Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan argued this week that Gov. Gavin Newsom has not followed through with a commitment to examine the backyard use of neonicotinoids.
The governor vetoed her bill last year to ban neonics for lawns and gardens. He reasoned the Department of Pesticide Regulation will begin evaluating nonagricultural uses this year. Bauer-Kahan renewed her bill “to ensure that the administration does as they promised.” She charged that DPR has yet to start the process based on her conversations with them and that bees are still dying.
Agriculture is taking a less combative approach this year. The bill would require DPR to reevaluate neonics and set new regulations. Taylor Roschen, lobbying for Western Plant Health and other associations, is hoping to amend that language so that DPR would only set new rules if the scientific review warrants them.
Despite the opposition, the committee once again approved the measure.
On EJ advisors: The same lawmakers approved a measure to establish an environmental justice advisory committee at DPR. Introducing his bill, committee chair Alex Lee of San Jose argued DPR does not adequately address racial and socioeconomic disparities from pesticide exposure.
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California Farm Bureau’s Chris Reardon, who spent 13 years at DPR, countered that the department has been “actively incorporating environmental justice into its program for a long time.” He pointed out that DPR has created an EJ liaison and will soon hire a deputy director to oversee all EJ activities. Roschen added that the bill would add a layer of bureaucracy at a significant cost, when DPR’s budget is already structurally deficient.
Proponents responded that DPR’s proposal to overhaul the mill fee on pesticide sales would cover the cost. Bauer-Kahan asserted that just one liaison and one deputy director cannot represent all farmworkers statewide.
“I just am really confused why anyone would be afraid to bring voices to the table,” she said.
