Relief for Farmers Hit with PFAS Act

II 119TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 3353 To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to provide grants to States, terri- tories, and Indian Tribes to address contamination by perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances on farms, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 4, 2025 Ms. C OLLINS (for herself, Mr. K ING, and Mrs. S HAHEEN) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agri- culture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to provide grants to States, territories, and Indian Tribes to address con- tamination by perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl sub- stances on farms, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Relief for Farmers Hit 4 with PFAS Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 (1) AGRICULTURAL LAND .— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:12 Dec 22, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3353.IS S3353kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 3353 IS (A) I N GENERAL .—The term ‘‘agricultural 1 land’’ means any land that is used, or capable 2 of use without substantial modification, for pro-3 duction of farm products. 4 (B) I NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘agricultural 5 land’’ includes irrigation water, livestock water, 6 surface water, groundwater, and agricultural in-7 puts on or associated with land described in 8 subparagraph (A). 9 (2) C OMMERCIAL FARM .—The term ‘‘commer-10 cial farm’’ means a farm on which a person pro-11 duces any farm product with the intent that the 12 farm product be sold or otherwise disposed of to 13 generate income. 14 (3) E LIGIBLE GOVERNMENT .—The term ‘‘eligi-15 ble government’’ means— 16 (A) a State; 17 (B) the District of Columbia; 18 (C) a territory of the United States; and 19 (D) an Indian Tribe. 20 (4) FARM PRODUCT .— 21 (A) I N GENERAL .—The term ‘‘farm prod-22 uct’’ means any plant or animal that is useful 23 to humans. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:12 Dec 22, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3353.IS S3353kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 3353 IS (B) I NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘farm prod-1 uct’’ includes— 2 (i) forages; 3 (ii) sod crops; 4 (iii) grains; 5 (iv) food crops; 6 (v) dairy products; 7 (vi) poultry and poultry products; 8 (vii) bees; 9 (viii) livestock and livestock products; 10 (ix) products of aquaculture; 11 (x) fruits; 12 (xi) berries; 13 (xii) vegetables; 14 (xiii) flowers; 15 (xiv) seeds; 16 (xv) grasses; 17 (xvi) Christmas trees; and 18 (xvii) other similar products, as deter-19 mined by the Secretary. 20 (5) P ERFLUOROALKYL OR POLYFLUOROALKYL 21 SUBSTANCE; PFAS.—The term ‘‘perfluoroalkyl or 22 polyfluoroalkyl substance’’ or ‘‘PFAS’’ means a 23 chemical that— 24 (A) contains at least one of— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:12 Dec 22, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3353.IS S3353kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 3353 IS (i) R–(CF2)–CF(R ′)R′′, where both 1 the CF2 and CF moieties are saturated 2 carbons, and none of the R groups can be 3 hydrogen; 4 (ii) R–CF2OCF2–R ′, where both the 5 CF2 moieties are saturated carbons, and 6 none of the R groups can be hydrogen; or 7 (iii) CF3C(CF3)RR ′, where all the 8 carbons are saturated, and none of the R 9 groups can be hydrogen; or 10 (B) is covered by the most recent working 11 definition of PFAS issued by the Administrator 12 of the Environmental Protection Agency. 13 (6) P ROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 14 the program established under section 3(a). 15 (7) S ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 16 the Secretary of Agriculture. 17 (8) S EPTAGE.—The term ‘‘septage’’ means 18 waste, refuse, effluent, sludge, and any other mate-19 rials from septic tanks, cesspools, or any other simi-20 lar facilities. 21 (9) SLUDGE.—The term ‘‘sludge’’ means— 22 (A) solid, semisolid, or liquid waste gen-23 erated from a municipal, commercial, or indus-24 trial— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:12 Dec 22, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3353.IS S3353kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 3353 IS (i) wastewater treatment plant; 1 (ii) water supply treatment plant; or 2 (iii) wet process air pollution control 3 facility; and 4 (B) any other waste having similar charac-5 teristics and effect. 6 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT. 7 (a) I N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a 8 program under which the Secretary shall provide grants 9 to eligible governments for the purposes described in sec-10 tion 4(a). 