FROM THE HILL
NALP’s Legislative Victories Across The States
By Terence Stovall Manager of State and Local Affairs
Written on June 7, 2023
THE NALP GOVERNMENT RELATIONS TEAM REMAINS dedicated to defending the landscape and lawn care industry in all fifty states through collaborations with our members and state associations. This year’s session has been no different. The government relations team has tracked, advocated for, or successfully defeated over 400 bills so far in 2023. These bills deal with multiple subjects at the center of the landscape industry, such as pesticide preemption and regulation, water/irrigation, the transition from gas to electric equipment, and infrastructure. Our tracking software notifies us when new bills and regulations are introduced so our government relations team can monitor developments and alert our members on how they can best advocate for our industry.
Throughout this year’s leg- BE IN THE KNOW
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islative sessions, we have seen considerable pressure to attempt to shift control of pesticide regulation from the Environmen- tal Protection Agency and lead state agencies to municipali- ties in order to establish more localized control over pesticide application. Any such shift would create a confusing and contra- dictory framework that would be virtually impossible for private and commercial applicators to comply with and opens the door for regulatory action based on emotion rather than science.
Colorado was at the center of this fight, with the Pesticide Appli- cators’ Act undergoing sunset review this year. There were also multiple pieces
of legislation aimed at unneces- sarily expediting the transition to zero-emission landscape equipment. We saw substantial developments in Maryland and Georgia related to the transi- tion. Likewise, in Connecticut, a number of bills were introduced to restrict nonagricultural uses of neonicotinoids throughout the state. Here is a more detailed recap of some major milestones
and victories that have taken place across the country so far this year:
COLORADO – PESTICIDE APPLI- CATORS’ ACT RENEWED Since the summer of last year, NALP has been actively engaged in the fight for statewide unifor- mity in Colorado. This year, the Pesticide Applicators’ Act (SB 192) was under sunset review, and there was a real possibility that a bill or an amendment would be introduced that would give mu- nicipalities the ability to restrict the use, sale, and registration of pesticides with no exemption included for commercial appli- cators. There was considerable discus-
sion between policymakers and stakeholders on the possible contents of any such amend- ment prior to a formal bill being introduced. The initial version of SB 192 did not include language that inherently threatened statewide unification. However, once the bill was assigned to the
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