Bills to Support - 2026 General Assembly Session

If you agree with Don’t Spread On Me that these bills are worth supporting, please show your support by submitting written comments and/or providing testimony to the committees or subcommittees they are assigned to. You can provide testimony either virtually or in-person.

Below is a prioritized list of bills, plus fact sheets and instructions on how to submit your comments and testimony. This page will be updated frequently, as the status of a bill changes and new bills are added.

Bill #3: SB386 (Sen. Richard Stuart) Sewage sludge; perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances testing requirements, civil penalty.

This bill requires that any VPA permit holder (that means the sludge spreader, like Synagro) must provide to a property owner a statement affirming their sludge does not have a trace of PFAS in it before they can spread it on that person’s land. It also establishes a civil penalty of $5,000 for each time the permit holder does not comply. If the farmer is the permit holder himself, and spreading it on his lands, then he is exempt from these provisions.

Senator Stuart may have introduced this bill just to “make a point,” knowing that the Farm Bureau and the sludge industry would kill it. But the point is: This bill is exactly what we need. It would force testing and transparency that DEQ has refused to do, so far. Since finding a trace of PFAS in any load of sewage sludge is almost a certainty, it would also act as a de facto moratorium on spreading it.

This bill is useful because it’s an opportunity to show that there is citizen support for exactly this kind of measure.

Read the text of the bill here: SB386 (Hint: click the “Highlight Proposed Changes” button on the upper left.)

Use information from our Articles and Webinars page to help you write your comments. If you have any personal experience with the land application of sewage sludge, please include your story, too.

STATUS 01.26.26:
Referred to Water Usage Subcommittee from Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources
STATUS 01.30.26

On the docket for 02.03.26 at 8:00am.

STATUS 02.12.26
Advanced through subcommittee and full Ag Committee. Assigned to Resources Subcommittee of Finances and Appropriations
STATUS 02.13.26
Senator Stuart made a last-minute change to appease DEQ’s fiscal concerns by removing the last two paragraphs (enactment clauses 2. and 3.), which let it pass by the Subcommittee without actually being voted on there.
STATUS 02.17.26
Passed the Senate! (27‑Y 13‑N 0‑A) The substitute that passed is different enough from the original that it now could be thought of as a companion bill to HB1443.

Bill #1: HB1072 (Del. Amy Laufer) Local authority to test and monitor the land application of sewage sludge within its political boundaries.

This bill clarifies that local governments with a testing and monitoring program may test for PFAS and other toxic contaminants. DSOM worked closely with our partners at Potomac Riverkeeper Network to support Del. Laufer in patroning this bill.

Read the text of the bill here: HB1072 (Hint: click the “Highlight Proposed Changes” button on the upper left.)

To write comments in support of the bill, use the info in this FACT SHEET and these SAMPLE COMMENTS.

If you have any personal experience with the land application of sewage sludge, please include your story, too.

STATUS 01.25.26:
Referred to House Committee on Agriculture Chesapeake and Natural Resources
STATUS 01.31.26
Referred to Chesapeake subcommittee.
STATUS 02.12.26
An amended version made it through the full committee and was reported out to the House. You can read the amended version HERE.
STATUS 02.17.26
Passed the House! (62‑Y 34‑N 0‑A)
STATUS 02.21.26
Referred to Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee. Next Committee meeting should be Tuesday, Feb. 24. Until the docket appears HERE, we don’t know whether it will be heard nor whether public testimony will be accepted.
STATUS 02.24.26
Passed out of Water Usage Subcommittee and out of full committee, (9-Y, 5-N) reported to Finance.

Thank you to everyone who submitted comments during the House committee hearing process!

Bill #2: HB348 (Del. Ellen McLaughlin) Residential Well Water Testing and Treatment Program and Fund; established.

This bill establishes a fund ($3 million annually) to help low-income, rural residents get their well water tested for PFAS and, if water is found contaminated, to also help pay for an appropriate residential filtration system. This bill helps alleviate the inherent environmental inequity rural residents face. Residents of urban areas on municipal water systems are benefitting from testing and remediation at their water treatment plants, but users of well water have no such support to keep their drinking water free of PFAS.

Read the text of the bill here: HB348 (Hint: click the “Highlight Proposed Changes” button on the upper left.)

To write comments in support of the bill, use the info in this FACT SHEET created by our partner Wild Virginia.

If you have any personal experience with the land application of sewage sludge, please include your story, too.

STATUS 01.26.26:
Referred to Chesapeake Subcommittee from House Committee on Agriculture Chesapeake and Natural Resources. Subcommittee sent it on to Appropriations Committee, but it has to go through the full House Committee on Agriculture Chesapeake and Natural Resources, first, to get to Appropriations.
STATUS 01.28.26: Bill has been unanimously recommended to House Appropriations Committee. Assigned to Health and Human Resources Subcommittee.

STATUS 02.12.26: Tabled (killed) in Subcommittee. 5 Democrats voted to table it. 2 Republicans voted against tabling.