HB 2268 Summary

• Requires the Department of Agriculture to submit an annual report to the legislature by 20 days before each regular session beginning in 2022, organized by county and detailing pesticide complaints, compliance investigations, inspections, violations, and enforcement actions taken.

• Eliminates the written warning penalty for first-time pesticide violations by commercial and private pesticide applicators, except that violations causing bodily injury bypass the warning entirely and proceed directly to penalties.

• Increases administrative penalties for registrants, commercial applicators, wholesalers, dealers, retailers, and distributors from $5,000 to $10,000 per offense.

• Increases administrative penalties for private applicators or other persons using pesticides from $1,000 to $5,000 per offense.

• Increases criminal misdemeanor fines from $25,000 to $50,000 for general violators and from $1,000 to $5,000 for private applicators; increases criminal penalties for fraud involving proprietary formulas from $10,000 to $25,000.

• Effective date: July 1, 2022.