Assigned to GOV                                                                                                              AS PASSED BY COW

 

 

 

 


ARIZONA STATE SENATE

Fifty-Seventh Legislature, Second Regular Session

 

AMENDED

FACT SHEET FOR H.B. 2641

 

PFAS; firefighting foam; prohibition

Purpose

Effective January 1, 2029, prohibits a person, local government or state agency from discharging or using class B firefighting foam that contains intentionally added PFAS chemicals for any purpose, unless required by federal regulation.

Background

Laws 2019, Chapter 222 prohibits a person, local government or state agency from discharging or using class B firefighting foam that contains intentionally added PFAS chemicals for training or testing purposes unless required by law or federal regulation or if a testing facility using the foam for testing purposes implements appropriate containment, treatment and disposal measures to prevent uncontrolled releases into the environment. The outlined prohibition on class B firefighting foam containing PFAS chemicals does not restrict the manufacture, sale or distribution of class B firefighting foam that contains intentionally added PFAS chemicals or the discharge or other use of class B firefighting foam in emergency firefighting or fire prevention operations.

Class B firefighting foam means foam designed to extinguish a fire that involves a flammable liquid. PFAS chemicals means perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances that are a class of fluorinated organic chemicals containing at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom, that are designed to be fully functional in class B firefighting foam formulations and that are used as a firefighting agent.

There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.

Provisions

1.   Expands the prohibition on a person, local government or state agency discharging or using class B firefighting foam containing intentionally added PFAS chemicals to apply to any purpose, rather than only training purposes, unless required by federal regulation.

2.   Exempts the owner or operator of a public airport from the outlined prohibition on class B firefighting foam containing PFAS chemicals until January 1, 2031.

3.   Removes the stipulation that the outlined prohibition on class B firefighting foam containing PFAS chemicals does not restrict the manufacture, sale or distribution of class B firefighting foam that contains intentionally added PFAS chemicals or the discharge or other use of class B firefighting foam in emergency firefighting or fire prevention operations.

4.   Defines public airport as an airport that is owned by a political subdivision of the state or that is otherwise open to the public.

5.   Makes technical and conforming changes.

6.   Becomes effective on January 1, 2029.

Amendments Adopted by Committee of the Whole

· Adds a delayed effective date of January 1, 2029.

House Action                                                           Senate Action

PSLE               1/26/26      DP       15-0-0-0             GOV               3/25/26      DP              7-0-0

3rd Read          3/5/26                    50-0-9-0-1

Prepared by Senate Research

April 14, 2026

AN/ci