Committee Information

Section 15(a) of the PFAS Wastewater Citizen Protection Act states that the purposes of the committee is to:

1. Monitor developments and reviewing data related to PFAS, PFAS regulation, and PFAS elimination and mitigation technology for wastewater treatment systems. 
2. Determine how to best implement the findings and policy in Section 5 of this Act, including in relation to federal statutes and regulations.
3. Determine the range of options to mitigate the presence of PFAS, including, if necessary, costs to install treatment technology to reduce PFAS in wastewater treatment systems and costs for PFAS sampling, analysis, research, monitoring, and record keeping.
4. Determine how to offset the costs to wastewater agencies needed to install PFAS elimination and mitigation technology in wastewater treatment systems by identifying all potential sources of funding, including indirect discharge fees, State and federal funding, and manufacturers and commercial and industrial users of PFAS.
5. Make recommendations regarding policies, including legislation and rulemaking, necessary to implement the findings and policy in Section 5 of this Act.
6. Make recommendations regarding the funding of elimination and mitigation technology for wastewater treatment systems and recovering taxpayer and customer costs for PFAS.

Section 15(b-d) of the PFAS Wastewater Citizen Protection Act states the charge of the committee:

1. No later than one year after the effective date of this Act, the Committee shall issue a report containing a PFAS Action Plan based on the purposes stated in subsection (a) of this Section. The report shall be submitted to the Governor’s Office, the General Assembly, and the Agency.
2. The Committee shall monitor the status of and, if necessary, advocate for the execution of the PFAS Action Plan submitted with its report under subsection (b) of this Section.
3. The Committee shall continue to periodically meet after submittal of the PFAS Action Plan under subsection (b) of this Section. The Committee shall annually update the PFAS Action Plan, and shall submit a report annually to the Governor’s Office, the General Assembly, and the Agency with any updates to the PFAS Action Plan and a summary of:
   1. the latest developments in related science and technology, as well as the latest developments in approaches to PFAS elimination and mitigation in wastewater;
   2. any updated policy recommendations the Committee feels necessary to implement the findings and policy in Section 5 of this Act;
   3. any cost updates for addressing any policy recommendations the Committee feels necessary to implement the findings and policy in Section 5 of this Act; and
   4. any updated developments or recommendations regarding the identification of potential sources of funding to offset the costs to wastewater agencies.

Section 20 of the PFAS Wastewater Citizen Protection Act states that “appointments to the Committee shall be made within 30 days after the effective date of this Act. The Committee shall meet at the call of the chairperson. Committee members shall serve without compensation. If a vacancy occurs in the Committee membership, the vacancy shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment for the remainder of the Committee.” The committee composition is:

1. The Governor or the Governor’s designee, who shall serve as chairperson
2. The Director or the Director’s designee –
3. One member appointed by the President of the Senate
4. One member appointed by the Minority Leader of the Senate
5. One member appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives
6. One member appointed by the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives
7. The following members appointed by the Director: 
   1. 2 members who are representatives of a wastewater agency with a service population of 25,000 or less
   2. 2 members who are representatives of a wastewater agency with a service population of more than 25,000 but less than or equal to 125,000
   3. 2 members who are representatives of a wastewater agency with a service population of more than 125,000
   4. One member who is a representative of a statewide organization representing wastewater agencies
   5. One member who is a representative of a statewide organization representing publicly owned drinking water agencies
   6. One member who is a researcher from a university in the Great Lakes region who specializes in PFAS
   7. One member who is a representative of a public utility that provides water and wastewater services in Illinois
   8. One member who is a representative of a statewide organization representing the solid waste and recycling industry; and
   9. One member who is a representative of a statewide organization representing the manufacturing industry.