Bill to extend statute of limitations on PFAS civil suits in New Hampshire tabled by House

Yahoo

20-03-2025

Virtually all Americans have been exposed to the class of chemicals, which are often used to make products stain- and water-resistant. (Getty Images)
The House tabled a bill Thursday that would give those harmed by PFAS much more time to sue polluters.
House Bill 199 would increase the statute of limitations for civil action related to damages caused by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, the 'forever chemicals' known as PFAS, from six years to 20. These chemicals — of which there are thousands of varieties used in common industrial and consumer products — have been linked to negative health effects like some cancers, high cholesterol, reproductive and fetal development issues, and more.
Proponents of the bill said it was a necessary step to ensure that all those impacted by the chemicals had time to sue, since they can accumulate in the body over many years, break down incredibly slowly in the environment, and research is still uncovering more about their risks. But opponents said the two decades was excessively long, and some argued that the current six years was ample time given that the clock for civil action starts ticking only once someone knows, or should have reasonably known, that they have been harmed by PFAS.
While the House Judiciary Committee recommended it for passage, 10-8, the Democratic-led bill faced an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled Legislature, which voted 188-170 to table it. It's not the only effort in recent years to lengthen the time for lawsuits related to PFAS; in 2021, the Legislature passed legislation that lengthened the statute of limitations from three years to six.
Rep. Joe Alexander, a Goffstown Republican, made the motion to table the bill. The tabling motion sets the bill aside; the chamber could later vote to revive it or let it die by not taking it up again before the end of the session. Part of his argument for tabling the bill was that he was 'unclear' about whether the 'clock resets after every potential exposure.'
Some in the state have suffered from acute PFAS exposure, like those affected by emissions from Pease Air Force Base on the Seacoast or the Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics plant in Merrimack. But virtually all Americans have been exposed to the class of chemicals, which are often used to make products stain- and water-resistant.
Those who backed the bill felt it was an important step to hold polluters accountable.
'If I know that the polluters — and not the taxpayers, municipalities, and injured citizens — should pay for the damages and remediation they caused,' Rep. Paul Berch, a Westmoreland Democrat, asked his colleagues, 'would I then vote against tabling?'