Updates on the action at the bottom of this post 5/1/2019. HF1733 passed on a 81-49 vote.
In a few minutes, the Minnesota House will take up Ag and Food chair Jeanne Poppe's Omnibus Agriculture Policy bill, HF1733. Of course, Republican have filed amendments on that, found here. We find the first two amendments, H1733A20 and H1733A21, offered by Minnesota Lake Republican Rod Hamilton, to be the most interesting in the face of a recent article in the Star Tribune, Minnesota House GOP amendments probe DFL pressure points.
Stephen Montmeyer reports in the Strib article:
After hours of debate on sweeping spending bills in the DFL-controlled state House, a recurring tactic has emerged amid the stacks of Republican amendments piling up on a bench just feet from the speaker’s rostrum.
. . .House Republicans have used the amendment process to try to divide the DFL majority — and fish for 2020 campaign fodder.
“If we’re effective with our messaging and showing how out of touch they are with kind of mainstream voters, it sets us up well to win the majority back, and we feel very optimistic about that,” said House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown.
So what genius electoral messaging will Daudt's caucus earn in this case? That Republicans are the standard bearers of the pesticide industry over local cities that want to control their own local policies. The first amendment would delete the first section of the bill:
Section 1.
Minnesota Statutes 2018, section 18B.02, is amended to read:
18B.02 PREEMPTION OF LOCAL LAW; DELEGATION.
(a) Except as specifically provided in this chapter, the provisions of this chapter preempt ordinances by local governments that prohibit or regulate any matter relating to the registration, labeling, distribution, sale, handling, use, application, or disposal of pesticides.It is not the intent of this section to preempt local responsibilities for zoning, fire codes, or hazardous waste disposal.
(b) The commissioner may enter into agreements with cities of the first class and delegate the commissioner's duties under this chapter and rules adopted by the commissioner pursuant to section 18B.06 regarding the use, application, or disposal of pesticides. A fee established by a city of the first class to recover costs of enforcement must be established by ordinance and must be fair, reasonable, and proportionate to actual costs incurred pursuant to the delegation agreement. An agreement entered into by the commissioner and a city of the first class pursuant to this paragraph must:
(1) specify minimum staff requirements and qualifications and other reasonable standards as determined by the commissioner;
(2) establish specific criteria the commissioner will use to determine if the city of the first class meets appropriate standards and is sufficient to replace enforcement by the commissioner; and
(3) provide for termination procedures if the commissioner determines that the city of the first class has failed to comply with the delegation agreement.
This language is praised in the Natural Resources Defense Council article Bill Buzz: Minnesota Pollinator Protections Near Finish Line:
Other pollinator-friendly initiatives approaching the finish line include:
...Allowing Minnesota’s four largest cities to work with the state department of agriculture to protect pollinators through local pesticide ordinances;
Minnesota Pesticide Activist Network organizer Willa Childress tweeted about the vote:
Today, the House will be voting on HF 1733, which includes a provision delegating #localcontrol over pesticides two four cities. Just one of many small, practical steps forward for pollinators.https://t.co/d8wW0mRbdG
— Willa Childress (@WillaAtPAN) May 1, 2019
Are Hamilton's amendments just a ill-conceived attempt at a gotcha roll call vote? In fact, it reflects an email sent to all Minnesota House members by Jake Plevelich, Director of Public Policy, National Pest Management Association who says essentially that local governments are stupid:
These local governments lack the scientific knowledge and resources needed to assess federally registered pesticide products. Local governments regulating pesticides will result in the implementation of a set of regulatory burdens that make it increasingly difficult to properly manage pests and rodents in homes and businesses, control mosquito populations which threaten public health, and lastly, will harm farmers who are simply trying to feed the world.
