Bill Text: HI SB804 | 2018 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relating To Hawaii Pesticides Law.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2017-11-30 - Carried over to 2018 Regular Session. [SB804 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2018-SB804-Amended.html
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
804 |
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TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2017 |
S.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
H.D. 1 |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO HAWAII PESTICIDES LAW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. Moneys in the pesticide use revolving fund are required to be expended by the department of agriculture to support, among other things, the pesticide program's registration and licensing, certification and education, and compliance monitoring activities. Increasing the funds in the pesticide use revolving fund will allow the department of agriculture to have a greater amount of dedicated funding for the State's efforts in providing pesticide regulation with informed and educated studies.
The number of large-scale, outdoor commercial agricultural operations in Hawaii has been increasing. Unlike the majority of Hawaii's farmers, these operations regularly release high volumes of restricted use pesticides into the environment. The United States Environmental Protection Agency classifies pesticides as restricted use pesticides if they are determined to cause "unreasonable adverse effects on the environment" when used "without additional regulatory restrictions." Information pertaining to the intensive use of pesticides in large-scale commercial agriculture within the State is not readily available to the public.
Therefore, the purpose of this Act is to increase the pesticide use revolving fund moneys in order to allow the department of agriculture to have the necessary funds available to carry out its statutory mandate and to protect the State's environment and residents from the unintended impacts of large-scale pesticide use by implementing the recommendation of the JFF Study Group's report that the good neighbor program be revised and expanded. Specifically, this Act implements the JFF Study Group's recommendation by making the reporting guidelines of the Kauai agricultural good neighbor program mandatory for large-scale, outdoor commercial agricultural operations across the State.
The further purpose of this Act is to provide funds for a study of the presence of breakdown products, or biomarkers, of agricultural chemicals in the meconium stool of babies born in Hawaii. The specific biomarker to be tested for is a breakdown product of chlorpyrifos.
Chlorpyrifos is a pesticide which has been widely used in the United States in both agriculture and pest control in dwellings. It is a restricted use pesticide because acute exposure to it can cause serious, even lethal, effects. Prompt treatment can usually reverse those acute effects.
However, of even greater concern is that it has been shown that chlorpyrifos is a potent teratogen. A teratogen is defined as any agent or factor that induces or increases the incidence of abnormal prenatal development. Some examples would be radiation, drugs such as thalidomide, and viruses such as rubella. Chlorpyrifos was designed to affect the nervous system of insect pests but can consequently affect the nervous system of humans. The developing nervous system of the fetus is particularly vulnerable to injury, which can then affect the eventual structure and wiring of the brain, potentially severely. Studies have found marked structural and behavioral abnormalities of the brains of children who had been exposed to chlorpyrifos as fetuses in the womb.
During fetal development, the fetus starts ingesting amniotic fluid at about sixteen weeks of gestation. The contents of the amniotic fluid swallowed accumulate over the subsequent twenty-four weeks before birth. This accumulation called meconium is passed shortly after birth. If chlorpyrifos is inhaled or ingested by the mother, some of it is transmitted through the placenta to the fetus, and breakdown products of chlorpyrifos can be measured in the meconium stool revealing any fetal exposure. In children and adults, exposure to chlorpyrifos will not result in accumulation and will only be measurable for a short time after acute exposure.
Measurements of a particular breakdown product 3,5,6-trichloro-pyridinol (TCPy) in the meconium stool of newborns has been shown to be a reliable indicator of fetal exposure. When chlorpyrifos was banned for residential use fetal exposure was dramatically lowered after the residential ban.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency is now contemplating another ban of chlorppyrifos for use on any edible crop. That decision is expected on March 31 of this year. It is not clear whether the decision will provide for a phase-out period. What is clear is that that ban will not extend to outdoor use on non-edible crops, such as seed corn, and thus the use of chlorpyrifos will likely continue.
The legislature finds that testing of the meconium stool of newborns from at least three Hawaii counties should show if there is fetal exposure and allow an evaluation of risk. If fetal exposure is found, then it will be important to determine the source or to proceed to ban chlorpyrifos in the State.
SECTION 2. Chapter 149A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new part to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"Part . PESTICIDE MANDATORY DISCLOSURE
§149A-A Definitions. As used in this part:
"Commercial agricultural entity" means any individual, partnership, association, corporation, limited liability company, or organized group of persons, regardless of whether incorporated, that is engaged in commercial agricultural production.
