COLUMBUS, Ohio - In an effort to simplify and make more efficient the enforcement of Ohio’s pesticide laws, the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) is proposing significant revisions that could impact all licensed pesticide applicators in the state.
While a bill has not yet been introduced, Sen. Larry Mumper (R-Marion) has agreed to introduce legislation as soon as the legislature’s bill drafting agency is able to provide language for ODA, the senator and the industry to review. Chief among ODA’s areas of concern are:
- The current law’s multiplicity of licensed categories - the bill would combine several current categories under one category, "commercial applicator." The umbrella category would include all applicators who apply pesticides for hire, except those who work in agricultural application and would involve licensed applicators in the areas of lawn care, nursery and tree care, golf course maintenance, pest control, right of way, public employment, etc.;
- The multiplicity of business licenses that one company must maintain under current law - the proposed bill would require one business license per corporation with each location from which it operates requiring registration;
- A need for clarification of the responsibility of the business for the action of its employees - the proposal would remove language in current law that requires a business owner to effectively ratify the noncompliant behavior of an employee;
- Prolonged use of non-licensed personnel to make "for hire" applications - the new bill would require almost all applicators to be licensed;
- A definition of "close supervision" that is too lenient and not sufficiently "close" - instead, ODA would like to require the licensed applicator that supervises an unlicensed applicator to be "on site" at all times while the unlicensed operator is making an application and limit the amount of time during which a new hire could act under the on-site supervision of a licensed applicator before becoming licensed; and
- The ability of "trained servicemen" to apply pesticides - new proposed language would restrict "trained servicemen" to mixing, loading, disposing of pesticides, pesticide solutions or pesticide containers and does not include application.
While the final proposed language is not yet available, it is understood that licensing fees for custom applicators and all applicators would be the same, which would mean a reduction for some applicators and a slight increase for others.
| Industry Expresses Concern About Potential Increase In Costs |
For some time, industry organizations have expressed concern about the fact that too many people in the pesticide business are not licensed or do not use licensed applicators. It is a commonly held belief, supported by incidents in the past, that these unlicensed businesses and applicators often are the cause of incidents that bring bad publicity down upon all those in allied industries. As a result, pesticide organizations have supported a move toward broader licensing. However, requiring a supervising, licensed applicator to be on-site with a trainee would have the effect of doubling the labor costs of that specific application. Hence, if the legislation is going to require all of those who apply for hire to become licensed, ODA must make testing materials immediately available, testing sites convenient and scheduled test days more frequent than in the past. If ODA were sufficiently staffed to offer tests within a one hour drive of any community at least once per week, such that a new hire could be licensed by the end of the second or third week, the threat of these additional costs would rapidly dissipate. However, ODA must demonstrate that it can deliver on such a rapid handling of these certification activities if it expects to retain the confidence of the industry. The Ohio Professional Applicators For Responsible Regulation (OPARR) has requested that language be written into the bill providing leniency to participating industry companies on the issues of "close supervision" and universal licensing should ODA fail to meet these requirements The Ohio General Assembly will be in recess until later this summer, probably late August or early September, at which time the bill will be introduced and most likely expedited in the Senate. Sen. Mumper is the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee and could easily schedule the bill for prompt action. OPARR will continue to work with its constituent organizations - Ohio Lawn Care Association (OLCA), Ohio Pest Control Association (OPCA), Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association (ONLA), Ohio Turfgrass Foundation (OTF), Ohio Arborists Association and others - in hopes a clean up of the licensing procedures can be achieved without creating additional operating problems or increased operating costs. |
The author is executive director of the Ohio Professional Applicators For Responsible Regulation (OPARR). The above information originally appeared in OPARR’s July 11, 2001 "News Flash" publication and is reprinted with permission. For more information about OPARR call 614/221-7371.