Legislature(2003 - 2004)
04/06/2004 02:04 PM Senate L&C
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SB 27-TRACKING OF PESTICIDE USE
CHAIR CON BUNDE called the Senate Labor and Commerce Standing
Committee meeting to order at 2:04 p.m. Present were Senators
Gary Stevens, Ralph Seekins, Hollis French, and Chair Con Bunde.
Senator Bettye Davis arrived at 2:10 p.m. The first order of
business to come before the committee was SB 27.
SENATOR RALPH SEEKINS moved to adopt CSSB 27(L&C), version /H,
for the working document. There were no objections and it was so
ordered.
CHAIR BUNDE explained that the new version removes the public
notice warning requirement for about 1,200 retailers; it also
amends section 5 regarding farmers.
MS. KRISTIN RYAN, Director, Division of Environmental Health,
Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), agreed with the
chair's short summary of the changes in SB 27. She clarified the
second change saying that the department considers all certified
applicators commercial; language was changed to explicitly refer
only to commercial applicators. About 200 farmers are certified.
SENATOR SEEKINS asked her to define "private applicators" on
page 1, line 4.
MS. RYAN replied that the term is used to reflect the use of
restricted use pesticides, which one must become certified to
use. She noted that the fiscal note would remain the same.
SENATOR BETTYE DAVIS arrived at 2:10 p.m.
MR. EVERETT WALTON, American Pest Management, said there are
less than 50 commercial applicators in the whole state. In
Anchorage, only about 15 people work in the business on a
regular basis.
There isn't a legitimate reason to pass this bill out
of committee. This bill will add several hundred
thousand dollars to the state budget with no guarantee
that the money can be recovered by implementing
registration fees. It would not surprise me if fully
half of the chemicals were not reregistered. After
all, we only have 600,000 people in the State of
Alaska.... This bill is all about growing government
for the sake of growth... so that it can demand a
larger budget.... All the commercial applicators in
this state use only about 5 percent of the chemicals
on this list. The rest are privately applied, thus
untrackable.
He accused that the bill would be unenforceable and wouldn't be
able to accomplish its stated purposes.
CHAIR BUNDE observed that he had a substantial amount of input
from citizens requesting that this bill be heard. It's not just
a matter of government wanting to expand.
MR. KEN PERRY, Owner and General Manager, Paratex Pied Piper
Pest Control of Alaska, said he represented the significant
number of commercial applicators doing business in Alaska and
the National Pest Management Association, the industry trade
group. He is also in contact with the chemical manufacturers
trade group called RISE.
He accused that supporters of this bill had not consulted with
industry or trade groups and he sought to provide information
that is being withheld. He stated that the $80 registration fee
is a smoke screen for saying this bill has no cost. He also
warned:
I have been informed that all the manufacturers with
current registrations in Alaska decided to review
their lists and determine which chemicals they will
continue to register. The decision is to be based on
cost of registration versus potential income and the
desirability of paying the State of Alaska to
implement anti-pesticide legislation against their own
interests....
He closed requesting a no pass on this bill.
CHAIR BUNDE reiterated that his office had a great number of
voters asking him to hear the bill. "It's called democracy."
SENATOR SEEKINS asked Ms. Ryan why a household survey is being
created and it appeared to him that there is some intent to
regulate household pesticides down the road.
MS. RYAN replied that her department has said the most common
misuse of pesticides is by private homeowners and the intent of
the survey is to understand how homeowners use pesticides so
that future outreach can be appropriately targeted. For example,
if it finds that Alaskans are frequently using Diazanon for
treating aphids, it could create outreach materials to promote
less harmful alternatives.
CHAIR BUNDE said some people want to see all pesticides go away,
but those who have been exposed to malaria would disagree with
that. He asked for her reasoning in that section.
MS. RYAN explained that her division is interested in pesticide
use statewide and, if it were practical, wanted to include the
household reporting component. However, at this point that
oversteps her intention. This bill is a good first step to look
into commercial applications, a lot of which take place in
public buildings. Some of that information could be found
already by looking through public records. A statewide household
survey would be statistically valid and provide beneficial
information to the department, which could then determine if it
needed to do more outreach.
SENATOR SEEKINS said her comment that registration is the first
step concerns him, because he doesn't see the next step and
someone else does. He asked if she thought anything accomplished
in this bill would reduce pesticide use in the State of Alaska.
MS. GAREN TARR, staff to Senator Ellis, sponsor, stepped in and
said this is not an attempt to reduce pesticide use, but more of
an attempt to know where they are being used so that appropriate
decisions can be made about public and environmental health.
That would include helping people who are susceptible to
exposure, such as people with asthma or a compromised immune
system.
SENATOR SEEKINS summarized that it won't reduce the use of
pesticides, but may change the way they are applied or which
ones are applied. He reflected that he had never seen a
definition of a pesticide and asked, "Are we regulating DEET?
Are we regulating anti-snail applications? What are we
regulating?"
MS. RYAN replied that the federal government already requires
registration of pesticides; an $80 fee is being added to help
pay for the program. The Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC)'s website has a definition of what products
are regulated. Currently, there are about 5,700 regulated
products.
SENATOR SEEKINS asked since the state has primacy, does our list
include pesticides that are not included on the federal list.
MS. RYAN replied that the department would not be able to
register any pesticide products for sale that weren't approved
by the federal government.
SENATOR SEEKINS asked if our state regulations exceeded federal
regulations for what is registered as a pesticide.
MS. RYAN replied that about five pesticides are registered
federally that are not registered for use in the state per year.
SENATOR FRENCH moved to pass CSSB 27(L&C) from committee with
attached fiscal note and individual recommendations. Senators
Gary Stevens, Bettye Davis, Hollis French and Chair Con Bunde
voted yea; Senator Ralph Seekins voted nay; and CSSB 27(L&C)
moved from committee.
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