Swanson promises further amendments to pesticide bill

By WES SANDER

Capital Press

SACRAMENTO -- Assemblyman Sandré Swanson, D-Oakland, is hitting a roadblock trying to get a pesticide-control bill through the Assembly agriculture committee.

Swanson's AB1721, titled the Healthy and Safe School Zone Act, sought to keep pesticide applications for commercial ag and state pest-control programs at least a quarter-mile from schoolyards. Swanson further sought to extend that buffer to a half-mile for chemicals that the state restricts.

But when Swanson saw his bill lacked the necessary votes from the ag committee, he promised amendments. The bill would now restrict only aerial applications that are "likely to cause off-site movement of pesticides," and sets a uniform buffer at a quarter mile.

It would also exempt the state's health department, local vector-control and mosquito abatement agencies and districts. It would also exempt organic pesticides, excluding sulfur.

Several counties, including some in the San Joaquin Valley and on the central coast, already have pesticide buffer zones for schools, but they're not uniform, an Assembly analysis stated.

The bill has drawn opposition from a list of ag groups, among them the California Agricultural Aircraft Association, California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers, California Chamber of Commerce, California Farm Bureau Federation, California Grape and Tree Fruit League, Western Growers and Nisei Farmers League.

The committee will consider the bill again once Swanson formally requests a hearing.