Geoengineering Bills by Year
| Bill # | Details | Effective | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Illinois (2023-2024 Regular Session)
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| SB3095 | WEATHER MODIFICATION-SEEDING | Sine die | ||
| A word-for-word reintroduction of Senator Anderson's failed 2023 weather modification ban, which met the same fate in a different committee - twice postponed, then returned to Assignments, where it died without a vote despite an attempted amendment. |
Last update Tue 7 Jan 2025 |
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| Note: Twice, assigned to Executive committee, and returned to assignments until sine die | ||||
| SB0134 | WEATHER MODIFICATION-SEEDING | Sine die | ||
| A minimalist two-page bill that would ban all weather modification in Illinois but provides no penalties, no enforcement agency, and no mechanism for compliance, making it a symbolic prohibition rather than an enforceable law. |
Last update Tue 7 Jan 2025 |
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| Note: Assigned to Environment and Conservation, returned to assignments - no further action taken. | ||||
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Kentucky (2023 Regular Session)
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| HB552 | AN ACT relating to geoengineering. | Died in committee | ||
| Kentucky's HB 552 represents the minimalist approach to geoengineering legislation: a single-page bill that prohibits government involvement in atmospheric modification activities but lacks any penalties, enforcement mechanisms, or restrictions on private actors. |
Last update Wed 22 Feb 2023 |
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| Note: Remained in Committee on Committees | ||||
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Minnesota (2023-2024 Regular Session)
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| HF4687 | Harmful atmospheric activity prohibited, and penalties provided. | Died in committee | ||
| Minnesota's HF 4687 goes far beyond typical weather modification bans by establishing a felony offence with $500,000 fines, mandating an elaborate citizen reporting system with 2-hour emergency response requirements, setting specific limits on electromagnetic radiation, and asserting Tenth Amendment authority to override federal approvals for atmospheric activities. The bill uniquely requires officials to actively encourage public monitoring and grants immediate cease-and-desist powers with National Guard enforcement authority. |
Last update Thu 11 Apr 2024 |
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| Note: Remained in Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy committee | ||||
| SF4630 | Certain harmful atmospheric activity prohibition | Died in committee | ||
| Minnesota's SF 4630 goes far beyond typical weather modification bans by establishing a felony offence with $500,000 fines, mandating an elaborate citizen reporting system with 2-hour emergency response requirements, setting specific limits on electromagnetic radiation, and asserting Tenth Amendment authority to override federal approvals for atmospheric activities. The bill uniquely requires officials to actively encourage public monitoring and grants immediate cease-and-desist powers with National Guard enforcement authority. |
Last update Thu 11 Apr 2024 |
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| Note: Remained in Environment, Climate, and Legacy committee | ||||
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Missouri (2023 Regular Session)
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| SB84 | Establishes the Freedom to Farm Act and modifies provisions relating to the Governor's emergency powers and agricultural operations as nuisances | Died in committee | ||
| A sprawling "Freedom to Farm" bill that bans weather modification while simultaneously stripping the governor of emergency food control powers and immunising farmers from nuisance suits and product liability claims. The environmental manipulation ban is almost incidental to the bill's broader agenda of insulating agricultural operations from government oversight. |
Last update Thu 12 Jan 2023 |
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| Note: Remained in Agriculture, Food Production and Outdoor Resources Committee | ||||
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Nevada (2023 Regular Session)
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| SB99 | Makes an appropriation to the Desert Research Institute of the Nevada System of Higher Education to support the Nevada State Cloud Seeding Program. (BDR S-592) | Passed | ||
| Nevada continued its legislative support for weather modification with this $1.2 million appropriation to fund the state's official cloud seeding program—demonstrating that while some states move to ban atmospheric intervention, others actively fund it as water supply infrastructure. |
Last update Thu 15 Jun 2023 |
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North Dakota (2023-2024 Regular Session)
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| HB1166 | State funding requirements for county weather modification operations; and to provide a penalty. | Died in chamber | ||
| North Dakota House Bill 1166 passed the House in 2023 but failed in the Senate requiring cloud seeding operations to stop when seeded storms cross into counties without active weather modification programs and restructuring county weather modification authority procedures. |
Last update Mon 3 Apr 2023 |
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| Note: House passed, Senate committee neutral, full Senate failed. | ||||
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Ohio (2023-2024 Regular Session)
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| HB529 | Enact Atmosphere Protection Act | Died in committee | ||
| Ohio's 2024 Atmosphere Protection Act takes an unusual regulatory approach by directing the Ohio EPA to establish public monitoring and reporting systems for solar radiation modification, essentially crowdsourcing detection before issuing cease-and-desist orders. The bill carries harsh penalties but notably limits its scope to SRM only, without addressing cloud seeding. |
Last update Tue 21 May 2024 |
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| Note: Remained in Energy and Natural Resources committee | ||||
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Oregon (2023 Regular Session)
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| SB58 | Relating to cloud seeding. | Sine die | ||
| Oregon SB 58 would create a state-authorized cloud seeding program with a focus on drought mitigation, but uniquely shields operators from trespass and nuisance lawsuits while exempting them from all permitting requirements, a notable departure from typical regulatory frameworks for atmospheric modification activities. |
Last update Sun 25 Jun 2023 |
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| Note: Remained in Natural Resources committee | ||||
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Pennsylvania (2023-2024 Regular Session)
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| SB1264 | Prohibiting solar radiation modification, cloud seeding and polluting atmospheric activity within this Commonwealth; imposing duties on the Pennsylvania State Police and sheriffs; and imposing penalties. | Died in committee | ||
| Pennsylvania's Clean Air Preservation Act creates a sweeping felony prohibition on atmospheric interventions with comprehensive definitions covering everything from cloud seeding to electromagnetic fields and artificial intelligence, empowering sheriffs and State Police to issue binding cease-and-desist orders against any entity, including federal agencies, with minimum penalties of $500,000 and two years imprisonment per day of violation. |
Last update Thu 20 Jun 2024 |
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| Note: Remained in Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee | ||||
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Tennessee (2023-2024 Regular Session)
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| HB2063 | AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8; Title 39; Title 42; Title 43; Title 44; Title 55; Title 58; Title 59; Title 60; Title 65; Title 68 and Title 69, relative to environmental protection. | 1 Jul 2024 | Substituted by SB2691 | |
| Tennessee transformed a technical caption bill about permit timelines into a comprehensive atmospheric intervention ban through floor amendment, with enforcement tied to existing air quality violations rather than creating new criminal statutes. |
Last update Wed 17 Apr 2024 |
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| Note: Substituted by SB2691. | ||||
| SB2691 | AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 8; Title 39; Title 42; Title 43; Title 44; Title 55; Title 58; Title 59; Title 60; Title 65; Title 68 and Title 69, relative to environmental protection. | 1 Jul 2024 | Passed | |
| Tennessee's geoengineering ban includes legislative findings asserting that federal atmospheric experiments may occur in the state, while its own fiscal analysis assumes no such activities are happening or will occur, creating an unusual disconnect between the stated justification and the projected impact. |
Last update Wed 17 Apr 2024 |
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| Note: Tennessee SB2691 passed both chambers and became Public Chapter 709 effective July 1, 2024. | ||||