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| 2 | 2 | | SENATE DOCKET, NO. 894 FILED ON: 1/18/2023 |
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| 3 | 3 | | SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 588 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | John C. Velis |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act studying the effect of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in commercial products. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :John C. VelisHampden and HampshireKelly W. Pease4th Hampden1/31/2023 1 of 2 |
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| 16 | 16 | | SENATE DOCKET, NO. 894 FILED ON: 1/18/2023 |
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| 17 | 17 | | SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 588 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Mr. Velis, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 588) of John C. Velis and Kelly W. |
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| 19 | 19 | | Pease for legislation to study the effect of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in commercial |
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| 20 | 20 | | products. Environment and Natural Resources. |
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| 21 | 21 | | [SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION |
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| 22 | 22 | | SEE SENATE, NO. 624 OF 2021-2022.] |
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| 23 | 23 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 24 | 24 | | _______________ |
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| 25 | 25 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court |
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| 26 | 26 | | (2023-2024) |
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| 27 | 27 | | _______________ |
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| 28 | 28 | | An Act studying the effect of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in commercial products. |
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| 29 | 29 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 30 | 30 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 31 | 31 | | 1 SECTION 1. used in this chapter, the following words shall, unless the context clearly |
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| 32 | 32 | | 2requires otherwise, have the following meanings:— |
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| 33 | 33 | | 3 “Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances” or “PFAS chemical” or “PFAS”, a class |
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| 34 | 34 | | 4of fluorinated organic chemicals containing at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom. |
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| 35 | 35 | | 5 “Agricultural products”, any vegetable, fruit, dairy, meat, fish, and poultry, and |
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| 36 | 36 | | 6agricultural inputs, such as, but not limited to, feed, water, fertilizer, pesticides, sold |
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| 37 | 37 | | 7commercially in Massachusetts. |
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| 38 | 38 | | 8 “Food products”, any beverage, including alcoholic beverages, beverage or food |
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| 39 | 39 | | 9additives, or food product sold commercially in Massachusetts. 2 of 2 |
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| 40 | 40 | | 10 SECTION 2. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection shall procure |
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| 41 | 41 | | 11or otherwise employ an external research organization, which has the capacity to study per- and |
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| 42 | 42 | | 12polyfluoroalkyl substances and the effect PFAS has on agricultural products and other food |
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| 43 | 43 | | 13products; provided, that the research organization shall have: (1) extensive experience with a |
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| 44 | 44 | | 14wide variety of agricultural products and environmental matrices, including, but not limited to, |
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| 45 | 45 | | 15plants and animals; (2) a current QAPP (“Quality Assurance Project Plan”) through the United |
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| 46 | 46 | | 16States Environmental Protection Agency; (3) current sampling and chain of custody protocols; |
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| 47 | 47 | | 17(4) experience handling complex agricultural matrices; and (5) access to state-of-the art mass |
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| 48 | 48 | | 18spectrometers. The study shall include findings on the levels of PFAS found in: (1) in |
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| 49 | 49 | | 19agricultural and food products sold in Massachusetts stores; (2) locally sourced agricultural |
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| 50 | 50 | | 20products; and (3) agricultural inputs including, but not limited to, feed, water, fertilizer, and |
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| 51 | 51 | | 21pesticides. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection shall make said report |
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| 52 | 52 | | 22publicly available on the Department’s website; provided further, that the report shall be broken |
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| 53 | 53 | | 23down into laymen’s terms for reading digestibility. |
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| 54 | 54 | | 24 The commissioner shall file a progress report in writing of the findings, including food |
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| 55 | 55 | | 25and agricultural sources of contamination, within 365 days of the passage of this act; provided, |
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| 56 | 56 | | 26that |
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| 57 | 57 | | 27 the report shall be filed with the house and senate committees on ways and means and the |
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| 58 | 58 | | 28joint committee on environment, natural resources, and agriculture on or before August 31, 2024. |
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| 59 | 59 | | 29 SECTION 3. This act shall take effect no later than 180 days after passage of this act. |
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