HSB 737 (LSB 6342YC (3) 90)

HOUSE FILE _____ 

BY  (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS BILL BY CHAIRPERSON KAUFMANN)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to pesticides, by providing for license fees and tort liability.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 206.8, subsection 2, paragraph a, subparagraph (1), unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
   A pesticide dealer with less than one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars in gross retail pesticide sales shall pay a license fee according to the following schedule:
    Sec. 2.  Section 206.8, subsection 2, paragraph a, subparagraph (1), Code 2024, is amended by adding the following new subparagraph division:
   NEW SUBPARAGRAPH DIVISION.  (f)  One hundred twenty-five dollars, if the annual gross retail pesticide sales are one hundred thousand dollars or more but less than one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars.
    Sec. 3.  Section 206.8, subsection 2, paragraph b, subparagraph (1), Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
   (1)  A pesticide dealer with one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars or more in gross retail pesticide sales shall pay a license fee based on one-tenth of one percent of the gross retail pesticide sales in the previous year.
    Sec. 4.  Section 206.12, subsection 7, paragraph a, subparagraph (1), Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
   (1)  The gross retail sales of all pesticides sold at retail for use in this state by a licensee with one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars or more in gross retail sales of the pesticides sold for use in this state.
    Sec. 5.  Section 668.12, Code 2024, is amended by adding the following new subsection:
   NEW SUBSECTION.  5.  Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, for any pesticide registered with the United States environmental protection agency under the federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, 7 U.S.C. §136 et seq., the label approved by the United States environmental protection agency in registering the pesticide, or a label consistent with the most recent human health assessment performed under the federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, or a label consistent with the United States environmental protection agency carcinogenicity classification for the pesticide under the federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, shall be sufficient to satisfy any requirements for a warning regarding health or safety under chapter 206, any other provision or doctrine of state law, including without limitation the duty to warn, or any other common law duty to warn. This subsection does not apply to any product made by a People’s Republic of China state-owned enterprise.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   GENERAL. This bill provides for the sale and use of certain pesticides regulated by the United States environmental protection agency (EPA) under the federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (federal Act) and the “Pesticide Act of Iowa” administered by the department of agriculture and land stewardship under Code chapter 206 (state Act).
   PESTICIDE LABELING. The bill provides for a defense from civil liability associated with the use of pesticides that are registered with the EPA acting under the federal Act. The bill provides that a label provides sufficient warning if it complies with any one of three criteria: (1) it was approved by the EPA, (2) it is consistent with the most recent human health assessment performed under the federal Act, or (3) it is consistent with the EPA’s carcinogenicity classification for the pesticide. In each case, the label is sufficient to satisfy any requirements for a warning regarding health or safety under the state Act, and any other provision of state law or any other common law duty to warn. However, this provision of the bill does not apply to a product made by a Chinese state-owned enterprise.
   PESTICIDE DEALER LICENSE FEES. The bill changes the annual license fee rates for a pesticide dealer (dealer) based on gross annual pesticide sales made by the dealer in the prior calendar year (sales) (Code section 206.8). Under current law, there are two rate systems based on whether the dealer had less than or equal to $100,000 in sales. Under the first system, a dealer pays the fee amount on a flat rate basis according to a graduated schedule ranging from a bottom rate of $10 for sales of less than $10,000 to a top rate of $100 for sales from $75,000 or more to less than the $100,000 cap. A dealer with $100,000 or more in sales pays a license fee calculated as one-tenth of 1 percent of the amount of dealer sales. The bill adds a new top step to the first system of graduated flat rates by imposing a fee of $125 for sales of $100,000 or more but less than $125,000. It makes a corresponding change to the second system by increasing from $100,000 to $125,000 the amount of sales required for fees based on a percentage of sales.