Controversial ‘forever chemicals’ legislation could be resurrected in Indiana

Republican House lawmakers are trying to resurrect controversial bill language that would change the definition of toxic PFAS chemicals—known as “forever chemicals”—to exempt those that Hoosier manufacturers want to keep using.

House Bill 1399 cleared the House chamber last month in a 64-30 party-line vote but was subsequently abandoned by the Senate Environmental Affairs Committee over concerns that it was too “proactive.”

But the same PFAS provisions came back in a 90-second Wednesday morning conference committee, where GOP House lawmakers said they want to amend the language into House Bill 1329, originally a bill to block local health departments from requiring inspections of residential septic systems upon the sale of the property.

Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie, who authored House Bill 1329, gave few details on the move.

He said the septic system language in the underlying bill remain unchanged, and noted one other addition to the bill that reduces the membership of the board of directors of the Indiana Stadium and Convention Building Authority from seven members to three members. That provision was originally part of Senate Bill 252.

No senators were present as Pressel explained the conference committee report. Sen. Rodney Pol, D-Chesterton, entered the room as the short meeting adjourned.

When asked why no senators were present, Pressel said only that “it would be hard to explain what happens in the Senate—that’s been my experience.”

No conference committee report with final bill language has been posted so it is unclear if Senate Republicans will accept the move. Both the House and Senate still have to vote on any final compromise.

“Why is this Legislature advancing a bill that would allow companies to lie to our residents about what is in their shampoo, health products, clothes and other items? It’s unconscionable. Hoosiers deserve the truth. They do not deserve this body deciding to dismiss facts and science on their behalf,” said Sen. Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, in a Wednesday statement. “Now, anyone trying to be more conscientious about the items they use in our state will have to navigate a terrain of lies green-lit by the law. Everything about this underhanded process and dangerous language is immoral and sickening.”

Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell, who chairs the Senate Environmental Affairs Committee, said last week that he viewed the original PFAS bill as unnecessary because there have been no proposals to change Indiana’s existing rules on the chemicals.

Niemeyer noted, too, that PFAS regulation proposals must go through the state’s Environmental Rules Board, which he said would take “a minimum” of 18 months: “It gives plenty of time, on this language, if next session or over the summer or something it looks like it’s happening, and we need to do something.”

The Senate previously committee heard nearly three hours of testimony on the bill.

Proponents of the PFAS proposal, which included many in the chemical manufacturing industry, said the definition change is needed to preserve uses of PFAS in “essential” items like lithium batteries, laptop computers, semiconductors, pacemakers and defibrillators.

Even so, state regulators have yet to propose a prohibition on those uses. And while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is eventually expected to require states to regulate PFAS chemicals, it’s not clear when such rules will take effect.

If the definition change is enacted in Indiana, chemicals deemed harmful in other states would no longer carry the same designation in the Hoosier state. Critics said the legislation could allow products that contain the toxic chemicals to be “wrongly” labeled as “PFAS-free.”

PFAS are used to make a variety of nonstick, waterproof and stain-resistant products like cookware, cosmetics, carpets and clothing. Studies have found that the chemicals can be found in nearly half the nation’s tap water. Among other things, exposure to the chemicals has been linked to kidney cancer, problems with the immune system and developmental issues in children.