11 (b) ELIGIBILITY.— 12 (1) I N GENERAL .—To be eligible to receive a 13 grant under the program, the territory of an eligible 14 government shall contain— 15 (A) agricultural land that contains any soil 16 with levels of PFAS that the Secretary, in co-17 ordination with the Administrator of the Envi-18 ronmental Protection Agency, determines to be 19 unsafe; or 20 (B) water used for the production of farm 21 products with levels of PFAS that the Adminis-22 trator of the Environmental Protection Agency, 23 in coordination with the Secretary, determines 24 to be unsafe. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:12 Dec 22, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3353.IS S3353kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 3353 IS (2) C ONSIDERATION.—In determining the eligi-1 bility of an eligible government for a grant under the 2 program, the Secretary, in consultation with the Ad-3 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, 4 shall consider State standards and limitations relat-5 ing to soil and water. 6 (c) APPLICATIONS.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL .—To receive a grant under the 8 program, the department of agriculture or similar 9 agency of an eligible government shall submit to the 10 Secretary an application at such time, in such man-11 ner, and containing such information as the Sec-12 retary may require. 13 (2) S PEND PLAN .—An application submitted 14 under paragraph (1) shall contain a plan describing 15 how the eligible government will administer the 16 funding received under the program, including fund-17 ing priorities and oversight. 18 (d) SET-ASIDE.—Each year, the Secretary shall pro-19 vide not less than 30 percent of the total funding provided 20 under the program to 1 or more eligible governments with 21 a population of less than 3,000,000. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:12 Dec 22, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3353.IS S3353kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7 •S 3353 IS SEC. 4. PURPOSES. 1 (a) I N GENERAL.—An eligible government may use 2 a grant received under the program to provide funding for 3 any of the following purposes: 4 (1) Monitoring (including through blood serum 5 testing) the PFAS-related health complications of a 6 person, and members of the household of that per-7 son, if agricultural land the person lives or works on 8 is found to be contaminated by PFAS. 9 (2) Buying, selling, or providing compensation 10 for agricultural land or farm products found, 11 through test results provided to the eligible govern-12 ment, to be contaminated by PFAS, including costs 13 associated with the depopulation or disposal of farm 14 products, premortem or postmortem. 15 (3) Investing in agricultural equipment, facili-16 ties, and infrastructure to ensure that agricultural 17 land that, or a commercial farm any agricultural 18 land of which, is found to be contaminated by PFAS 19 maintains profitability while the producers on the 20 agricultural land, in response to the PFAS contami-21 nation— 22 (A) transition to an alternative production 23 system; or 24 (B) implement remediation strategies (in-25 cluding disposal), technological adaptations, or 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:12 Dec 22, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3353.IS S3353kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8 •S 3353 IS other modifications to the operations of the ag-1 ricultural land or commercial farm. 2 (4) Assisting the producers on agricultural land 3 that, or a commercial farm any agricultural land of 4 which, is found to be contaminated by PFAS in de-5 veloping an enterprise budget for— 6 (A) alternative production systems; 7 (B) remediation strategies; 8 (C) technological adaptations; 9 (D) transitioning to an alternative revenue 10 stream; or 11 (E) relocating a farming operation to new 12 agricultural land. 13 (5) Providing financial assistance to a person 14 the commercial farm of which is found to be con-15 taminated by PFAS, including income replacement. 16 (6) Evaluating and expanding the capacity of 17 PFAS testing and data management in the territory 18 of the eligible government. 