Gov. Evers Optimistic About Reaching Final Deal with Republican Lawmakers to Secure Release of $125 Million in Long-Awaited PFAS Investments

The changes signal new hope for the release of $125 million in stalled PFAS investments that have languished unspent in Madison for years despite the governor’s persistent demands for the funds to be released. The amendments reflecting key aspects of the bipartisan compromise so far, Substitute Amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 130 and Substitute Amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 131, respectively, secure protections for innocent landowners, invest $80 million of the $125 million in the PFAS Trust Fund to support local communities, invest $35 million of the $125 million in the PFAS Trust Fund for an expanded Well Compensation Grant Program, and provide funding for emergency bottled water for private well owners in situations in which PFAS contamination in drinking water is discovered, among other important provisions. This leaves staffing resources at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) as the only major outstanding item that stands in the way of reaching a final, bipartisan deal.

Just days ago, Gov. Evers cited PFAS legislation as an opportunity for bipartisan work and compromise as he announced his 2026 legislative agenda and laid out his top priorities for the remaining 11 months of the current 2025-27 Legislative Session. The governor called for working across the aisle and urged lawmakers to make releasing $125 million to fight PFAS statewide “another bipartisan win for the people of Wisconsin” after 2025 yielded historic bipartisan accomplishments despite divided government.

Gov. Evers today expressed optimism about reaching a final, bipartisan deal with Republican lawmakers as negotiations continue. The governor released the following statement:

“I met with Republican lawmakers and the DNR last week about critical PFAS bill changes that will be necessary to garner my support, and I’m really optimistic we’re finally going to be able to get something good done here after months of successful and productive negotiations. I’m grateful Republican lawmakers have formally introduced an amendment that reflects the changes we’ve agreed to so far as a sign of good faith. We still have some important details to iron out to make sure DNR has the resources they need, but we’ve made a lot of progress. So, I’m really hopeful.

“We just have to get something done on PFAS this year, folks. We have to.

“The bottom line for me is that I believe we have a responsibility to make sure Wisconsinites have access to safe and clean drinking water, no matter where they live in our state. My administration began working on PFAS from the get-go when I took office in 2019, and I was proud when the Legislature joined me in making the first meaningful, statewide investment to help fight these harmful contaminants. But the simple truth is that those investments should have been out the door a long time ago.

“I’ve said from the beginning that we’d work with anyone in the Legislature—Republican, Democrat, doesn’t matter to me—who wanted to pass legislation to fight harmful contaminants like PFAS, and that’s what we’ve been doing, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.

“I’m as optimistic as ever that PFAS can be a bipartisan success story for us in 2026 and that we can work together to make it happen. I remain hopeful that Republican lawmakers will continue working with me and my administration to get this done—and get it done right. I’ve appreciated their partnership in this effort over the last few months, and I look forward to continuing our work together so we can reach a final deal on PFAS that will pass with broad, bipartisan support.”

DNR Secretary Karen Hyun is expected to testify in the Assembly Committee on Environment later today in support of the two respective substitute amendments as introduced on behalf of the Evers Administration. Hyun stated the DNR supports both of the two amendments so long as no additional changes are made to those agreed-upon details while acknowledging the work ahead toward finalizing a bipartisan deal.

“The narrow exemptions for PFAS, which the department has agreed upon with the bill authors, are pragmatic, reasonable, implementable and, most importantly, protective of human health and the environment,” Secretary Hyun is set to testify. “The proposed exemptions are designed so someone can read the statute on their own and determine whether they meet the criteria. The approach is efficient, straight forward, self-implementing and doesn’t require additional steps by the property owner. In other words, if a property owner meets the criteria, they are exempt and they don’t need to ask the DNR to grant the exemption.”

PROGRESS TOWARD FINAL BIPARTISAN DEAL ON PFAS
In recent months, members of the Evers Administration, at the direction of Gov. Evers, have participated in a series of productive, bipartisan meetings with lawmakers regarding several Republican-introduced PFAS bills in hopes of reaching consensus and compromise.

