U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, reintroduced legislation that would allow any political subdivision of a state—county, municipal or other government entity—to regulate pesticides, regardless of possessing any extensive scientific training to do so. Booker’s legislation would also prohibit the use of pesticides not allowed for use in the European Union or Canada, relinquishing to a foreign entity the U.S. government’s autonomy to regulate pesticides.
This year, we have already seen attempts to ban aerial applications in Virginia lands west of the Blue Ridge Mountains and a past referendum passed in an Oregon county banning aerial use in forestry that was later overturned in the courts.
Not sitting idly, NAAA is pushing Congress to amend the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to codify that pesticide regulation be the sole jurisdiction of the states and federal government where rules are developed with a scientific emphasis. Otherwise, it could lead to an impossible patchwork for pesticide users to navigate of possibly hundreds and hundreds of different entities regulating pesticides.
NAAA is part of a larger coalition pushing FIFRA preemption legislation to be included in the 2023 Farm Bill. It joined onto a letter to House and Senate Ag Committee leaders urging federal preemption language be part of the new farm bill. The letter signed by NAAA, hundreds of pesticide user groups nationwide, and most of the state and regional ag aviation associations is available here.
 reintroduced legislation that
would allow any political subdivision of a state—county, municipal or
other government entity—to regulate pesticides, regardless of possessing
any extensive scientific training to do so. Booker’s legislation would
also prohibit the use of pesticides not allowed for use in the European
Union or Canada, relinquishing to a foreign entity the U.S. government’s
autonomy to regulate pesticides.){kind=small}
