Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Pfas Amaras Law topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Family and environmental advocates urge panel to preserve Amara’s law; oppose ATV PFAS exemption
Summary
Family members of the late Amara Strandy, Clean Water Action Minnesota, and other witnesses urged the Senate Commerce Committee not to weaken Amara's law, opposing a proposed exemption for ATVs and seeking firm implementation timelines for other PFAS provisions in Article 7 of the omnibus bill.
Advocates and family members urged the Minnesota Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee on April 8 to reject proposed carve-outs in Amara’s law that would exempt certain products from the state’s PFAS prohibitions.
"The current language gives a lifetime exemption for ATVs," Ivana Stark, state director of Clean Water Action Minnesota, told the committee, arguing that an exemption would remove incentives for manufacturers to eliminate PFAS from products and urging the committee to adopt the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s (MPCA) recommended language and a specific implementation date. "This means there's no timeline for them to remove PFAS from their products. There's no incentive to make these items safer and less toxic."
Members of the Strandy family — who testified in committee meetings when Amara’s law was adopted — urged senators to keep the law intact and to reject the ATV carve-out in the omnibus. "If you support weakening Amara's Law, then you will be telling your constituents and their loved ones that you also do not care that they continue to be poisoned," Michael Strandy said in committee. Nora Strandy, Amara’s sister, told the committee the proposed ATV exemption "is the very same people that Amara fought so hard against" and urged senators to "vote for Amara, to vote for health and to vote for Minnesota."
Testimony from Clean Water Action and family members followed the committee’s summary of Article 7 language. Committee staff said Article 7 includes exemptions for certain internal components and other narrowly defined product classes and specifically noted a provision that would exempt some vehicles made for children and delay certain prohibitions for covered products used in specific aviation firefighting systems until Jan. 1, 2028.
Advocates asked the committee to adopt MPCA-recommended language and to set a firm timeline for internal- and electronic-component implementation. Clean Water Action urged the committee to make 2032 the implementation date for internal and electronic components language and to remove the ATV exemption specifically identified in the omnibus draft.
Senators and committee staff acknowledged the public health and industry concerns the provision raises. At the end of the hearing, Chair Klein said he had taken the comments to heart and invited further discussion as the omnibus moved through the legislative process.
Outlook: Article 7’s PFAS provisions are likely to attract additional input from environmental regulators, industry groups and family advocates as the omnibus bill is amended and negotiated; lawmakers signaled openness to further discussion and potential changes.