Here's the text of that document:
Re: Minnesota Pesticide Applicators, Manufacturers, and Product Retailers’ Opposition to Language Allowing for Local Governments to Regulate Pesticides in HF 1733 – Agriculture Policy Bill
Dear Speaker Hortman, Minority Leader Daudt, and Members of the Minnesota House of Representatives:
We collectively represent applicators, manufacturers, and retailers of pesticide products that conduct business in the great State of Minnesota. As you consider your vote on HF 1733, we urge you to oppose the bill because of the language in Section 1 - 18B.02 PREEMPTION OF LOCAL LAW; DELEGATION. This particular provision in HF 1733 will create a crazy-quilt of pesticide regulations, make it incredibly difficult to protect public health and property from dangerous and deadly pests, and erect burdensome regulatory hurdles for future generations.
As organizations that manufacture, sell, use and distribute pesticides in Minnesota, we are dedicated to the safe use of these products whether in homes, golf courses, commercial structures, on farms, or other places. We fully support the balanced, transparent and science-based review of these products carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA). However, the legislative language in Section 1 – 18B.02 of HF 1733 would result in arbitrary regulatory actions where the four first-class cities (Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester, and Duluth) will have the ability to indiscriminately ban pesticide use with little to no thoughtful consideration or scientific justification.
These local governments lack the scientific knowledge and resources needed to assess federally registered pesticide products. Local governments regulating pesticides will result in the implementation of a set of regulatory burdens that make it increasingly difficult to properly manage pests and rodents in homes and businesses, control mosquito populations which threaten public health, and lastly, will harm farmers who are simply trying to feed the world.
In conclusion, we urge you to oppose HF 1733, because of the language in Section 1 - 18B.02 PREEMPTION OF LOCAL LAW; DELEGATION.
Thank you,
Minnesota Pest Management Association
Minnesota Golf Course Superintendents’ Association
Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association
National Pest Management Association
National Association of Landscape Professionals
National Agricultural Aviation Association
Household & Commercial Products Association
Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA)
Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment (RISE)
MGK
Ecolab
Plunkett’s Pest Control
Granite Pest Control
Adam’s Pest Control
Rainbow Pest Experts
Rollins, Inc.
CC:
Members of the Minnesota House of Representatives
Jake Plevelich
Director of Public Policy
National Pest Management Association
10460 North Street, Fairfax, VA 22030
An enterprising blogger or activist might take a look at the money trail for that one. Meanwhile, we can anticipate the evil metro media tell us just how smart gotcha amendments are in courting voters. Never mind that the voters are concerned about the health of the planet.
See our earlier post for more awesomely embarrassing amendment votes: MN House Republicans abjectly fail to protect pesticides from radical pollinator-hugging leftists .
Updates on the action 5/1/2019
The House Republicans did not fail to delight. The letter above was distributed throughout the body--even though the National Pet Management Association had emailed it every House member, as if this was evidence of a groundswell of local opposition to the language in the bill.
At Session Daily, Erin Martin reports in Bulk of controversy plowed under as House OKs ag policy bill:
Contention arose over an unsuccessfully offered amendment by Rep. Rod Hamilton (R-Mountain Lake) to strike the first provision in the bill.
It would grant the Department of Agriculture the authority to delegate it’s duties on use, application, and disposal of pesticides to “cities of the first class,” defined as cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester and Duluth are the only such cities in the state.
Calling it permissive language, Poppe said it allowed but did not require or mandate delegation.
Hamilton called the provision, “a terrible precedent to set,” and questioned the agency’s ability to delegate and enforce pesticide laws.
Debate of the issue devolved into complaints over the process by which bills have been heard and considered throughout the session. Rep. Jon Koznick (R-Lakeville) said the bill with that provision should have been heard in the House Subcommittee on Local Government and the House Government Operations Committee, yet was not.
Those failures illustrate “bad procedure and missed opportunity” seen throughout session, according to Koznick. “It should have been vetted better.”
The entire discussion of the bill (we'll pull the relevant material tomorrow):
Photo: A rusty-patched bumble bee. via the US Field and Wildlife Service.
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