After failing to bar pesticide spraying along roadways last year, Assemblymember Damon Connolly of San Rafael is shifting gears. Farms near schools would face increased reporting rules and enforcement standards under a new bill in the Legislature.
The Department of Pesticide Regulation already enforces additional restrictions for growers within a quarter mile of schools. Connolly, however, regards those as too lenient. He wants county ag commissioners to collect notices of intent before applications, in a way similar to DPR’s proposed pesticide alert system. His bill, Assembly Bill 1864, would also require growers to report specific times and methods for applications and task DPR with evaluating each commissioner’s effectiveness in enforcing the regulation.
Connolly is framing the issue as an environmental justice problem that can lead to childhood brain cancer in communities of color.
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“Strengthening the enforcement of pesticide regulations in school zones is critical to student health, particularly in our rural school districts,” he said.
Meanwhile, Connolly last week took home the Environmental Champion Award, presented by the advocacy groups Audubon California and Clean Water Action.
They recognized the assemblymember for his “strong and consistent environmental work and steadfast partnership in protecting California’s small drinking water systems and managed wetlands” through AB 828—a bill that stalled last year and is coming up for a crucial vote.