19 (7) Conducting research that— 20 (A) supports short-term farm management 21 decisions with respect to agricultural land that 22 has been contaminated by PFAS; and 23 (B) assesses future options for viable uses 24 of agricultural land and water used for agricul-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:12 Dec 22, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3353.IS S3353kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9 •S 3353 IS tural production that has been contaminated by 1 PFAS. 2 (8) Conducting research that quantifies the im-3 pact of PFAS on commercial farms and agricultural 4 communities in the territory of the eligible govern-5 ment. 6 (9) Conducting research on— 7 (A) soil and water remediation systems; 8 (B) the viability of those systems for 9 PFAS-contaminated commercial farms; 10 (C) the composting or disposal of PFAS- 11 contaminated crops or livestock; 12 (D) implementing alternative production 13 systems in response to PFAS contamination; 14 (E) the PFAS uptake of various farm 15 products; and 16 (F) food safety relating to PFAS contami-17 nation. 18 (10) Developing and implementing educational 19 programs for owners of agricultural land, including 20 determining best practices for— 21 (A) informing residents about the potential 22 of being near or on a site on which sludge or 23 septage application was licensed or permitted by 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:12 Dec 22, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3353.IS S3353kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10 •S 3353 IS the eligible government or the Federal Govern-1 ment; and 2 (B) providing information and guidance on 3 buying or selling agricultural land on which 4 sludge or septage was applied. 5 (11) Long-term monitoring of agricultural land 6 contaminated by PFAS and establishing a cor-7 responding centralized data repository. 8 (12) Assisting owners and operators of commer-9 cial farms not directly affected by PFAS contamina-10 tion with marketing efforts whose branding and 11 marketing may be affected by the public perception 12 of PFAS contamination in the territory of the eligi-13 ble government. 14 (13) Voluntary testing of farm products, agri-15 cultural land, or other locations that are suspected 16 to be contaminated with PFAS. 17 (b) PRIORITY.— 18 (1) I N GENERAL .—In using funding received 19 under the program, an eligible government shall 20 prioritize purposes that directly assist producers who 21 are experiencing financial losses due to agricultural 22 PFAS contamination. 23 (2) D EPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE PRI -24 ORITY.—In providing grants under the program, the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:12 Dec 22, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3353.IS S3353kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 11 •S 3353 IS Secretary shall prioritize the provision of grants to 1 eligible governments that will use the grant funds 2 for the purposes described in paragraphs (3) 3 through (5) of subsection (a). 4 SEC. 5. REPORTS. 5 Each year of the period of a grant received under 6 the program, the department of agriculture or similar 7 agency of an eligible government shall submit to the Sec-8 retary and Congress a report describing— 9 (1) the uses of the grant during the previous 10 year, including— 11 (A) the purposes described in section 4(a) 12 for which the grant was used; 13 (B) the amount of the grant allocated to 14 each purpose described in section 4(a); and 15 (C) the extent to which the funding re-16 ceived under the program, including funding 17 priorities and oversight, was administered in ac-18 cordance with the plan described in section 19 3(c)(2); 20 (2) any additional needs identified by agricul-21 tural producers in the territory of the eligible gov-22 ernment; and 23 (3) any additional information the Secretary de-24 termines to be appropriate. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:12 Dec 22, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3353.IS S3353kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 12 •S 3353 IS SEC. 6. TASK FORCE. 1 The Secretary shall establish a task force composed 2 of officers or employees of the Department of Agri-3 culture— 4 (1) to provide advice to the Secretary relating 5 to whether addressing PFAS contamination should 6 be added as an eligible activity under each program 7 of the Department of Agriculture; 8 (2) to evaluate necessary actions for farms al-9 ready enrolled in a Department of Agriculture pro-10 gram where PFAS is detected; and 11 (3) to provide technical assistance to eligible 12 governments in addressing PFAS contamination. 13 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 14 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec-15 retary to carry out this Act $500,000,000 for the period 16 of fiscal years 2026 through 2030. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:12 Dec 22, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3353.IS S3353kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB