{"id":151,"date":"2024-05-28T13:16:34","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T17:16:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/pfas\/?p=151"},"modified":"2026-05-14T13:54:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T17:54:23","slug":"pfas-maryland-continues-to-legislate-solutions-to-its-pfas-concerns-playgrounds-now-covered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/pfas\/2024\/05\/28\/pfas-maryland-continues-to-legislate-solutions-to-its-pfas-concerns-playgrounds-now-covered\/","title":{"rendered":"#PFAS &#8211; Maryland continues to legislate solutions to its PFAS concerns &#8211; Playgrounds now covered!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In early <strong><u>2022<\/u><\/strong>, the Governor of Maryland signed\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/legiscan.com\/MD\/text\/SB273\/2022\">SB 273<\/a>\/<a href=\"https:\/\/legiscan.com\/MD\/text\/HB275\/2022\">HB 275, Chapter 138, 2022<\/a> into law (the \u201c<strong><u>22 Act<\/u><\/strong>\u201d)\u00a0 to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in several categories of consumer products. For the 22 Act &#8211;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/[https:\/\/mgaleg.maryland.gov\/2022RS\/Chapters_noln\/CH_139_sb0273e.pdf]\">[https:\/\/mgaleg.maryland.gov\/2022RS\/Chapters_noln\/CH_139_sb0273e.pdf]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The 22 Act became operational on January 1, 2024 and focuses on the following key areas:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Class B fire-fighting foam (FFF), rugs and carpets (note, second hand rugs are exempt), plastic disposable gloves used in commercial or institutional food service, as well as certain food packages and food packaging substantially composed of paper, paperboard and other materials derived from plant fiber are now prohibited from including intentionally added PFAS;<\/li>\n<li>Forbids the disposal of <strong>Class B firefighting foam<\/strong> containing intentionally added PFAS;<\/li>\n<li>Mandates that the <strong>sellers of personal protective equipment (PPE)<\/strong> for firefighting equipment that contains PFAS are now required to furnish a written notice to purchasers indicating that the PPE contains PFAS and the purpose of having such chemicals in these products.<\/li>\n<li>There are some <strong>timing exceptions<\/strong> under the 22 Act for airports, ports, refineries and chemical plants allowing for later compliance beyond 1-1-24 depending on the type of operation and the 22 Act also requires that manufacturers of the aforesaid products are required to establish an annual certificate of compliance to attest to their applicable compliance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The 22 Act defines PFAS as \u201c<strong>a class of fluorinated organic chemicals that contain at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the 22 Act, on <strong>May 9, 2024<\/strong>, the Governor signed\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/legiscan.com\/MD\/bill\/HB1147\/2024\">HB 1147<\/a>\u00a0(Chapter 488) (the \u201c<strong><u>24 Act<\/u><\/strong>\u201d) into law to regulate lead and PFAS chemicals in playground surfacing materials (artificial turfs), which further adds to the impact of the 22 Act noted above.<\/p>\n<p>The 24 Act amends\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/advance.lexis.com\/container?config=00JAA1NTM5MzBmZC02MTg2LTQzNmEtYmI5Yy0yZWEwYzA1OGEwNTYKAFBvZENhdGFsb2fdgr2eooaZj7MpSZGOIwWq&amp;crid=203017c1-d822-4eb4-834a-ae3e2c832d45&amp;prid=ebe950f3-c06b-494e-916e-f3fae04f829b\">Code of Maryland Environment Title 6<\/a>\u00a0by adding subtitle 16A -\u2018<strong>Playground Surfacing Materials\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mgaleg.maryland.gov\/2024RS\/Chapters_noln\/CH_488_hb1147t.pdf\"> https:\/\/mgaleg.maryland.gov\/2024RS\/Chapters_noln\/CH_488_hb1147t.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>According to the definitions in the 24 Act, \u2018PFAS chemicals\u2019, \u2018Playground\u2019 and \u2018Playground surfacing materials\u2019 have the following meanings:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u2018PFAS chemicals\u2019 means a class of fluorinating organic chemicals that contain at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS);<\/li>\n<li>\u2018Playground\u2019 is defined as a <strong>public outdoor recreation area for children<\/strong> equipped with one or more play structures; and<\/li>\n<li>\u2018Playground surfacing materials\u2019 means <strong>products, materials, or substances used or installed on the ground surface<\/strong> of a playground that come into direct contact with a person.