Assembly Bill 131 Passed the State Assembly and is Awaiting Senate Action
How a Legislative Compromise Was Finally Reached:
Following extensive and often intense negotiations between manufacturing trade associations and the authors of the PFAS enforcement legislation (Assembly Bill (AB) 131, a legislative deal on Assembly Bill 131 was reached that provides meaningful, though targeted, relief for permitted manufacturing interests under Wisconsin’s spills law relating to PFAS.
While this agreement does not provide all of the protections that our manufacturing coalition fought for, it does create a new permit-based exemption for landspreading which does provide a level of regulated protection for manufacturers that land spread.
At the same time, the deal does not resolve legacy contamination exposure and does not fix Wisconsin’s fundamentally flawed spills law, which continues to pose significant risk to industry.
Our coalition secured these concessions from the bill authors in a very difficult environment while preserving the ability to continue advocating for broader reforms. It is important to note that our manufacturing coalition is now neutral on the bill but is NOT registered in support due to numerous outstanding issues which will need to be lobbied on next year.
What The Deal Entails:
- The legislation creates a new permit-based exemption intended to ensure that entities operating within their current or future permit limits or conditions related to PFAS are not unfairly swept into spills liability for PFAS.
- In practical terms, if an entity qualifies under the exemption, the exemption applies.
New Exemption for Permits Issued Post Enactment
The bill exempts the following from Wisconsin’s Spills Law: “A person holding a valid permit under ch. 283, including general permit coverage under s. 283.82(4)(b), with respect to PFAS discharged in compliance with limits or conditions in the permit.”
Why This Matters for Manufacturers
- This provision protects manufacturers permitted under ch. 283 from spills law liability if their permits currently include PFAS-related conditions—or if such conditions or limits are added in the future.
- This is a significant improvement over current law, which provides no comparable exemption.
- The legislation also directs DNR to place PFAS conditions into the permits of current permittees
- within 120 days of enactment through a general permit. That general permit will remain in effect until an updated individual permit is issued.
- The agreement also ensures that any permits issued after enactment have PFAS-related conditions or limits.
- Together, these changes ensure that both current and future ch. 283 permit holders can promptly qualify for the new exemption.
Municipalities Will Operate Under the Same Rules as Manufacturers
- Another important outcome of the negotiations is that municipalities will be subject to the same rules and regulations as manufacturers.
- Previous to this agreement, municipalities were given an exemption to the spills law, which clearly was unfair given the fact that manufacturers and municipalities use the same water in their processes.
- This was critical to avoid creating a “liability funnel” where industrial entities would bear disproportionate risk relative to municipal contributors.
Concessions Achieved In This Deal:
- Coverage for both current and prior permit holders.
- Blanket permit exemptions which protect manufacturers
- Municipalities and manufacturers placed on the same level playing field
- Better alignment between permits and spills law exposure.
Where is the Legislation Now?
- The State Senate Committee on Natural Resources passed this legislation on a vote of 5-0 last Thursday. We expect the State Senate to vote on the measure on March 17 th and for the Governor to sign it shortly thereafter.
Challenges Remain
- Legacy liability remains unresolved.
- Intentional use language needs to be passed.
- Manufacturers that do not intentionally add or use PFAS should be held harmless for PFAs exposure
- The underlying spills law still needs significant reform.
- Additional legislative work will be necessary next Legislative Session beginning January 2027.
Much Work Remains to be Done in the Future:
- While this compromise is far from perfect, thanks to the efforts of everyone in our coalition, we were able to achieve what many believed to be impossible – creating significant protections for industry in a very difficult, oftentimes combative legislative process.
- However, we are not done.
- The spills law continues to require significant work to ensure that liability is fair, predictable, science-based, and proportionate to actual responsibility. We will continue to advocate aggressively for comprehensive spills law reform in future sessions.
- We need to continue to organize and expand. More PFAS regulation and equally dangerous EPR legislation is certain to be offered next Session.
