PFAS Phase-out Bill Introduced In United States Congress

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once opined that "a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country." ¹ Indeed, over the last few years, numerous states like California, Maine, Minnesota, and New York have served as those laboratories when it comes to laws and regulations governing the use of per- and polyflouroalkyl substances ("PFAS"). These states have all passed legislation requiring the reporting, labeling, and for various categories of goods, the outright ban of "forever chemicals" (so-called because of their persistence in the environment) when intentionally added to consumer products. Despite these laws being criticized for vagueness and overreach (even by Democratic governors' standards), as well as serious implementation problems plaguing the roll-out of these regulations, Congressional Democrats have introduced legislation that would phase