Committee reviews H.238 changes to PFAS consumer-product ban, flags rulemaking and testing questions

Michael Grady, legislative counsel, told the committee the bill known in draft as H.238 consolidates and restructures the consumer-protection provisions enacted under last year's Act 131 and adds a small set of new products to the PFAS prohibitions.

The bill would prohibit manufacture, sale or distribution in Vermont of consumer products to which PFAS have been intentionally added, and would add cleaning products and dental floss to the list of covered items. It also treats textiles differently by phasing a regulated-PFAS threshold for textile articles from 100 parts per million downward toward 15 parts per million, and it creates separate timing and rules for so-called fluorine-treated containers.

Why it matters: H.238 would change how manufacturers and retailers demonstrate compliance and give the attorney general a chief enforcement role through certificates of compliance. The restructuring also consolidates multiple product-specific sections from Act 131 into a single prohibition, which affects effective dates, exemptions, and the scope of future rulemaking.

Key elements explained to the committee included:

- Scope and new…