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.