S. 103 passed through the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee last Friday with unanimous support. The bill has since been approved by the Senate Finance Committee, and just needs to clear the Senate Appropriations Committee before it reaches the Senate floor for a discussion and vote.
In the meantime, the House Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife Committee is stepping up to review H. 268, the House version of the original bill that includes all thirteen recommendations from the Act 154 Working Group. This way, they will be ready to take official testimony as soon as possible and work to move this bill forward to hopefully pass critical reform to toxic chemical regulations this spring.
Our goal is to keep this version of the bill as strong as possible and include protections that the Senate Natural Resources Committee removed from the bill. Our priorities are:
- Providing the Commissioner of Health with clear authority to act in the public interest and protect Vermonters, especially our most vulnerable populations, from toxic chemicals and hazardous substances.
- Ensuring that UPC codes are included in reporting under the Toxic Free Families Act to ensure that information about toxic chemicals
- Regular water testing to protect our ground water and drinking water from toxic substances
- Reforming the Toxics Use Reduction program to ensure that valuable toxics information is accessible to all Vermonters.
As this bill progresses, we will continue to provide updates and opportunities for you to get involved. Thank you for your support of comprehensive toxics reform!