"Commercial agricultural production" means:
(1) Commercial production of any seed, crop, plant, timber, livestock, poultry, fish, bees, or apiary products; or
(2) Testing or experimental production of any seed, crop, plant, timber, livestock, poultry, fish, bees, or apiary products.
"Commercial agricultural production area" means real properties and areas owned, leased, or otherwise operated or controlled and used by a commercial agricultural entity for commercial agricultural production.
"Experimental use pesticide" means a pesticide whose use is authorized by an experimental use permit by either the United States Environmental Protection Agency or the department.
§149A-B Mandatory disclosure of commercial agricultural pesticide use. Effective one year following the effective date of Act , Session Laws of Hawaii 2017, any commercial agricultural entity that annually purchases or uses in excess of pounds or gallons of non-diluted restricted use pesticides during the prior calendar year shall disclose the use of all pesticides, including restricted use, general use, and experimental use pesticides. No later than sixty days following the end of each calendar year, each commercial agricultural entity subject to this section shall provide to the department annual reports of all pesticides used in outdoor applications during the preceding calendar year. The annual reports shall comply with section 149A-C and shall be deemed public records and posted online on the department's website.
§149A-C Public reports; contents. The department shall adopt rules, pursuant to chapter 91, requiring that public annual reports required under section 149A-B include the following information:
(1) A listing of all pesticides used in outdoor applications, by federal and state registrations or permit numbers, commercial product names, and active ingredients;
(2) The total quantities used for each pesticide; and
(3) A general description of the geographic location, including, at a minimum, the tax map key number, in which the pesticides were used.
§149A-D Rules. The department shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 to implement this part; provided that the department may not establish exemptions not expressly authorized in this part."
SECTION 3. Section 149A-13.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended as follows:
1. By amending subsection (b) to read:
"(b) Moneys in the pesticide use revolving fund
shall be expended by the department to support the pesticide program's
registration and licensing, certification and education, and compliance
monitoring activities. The department shall also expend revolving fund
moneys on the establishment of pesticide training workshops, educational
programs, development of integrated pest management strategies, the pesticide
subsidy program created under Act 105, Session Laws of Hawaii 2014, and other
services for pesticide users such as the agricultural pest control industry,
the structural pest control industry, and consumer users of pesticides, which
provide pesticide instruction in areas including but not limited to the
collection, disposal, and recycling of pesticide containers; clinical
studies on pesticides; and all other pesticide services deemed necessary by
the department. Moneys from the revolving fund may be used for personnel,
services, materials, and equipment for the purposes of this section[;
provided that the use of moneys from the revolving fund for personnel costs
shall be limited to those employees under the registration and education
section of the department's pesticides branch].
Moneys expended by the department from the pesticide use revolving fund for training workshops, educational programs, and other services for the agricultural pest control industry, the structural pest control industry, and consumer groups shall be expended in a manner that appropriately addresses the needs of each category of pesticide user."
2. By amending subsection (e) to read:
"(e) All unobligated, unencumbered, or
unexpended funds remaining in the fund in excess of [$250,000] $
at the close of each fiscal year shall lapse to the state general fund."
SECTION 4. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2017-2018 to be deposited into the pesticide use revolving fund.
SECTION 5. There is appropriated out of the pesticide use revolving fund the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2017-2018 to provide a grant to the University of Hawaii John A. Burns school of medicine to develop a study that will determine the exposure of chlorpyrifos to pregnant mothers on Hawaii island, Oahu, and Kauai by examining the meconium of newborn babies.
The sums appropriated shall be expended by the University of Hawaii for the purposes of this Act.
SECTION 6. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.
SECTION 7. If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the Act that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this Act are severable.
SECTION 8. In codifying the new sections added by section 2 of this Act, the revisor of statutes shall substitute appropriate section numbers for the letters used in designating the new sections in this Act.
SECTION 8. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 9. This Act shall take effect on July 31, 2150.
Report Title:
Mandatory Pesticide Disclosure; Chlorpyrifos Study; Pesticide Use Revolving Fund; Appropriation
Description:
Requires disclosure of commercial agriculture pesticide use under specified conditions. Revises the ceiling and use of the Pesticide Use Revolving Fund. Appropriates funds for the John A. Burns School of Medicine to study the exposure of Chlorpyrifos on pregnant mothers. (SB804 HD1)
The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
