The Association of American Pesticide Control Officials (mercifully shortened to AAPCO) met virtually this past week. AAPCO is the association that our pesticide regulators belong to as the interact with one another and with the EPA as co-regulators of pesticides. Of interest to the lawn and landscape industry was an extended discussion on the topic of state preemption of pesticide regulation. This discussion was prompted by the state lead agency in Colorado where an especially onerous piece of legislation was filed last year. Special note was made of a similar effort at the Federal level to remove all state preemption and allow individual cities and towns to enact their own pesticide ordinances. Preservation of existing state preemption laws nationwide is a tier one priority for NALP’s Government Affairs Council we will be engaging further with AAPCO on this issue as it moves forward.
