Farmworker Pesticide Safety Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. GARAMENDI. Madam Speaker, today I introduce the Farmworker Pesticide Safety Act in commemoration of Cesar Chavez Day. This legislation is endorsed by the Association of American Pesticide Control Officials (AAPCO).

The Farmworker Pesticide Safety Act would support the correct application of pesticides in agriculture and provide farmworkers additional resources for the safe handling of pesticides and proper decontamination protocols following their workday. This new federal funding would come at no cost to taxpayers, complementing the substantial investments California's Department of Pesticide Regulation is already making to ensure that farmworkers and their young children are not exposed to dangerous pesticide levels in my State.

Specifically, my bill would effectively triple funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) worker protection, public- private partnership, and pesticide safety education grant programs. I am honored to represent the University of California, Davis Extension, which is the single largest recipient of this federal grant money in the entire country.

According to the USEPA, the agency collected between $2.3 million to $9.25 million annually for pesticide regulatory violations over the past 5 years. Under current federal law, these fines and penalties collected from lawbreakers in the pesticide industry revert to the U.S. Treasury.

My Farmworker Pesticide Safety Act would instead direct these fines toward the USEPA's three major pesticide safety grant programs, at no additional cost to taxpayers, growers, or the pesticide industry. This means my bill would provide an average of $4.15 million per year in additional USEPA grant funding.

In 2019, Congress passed the Pesticide Registration Improvement Extension Act of 2018 (Public Law 116-8) reauthorizing the fee schedule for pesticide registrations with the USPEA through the end of fiscal year 2023. I look forward to working with Chairman Scott and all members of the Committee on Agriculture to include the Farmworker Pesticide Safety Act in the next PRIA reauthorization.

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