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The 24 Act requires that from and after <strong>October 1, 2024<\/strong>, that playground surface materials NOT contain any intentionally added PFAS. Moreover, the 24 Act prohibits a person from installing, supplying, selling, soliciting, or offering for sale playground surfacing materials that contain a certain concentration of lead or a component product, material, or substance to which PFAS chemicals were <strong>previously intentionally added<\/strong> for certain purposes and also prohibits a county, municipality, or unit of local government from adopting any ordinance, rule, or regulation related to playground surfacing materials that is less stringent than of the 24 Act.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Duane Morris\u00a0<\/strong>has an active\u00a0PFAS team\u00a0to help organizations and individuals plan, respond to and execute on PFAS issues and initiatives in order to manage risk, ensure compliance and minimize litigation risk. We are available to discuss your concerns and objectives and how new rules, regulations and rulings might apply to you.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">For More Information<\/span>:<\/p>\n<p>If you have any questions about this post, please contact\u00a0<strong><a title=\"Read more about Lindsay Ann Brown\" href=\"https:\/\/www.duanemorris.com\/attorneys\/lindsaybrown.html\">Lindsay Ann Brown<\/a>,\u00a0<a title=\"Read more about Lori A. Mills\" href=\"https:\/\/www.duanemorris.com\/attorneys\/loriamills.html\">Lori A. Mills<\/a>, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Kelly Bonner<\/span>, Brad A. Molotsky,<\/strong>\u00a0any of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.duanemorris.com\/practices\/pfas_groupRoster.html\">attorneys<\/a>\u00a0in our\u00a0<a title=\"Read more about PFAS Group\" href=\"https:\/\/www.duanemorris.com\/practices\/pfas_group.html\">PFAS Group<\/a>\u00a0or the attorney in the firm with whom you are regularly in contact.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In early 2022, the Governor of Maryland signed\u00a0SB 273\/HB 275, Chapter 138, 2022 into law (the \u201c22 Act\u201d)\u00a0 to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in several categories of consumer products. For the 22 Act &#8211; [https:\/\/mgaleg.maryland.gov\/2022RS\/Chapters_noln\/CH_139_sb0273e.pdf] The 22 Act became operational on January 1, 2024 and focuses on the following key areas: Class B &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/pfas\/2024\/05\/28\/pfas-maryland-continues-to-legislate-solutions-to-its-pfas-concerns-playgrounds-now-covered\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;#PFAS &#8211; Maryland continues to legislate solutions to its PFAS concerns &#8211; Playgrounds now covered!&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[146,136,125,152,151,147,13,145,149,148,150,126],"ppma_author":[5],"class_list":["post-151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-24-act","tag-airports","tag-carpets","tag-food","tag-gloves","tag-maryland","tag-pfas","tag-playground","tag-ports","tag-ppe","tag-refineries","tag-rugs"],"authors":[{"term_id":5,"user_id":6,"is_guest":0,"slug":"duanemorris3","display_name":"Duane Morris","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/843ff6e7a8fe5fc92109b47a45f34b6cf0ea499e6e788db23456c838b0ae6747?s=96&d=blank&r=g","author_category":"1","last_name":"Sullivan","first_name":"Margaret","job_title":"","user_url":"http:\/\/www.duanemorris.com","description":"<a href=\"http:\/\/www.duanemorris.com\">Visit the Duane Morris website.<\/a>"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/pfas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/pfas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/pfas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/pfas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/pfas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/pfas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/pfas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/pfas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/pfas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/pfas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}