MADISON – Senator Eric Wimberger (R-Gillett) released the following statement after the Wisconsin State Senate voted unanimously today to pass Assembly Bill 130 and Assembly Bill 131, legislation he authored with Representative Jeff Mursau (R-Crivitz) to create new programs and protections for victims of PFAS and provide $132 million to combat PFAS contamination across Wisconsin:
“I’m thankful that minds have changed on PFAS through honest dialogue. Governor Evers and the DNR will support our protections for innocent landowners after refusing to support them in our previous legislative effort. It’s wrong to hold landowners financially and legally responsible for pollution they didn’t cause, and the bills now satisfy both the Governor’s enforcement concerns and my concern for the innocent.
These bills have now unanimously passed both the State Assembly and State Senate. This moment finally brings our comprehensive relief effort to the Governor’s desk, and we can soon begin helping communities and landowners fight PFAS contamination wherever they find it.”
Assembly Bill 131 creates new PFAS-specific grant programs to help communities get the resources they need to address contamination. These include $80 million to support impacted communities’ efforts to fight PFAS and $35 million to expand the Well Compensation Grant Program to include PFAS.
Assembly Bill 131 also provides changes in statute to help impacted communities and landowners test, identify, and remediate PFAS, as well as additional protections for innocent landowners who find PFAS on their land that they did not cause, such as farmers, residential and commercial properties, and some industries.
Assembly Bill 130 funds these new resources and initiatives with approximately $132 million from the PFAS Trust Fund, created in the 2023-25 State Budget.
Last session, Governor Evers vetoed a similar bill authored by Senator Wimberger that would have provided innocent landowner protections and allocated $125 million set aside by the Legislature for PFAS relief.
