(Sacramento, CA)  -- In response to State plans to begin aerial spraying pesticides against the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM), Assemblymember Swanson authored a bill to ensure that the State informs and obtains the consent of populations that would be affected by the spraying. The bill passed the Elections & Redistricting Committee yesterday on a 4-2 vote.

“When we approach a decision to use aerial spraying as a strategy, it is imperative that the public is informed and at the table. According to the Department of Food and Agriculture, these eradication campaigns could last for up to 4 to 5 years. To think that people wouldn’t have a say in this decision is contrary to the intent of our State Constitution. I am very pleased that the Elections committee agreed with this notion and supported my bill,” Assemblymember Swanson stated.

AB 2892 would require the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to obtain the consent of 2/3rds of voters in cities and counties affected by aerial applications of pesticides, if the pest eradication zone includes any urban areas. The elections may coincide with regularly scheduled elections, or may otherwise be specially scheduled at the decision of the affected localities and the California Department of Food & Agriculture.

“If there ever was an argument for local control, this is it,” said Nan Wishner, East Bay resident and Chair of the City of Albany Integrated Pest Management Task Force, who testified at the hearing. “The Department of Agriculture is proposing to aerially spray 7 million people with a new and untested pesticide, despite the fact that their spraying last fall could well have been the cause of hundreds of reported health problems. In response to citizen outcries, they have plainly told us ‘there is no vote.’ This bill puts that decision back where it should be, in the hands of the people who will be exposed to the risks an aerial pesticide spray program poses.”

Added Assemblymember Swanson, “It is clear that people are determined to have a solution. They have showed up, en masse, at town hall meetings, have pushed their cities to pass resolutions in opposition to spraying, and have sent me and my fellow Bay Area legislators hundreds of letters demanding a solution. We in the Legislature thus face a simple choice: either we solve this problem in an orderly way through the legislative process, or our citizens will collect signatures for ballot propositions and initiate lawsuits in order to halt the spraying. It is incumbent upon us then to do the job that we were elected to do: formulate a solution that will safeguard the health and well-being of our citizens.”

AB2892 is one of five pieces of related legislation, which include:

AB 2763 (Laird) Requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to create a list of invasive animals, plants, and insects that have a reasonable likelihood of entering California for which an eradication program might be appropriate, and hold public hearings on this information.

AB 2764 (Hancock) Will prohibit the Secretary of Food and Agriculture from approving the application of a pesticide in an urban area, unless the Governor has proclaimed a state of emergency.

AB 2765 (Huffman) sets new limits on the emergency powers of the Department of Agriculture. The bill requires a public hearing to receive testimony and examine alternatives to aerial spraying prior to any decision to spray.

AB 2760 (Leno) would require that an Environmental Impact Report be completed before the state Department of Food and Agriculture can apply pesticide in an urban area for the eradication of the light brown apple moth.

AB2892 will be heard in the Assembly Agriculture Committee on April 16th .