Summary#
This bill, the "Forever Chemical Regulation and Accountability Act of 2026," would phase out nonessential uses of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), stop their releases to the environment, require reporting and inspections, create research centers, and set enforcement and legal rules. It directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to work with the National Academies to identify essential uses, to require manufacturers and users to report annually, and to set rules to ban releases above validated detection limits. The bill sets specific near-term bans on sales of many PFAS-containing consumer products, creates Centers of Excellence for PFAS detection and remediation, changes certain state-law timing rules for damage claims, and adds a bankruptcy-related rule for persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemical claims.
What it means for you#
- Consumers and retailers: The bill would ban the sale in interstate commerce of many PFAS-containing products on set schedules (examples include carpets, some fabric treatments, food packaging, juvenile products, cosmetics, indoor textiles, certain apparel, and outdoor furnishings). Resale of used items is often allowed as an exception.
- Manufacturers and users of PFAS: Companies would have to submit detailed reports to EPA (including uses, volumes, product identity, releases, alternatives, and disposal methods) and submit phaseout plans. They must stop nonessential uses within 10 years and could face earlier, product-specific bans.
- Communities and local officials: The bill requires public notice and community meetings if a PFAS use creates an imminent endangerment. EPA can inspect sites, require monitoring equipment, and obtain records.
- Public agencies and contractors: Federal agencies are asked to eliminate procurement of products known to contain PFAS where practicable and are generally made subject to State and local PFAS requirements, with a narrow national-security exemption process.
- Legal rights: The bill authorizes citizen lawsuits with notice requirements and expands enforcement tools, including civil penalties, compliance orders, and criminal penalties for reckless violations.
Expenses#
- Authorization: The bill authorizes appropriations to the EPA for each fiscal year 2027 through 2036 for carrying out Title I, but does not specify total dollar amounts.
- Fees and funds: EPA must complete a workload analysis and set fees for annual reports and petitions. If EPA fails to set fees within 2 years, default fees apply: $100,000 per annual report and $100,000 per petition (with possible lower amounts for small manufacturers). The bill creates two Treasury funds to hold collected fees: the PFAS Report Assessment Fund and the PFAS Petition Assessment Fund, to be used for related EPA activities. EPA may adjust or terminate fee collection by rule.
- Centers funding: $25,000,000 from Department of Defense amounts for fiscal year 2027 is directed to EPA to establish the two Centers of Excellence, available until September 30, 2036.
- Additional appropriations: Section 101(i) (additional National Academies studies) has an authorization of such sums as necessary. Beyond the items above, the bill provides "such sums as may be necessary" in places; no full cost totals are specified in the text.
Proponents' View#
No publicly available information.
Opponents' View#
No publicly available information.