The civic record
Read. Follow. Verify.Pennsylvania House Bill 871 Requires Public Notice for Unauthorized Water-Endangering Spills
Last action · March 11, 2025: Referred to ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE PROTECTION, March 11, 2025Sponsors: Dave Zimmerman and 6 others
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What This Bill Would Do
Pennsylvania House Bill 871 requires individuals who release unauthorized substances into state waters that could harm public health or the environment to notify the department. The Environmental Quality Board must publish proposed standards for within 180 days and finalize them within 365 days after the act takes effect.
Creates a mandatory reporting obligation for unpermitted chemical or waste releases into public waters, establishing clear regulatory thresholds for environmental harm that individuals and industries must monitor and obey.
- The Clean Streams Law is Pennsylvania's primary statute for preventing and abating water pollution, originally enacted in 1937. context
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Persons spilling, discharging or releasing substances
Individuals or entities responsible for releases into state waters must notify the department and follow upcoming reportable quantity standards.
Environmental Quality Board
The Board is required to publish proposed regulations within 180 days and promulgate final regulations within 365 days.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is required to notify the department under this bill?
When must the Environmental Quality Board establish reporting standards?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently in committee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.
Procedural history
1 action- Mar 11, 2025HouseCommitteeReferred to ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE PROTECTION, March 11, 2025
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Show 2 more sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
New Spill Notification Requirement
Amends The Clean Streams Law to explicitly mandate public health and environmental discharge notifications alongside upcoming regulatory thresholds.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.palegis.us
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance60How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy20Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz25Current news / social attention level
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