HB390 Alabama 2025 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Mark ShireyRepresentative

Republican

Session

2025 Regular Session

Title

Alabama Drycleaning Response Trust Fund Board, requirement that the Alabama Department of Environmental Management prevent involvement of other units of government in contamination problems deleted; required minimum balance in Alabama Drycleaning Environmental Response Trust Fund reduced from one million to two hundred fifty thousand dollars

Summary

HB390 changes Alabama's drycleaning cleanup program by removing a rule that kept other government agencies from getting involved, lowering the Fund's minimum balance, and clarifying how cleanup costs are paid and managed.

What This Bill Does

- It removes the requirement that the Department of Environmental Management prevent involvement of federal, state, and local governments in contamination problems. - It reduces the required minimum balance of the Alabama Drycleaning Environmental Response Trust Fund from $1,000,000 to $250,000. - It sets deductibles for cost recovery: $10,000 for each owner/operator, $50,000 for each wholesale distributor, and no deductible for adjacent landowners. - It caps the fund’s expenditures for investigation and remediation at $250,000 per site per fiscal year unless an emergency justifies more, and allows higher spending only to avoid imminent and substantial endangerment. - It confines fund use to drycleaning-related contamination at or on eligible facilities or impacted real property, with various exclusions, and requires adoption of rules, standards, and retrofit schedules for facilities. - It includes priority criteria for investigating and remediating sites, performance standards for facilities, and containment/handling requirements for drycleaning agents and wastes. - The act becomes effective October 1, 2025.

Who It Affects

• Drycleaning facility owners/operators and wholesale distributors – may elect coverage, face deductible payments, and may receive fund assistance for costs above deductibles within annual caps and subject to eligibility rules.
• Abandoned drycleaning facility owners, adjacent landowners, and impacted third parties – may be eligible for fund payments for investigation, assessment, and remediation costs above applicable deductibles, with funding limited by site-specific criteria and fund rules.

Key Provisions

• Deletes the requirement that the Alabama Department of Environmental Management prevent involvement of other government units in contamination problems.
• Reduces the required minimum balance in the Alabama Drycleaning Environmental Response Trust Fund from $1,000,000 to $250,000.
• Establishes deductibles: $10,000 for each covered owner/operator, $50,000 for each wholesale distributor; adjacent landowners are not required to pay a deductible.
• Cap on fund expenditures for a single site: $250,000 per fiscal year unless an emergency is determined to require more, with a mechanism to address imminent and substantial endangerment.
• Funding is limited to contamination related to drycleaning facilities, abandoned facilities, or impacted/adjacent real property; excludes funding for contamination not linked to such facilities or federally identified sites, unless allowed by rules.
• Requires rules and standards for administering the fund, including performance standards for new facilities, retrofit requirements for existing facilities, and containment/handling requirements for drycleaning agents and wastes.
• Creates priority criteria for investigations and remediation, considering health/environmental impact, future risk, costs, water resources, and fund availability.
• Effective date set for October 1, 2025.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano on Feb 22, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.

Subjects

Occupational Licensing Boards