxic exposure claims early. A bankruptcy filing would no longer freeze lawsuits against a company's parent or sister firms. Anyone could sue a polluter, or sue the EPA for skipping a required duty, after giving notice. Reckless violations could bring fines and up to five years in prison. The EPA would publish company reports for at least 90 days of public comment. A company causing an urgent hazard would have to warn the community itself and hold public meetings. Federal agencies would follow the same PFAS rules as private firms. The President could excuse an agency for national security for one year at a time, and would report those choices to Congress each January. The bill also sets up two research centers with $25 million from Defense Department environmental programs. The rules for choosing them are narrow. One partner university must spend at least $750 million a year on research. Both centers would close on October 1, 2034 unless the EPA extends them.
Congressional Summary
Forever Chemical Regulation and Accountability Act of 2026This bill phases out the release and nonessential use of perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and addresses PFAS research, remediation, regulation, and enforcement.The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must require each manufacturer and user of PFAS to submit annual reports that include specified information about the essential (e.g., critical for health or safety reasons) and nonessential uses of PFAS by such entities. Not later than 10 years after the enactment of this bill, manufacturers and users must fully phase out nonessential uses of PFAS.The bill alsoestablishes specified deadlines to phase out the sale of certain products containing PFAS;requires federal agencies, to the maximum extent practicable, to eliminate the procurement of products known to contain PFAS;imposes a 10-year phaseout of the release of PFAS above a certain threshold of detection;provides enforcement authority to the EPA regarding violations of the requirements of the bill, including through civil and criminal penalties;allows citizen suits against manufacturers and users of PFAS and the EPA; andaddresses actions under state law related to damages from exposure to hazardous substances, including with regard to statutes of repose.The bill exempts from a bankruptcy petition’s automatic stay any proceeding against a non-debtor entity (e.g., a proceeding to obtain property from a non-debtor) with respect to a PBT claim (a claim relating to persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals) against the non-debtor entity, the debtor, or the estate.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2026-03-19
- Date Added
- 2026-06-05
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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