{"id":71418,"date":"2026-06-19T17:44:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T21:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=71418"},"modified":"2026-06-19T17:44:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T21:44:54","slug":"florida-law-targeting-forever-chemicals-set-to-take-effect-july-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/06\/19\/florida-law-targeting-forever-chemicals-set-to-take-effect-july-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida law targeting ‘forever chemicals’ set to take effect July 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The law taking effect is HB 1019<\/strong>, officially dubbed the “Joe Casello Act.”<\/strong> It passed the Florida Legislature unanimously and was signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis, establishing a strict multi-year timeline to eliminate the use of toxic, cancer-linked “forever chemicals” in firefighting materials statewide.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n

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Named in honor of the late state representative and longtime firefighter Joe Casello, the law targets AFFF (aqueous film-forming foam)<\/strong>, a heavy-duty firefighting foam long relied on to fight fuel fires but notorious for leaching per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) into drinking water and soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is how the phase-out timeline rolls out under the new law, along with its broader environmental mandates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PFAS Phase-Out Timeline<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nonemergency Ban & Inventory Reporting<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AFFF containing intentionally added PFAS can no longer be used for nonemergency instructions, training, or testing. Any fire department, airport, or facility currently stockpiling the foam must report its exact inventory to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sale, purchase, or distribution of PFAS-based AFFF is completely prohibited across the state of Florida. Any entity still holding a remaining inventory must submit an official disposal plan to the DEP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outright possession and use of AFFF becomes illegal in Florida, with narrow exceptions carved out only for specific military applications, airports under rigid federal constraints, or emergency scenarios where no alternative exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key Provisions & Strict Penalties<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Financial Penalties:<\/strong> Violators face civil penalties of up to $10,000 per day<\/strong> for each day a violation persists, alongside additional fines for failing to report stockpiled inventories or submit disposal plans.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Wastewater and Biosolids Testing:<\/strong> In a major push for tracking contamination, the law requires all public entities disposing of domestic wastewater biosolids (treated sewage sludge used as fertilizer) and effluent with an average daily flow of 25,000 gallons or more<\/strong> to conduct quarterly PFAS sampling and report the findings to the DEP.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • State Support:<\/strong> The DEP is tasked with providing technical assistance and state grants to help local, cash-strapped fire departments and regional airports cover the cost-heavy process of containing, disposing of, and replacing old foam stockpiles with certified PFAS-free alternatives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \n

    Why This Matters:<\/strong> Because PFAS chemicals do not naturally break down in the environment or the human body, they build up over time.<\/sup> Uncontrolled releases of firefighting foam have been directly tied to groundwater contamination in local municipalities across Florida\u2014including highly publicized water system lawsuits in cities like Stuart.<\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    The quarterly wastewater monitoring under this law remains “for informational purposes” until federal EPA standards are fully codified and adopted by the state, but it gives Florida a massive head start on mapping exactly where these forever chemicals are concentrating in the water supply.<\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The law taking effect is HB 1019, officially dubbed the “Joe Casello Act.” It passed the Florida Legislature unanimously and was signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis, establishing a… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDZcL2ltYWdlcy0yLTYud2VicD9maXQ9NTg0JTJDMzQyJnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiRmxvcmlkYSBsYXcgdGFyZ2V0aW5nICYjODIxNjtmb3JldmVyIGNoZW1pY2FscyYjODIxNzsgc2V0IHRvIHRha2UgZWZmZWN0IEp1bHkgMSIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.RunfSXMRqigW5fHZn7AWnISp__P4HDu47SAm_1GckvMMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA2XC9pbWFnZXMtMi02LndlYnAiLCJ0eHQiOiJGbG9yaWRhIGxhdyB0YXJnZXRpbmcgJ2ZvcmV2ZXIgY2hlbWljYWxzJyBzZXQgdG8gdGFrZSBlZmZlY3QgSnVseSAxIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.KUNWh3wn66YaJu5Hfv8QQvcISJJ02lbeT7scwDbIUt8MQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[14928],"class_list":["post-71418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-florida-law-targeting-forever-chemicals-set-to-take-effect-july-1"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71418"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71420,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71418\/revisions\/71420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}