The negotiations have resulted in Gov. Evers and the Evers Administration agreeing to a series of changes thus far that have been compiled into two substitute amendments that represent a good-faith effort toward reaching a final, bipartisan deal on PFAS that includes narrow modifications to the Spills Law specific to PFAS and the creation of PFAS grant programs designed to get money to Wisconsin communities that have been impacted by PFAS contamination.

The agreed-upon changes that represent progress from the bipartisan negotiations and conversations so far have been officially introduced, respectively, as substitute amendments to Republican-backed Assembly Bills (AB) 130 and 131 relating to PFAS contamination. The substitute amendments, introduced by the Republican bill authors, are set to be taken up in a public hearing of the Assembly Committee on Environment at 10 a.m. on Wed., Jan. 21, 2025.

OVERVIEW OF CURRENTLY AGREED UPON BIPARTISAN CHANGES

Protection for Innocent Landowners 
The proposal builds upon the governor’s budget provisions protecting innocent landowners by amending the Spills Law to ensure farmers, landowners, business owners, fire departments, and municipalities are not held responsible for PFAS contamination they did not cause.

Also included is a dedicated grant program of $5.25 million to assist public airports with tackling PFAS contamination. Eligible remedial actions for the airport grant program include actions taken to control or minimize the discharge of PFAS from the airport site, as well as restoration activities to ensure the site no longer poses a threat to human health.

The proposal also provides $35 million for an expanded Well Compensation Grant Program to assist homeowners and businesses with private wells to ensure their drinking water is safe from PFAS. As Gov. Evers has proposed numerous times in the past, this proposal expands the eligibility limits for this program to allow more Wisconsinites to utilize the program and also allows non-community water supplies, schools, and childcare facilities to receive funding.

Finally, the proposal allocates funding for the provision of emergency bottled water for private well owners when PFAS contamination in drinking water is discovered, additional research activities related to PFAS, and support for the State Lab of Hygiene and other labs to assist in evaluating samples for PFAS.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND ON GOV. EVERS’ AND THE EVERS ADMINISTRATION’S EFFORTS TO FIGHT PFAS CONTAMINATION STATEWIDE
Gov. Evers has made addressing PFAS contamination in water a top priority, proposing numerous comprehensive plans to protect Wisconsinites from PFAS in drinking, ground, and surface water. The Evers Administration enacted the first statewide standards for PFAS in surface and drinking water and has proposed groundwater standards multiple times despite Republican obstruction. Gov. Evers also secured a historic $125 million investment of state funding in the 2023-25 Biennial Budget to assist homeowners and communities in addressing PFAS contamination, but Republicans in the Legislature have blocked the DNR from accessing this funding for over 900 days.

Following multiple attempts to call on the Legislature to release this funding without delay, last session, Gov. Evers vetoed Senate Bill 312, a Republican bill claiming to release the PFAS Trust Fund and address contamination but included harmful “poison pill” provisions that would have removed authority the DNR currently possesses to hold PFAS polluters accountable and require those polluters to clean up their own spills, despite the governor communicating to bill authors that the bill would be vetoed unless they removed this “poison pill” provision.

Months later, in his 2025-27 Executive Budget, Gov. Evers once again recommended a comprehensive plan to address PFAS contamination across surface, drinking, and groundwater. Among other provisions, the governor’s proposal recommended allowing the full balance of the PFAS Trust Fund to be utilized by the DNR, with special attention made to protect innocent landowners, as well as the adoption of major policies in the CLEAR Act, including exempting DNR rulemaking relating to setting enforceable PFAS standards from the REINS Act. Unfortunately, Republican lawmakers removed the majority of the governor’s proposals to address PFAS contamination from the final budget. More on Gov. Evers 2025-27 Executive Budget recommendations to address PFAS statewide is available here.

Despite these obstructions, the Evers administration has continuously sought bipartisan compromise to release funding from the PFAS Trust Fund as well as protect truly innocent landowners. In addition to the efforts noted above, additional resources outlining Gov. Evers and the Evers Administration’s efforts to urge Republican leaders to release the $125 million PFAS Trust fund approved in the 2023-25 Biennial Budget are available below: