Agriculture - Digest of Bills

Digest of Bills - 2010

AGRICULTURE

S.B. 10-34 Pesticides - regulation of pesticides and devices - refillers. According to new requirements for pesticide containers under the "Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act" (FIFRA), a state with primary enforcement responsibility for pesticide use must have authority over establishments that refill pesticide containers to ensure compliance with the FIFRA. In order to meet this requirement, the act amends the state "Pesticide Act" (state act) to:

• Include refilling pesticides among the regulated activities mentioned in the legislative declaration;

• Define the terms "refillable container", "refiller", and "refill";

• Grant the state department of agriculture (department) jurisdiction in all matters pertaining to removal of pesticide residue from containers;

• Require pesticide refillers to comply with record-keeping and reporting regulations specified by the commissioner of the department of agriculture (commissioner) by rule;

• Require pesticide refillers to comply with residue removal requirements promulgated by the commissioner; and

• Make unlawful certain acts by pesticide refillers.

In addition to the provisions regarding refillers, the act amends various provisions of the state act as follows:

• Authorizes the commissioner to exempt, in accordance with the FIFRA, certain pesticides from the registration requirement;

• Allows the commissioner to waive the requirement that a person applying to register a pesticide list all inert ingredients in the application;

• Requires the commissioner to set by rule the date on which registrations of pesticides and devices expire;

• Repeals redundant provisions stating that applicants must pay a penalty fee when cease-and-desist orders are issued for distribution of an unregistered pesticide or unregistered device;

• Clarifies that the confidentiality provisions in the state act apply only to inert ingredients;

• Allows an expired pesticide registration to be renewed within the 2-year period following the date of the registration's expiration, rather than the date the registration was issued;

• Requires applications for renewal of pesticide and device registrations or pesticide dealer licenses to be received, rather than postmarked, by the date specified by the commissioner;

• Clarifies that, if an application for renewal of a pesticide dealer license is not timely received, the license shall not be renewed and the dealer must apply for a new license;

• Amends an incorrect citation to federal rules;

• Removes from the list of deceptive trade practices making a false statement by a pesticide dealer on an invoice, record, report, or application required under the state act or under any rule promulgated pursuant to the state act; and

• Adds to the list of prohibited acts making a false statement by any person on an invoice, record, report, or application required under the state act or under any rule promulgated pursuant to the state act.

APPROVED by Governor June 7, 2010
EFFECTIVE July 1, 2010

S.B. 10-38 Organic agricultural products - inspection - authorization to contract with independent inspectors - organic certification advisory board - modifications to size and membership - appropriation. Under current law, the commissioner (commissioner) of the department of agriculture (department) may delegate duties under the "Organic Certification Act" only to employees of the department. The act allows the commissioner to contract with qualified independent inspectors to conduct inspections under the Organic Certification Act, and authorizes the commissioner to promulgate minimum qualifications for those inspectors.

The act also increases the size of the organic certification advisory board from 9 to 12 members as follows:

• 9 members shall represent certified organic operations;

• 1 member shall be a consumer representing the general public;

• 1 member shall represent the Colorado cooperative extension service; and

• 1 member shall represent the Colorado agricultural experiment station.

$28,112 is appropriated from the plant health, pest control, and environmental protection cash fund to the department, for allocation to the agricultural services division, for implementation of the act.

APPROVED by Governor April 29, 2010
EFFECTIVE July 1, 2010

S.B. 10-72 Seed potatoes - certification required for lots of one or more acres - exceptions - record-keeping - audits - fees - civil penalties - seed potato advisory committee - seed potato cash fund - appropriation. The act creates the "Colorado Seed Potato Act", which requires all potato growers who plant potatoes in lots of one or more acres to plant seed potatoes, which are defined as vegetatively propagated tubers used or intended to be used for potato production, that have been certified by a certifying authority. A "certifying authority" is Colorado state university or, for seed potatoes grown outside of Colorado, the duly authorized seed certifying agency of the state, territory, or country of origin. The act requires imported certified seed potatoes to meet certain minimum standards for certification.

The act creates the seed potato advisory committee and describes the composition, terms, and duties of the advisory committee. The act specifies a sunset date of September 1, 2019, for the advisory committee.

The following exceptions are made to the certification requirement:

• A potato grower may plant uncertified and untested seed potatoes until January 1, 2012, if the seed potatoes were grown as part of that grower's operations.

• A potato grower may plant uncertified seed potatoes that are one generation from his or her own certified or qualified seed potatoes and have been grown by that grower. Any grower who wishes to plant seed potatoes that are more than one year out from certification must submit the seed stock to the state certifying agency for testing and approval.

• In any year in which the supply of certified or exempt seed potato stock is insufficient, as determined by the commissioner of agriculture (commissioner), growers may apply for permission to plant uncertified seed potatoes pursuant to specified conditions of approval.

Potato growers must comply with certain record-keeping requirements. An independent auditor must perform annual records reviews on 10% of potato growers, selected randomly according to a method established by the commissioner. The commissioner shall select a qualified department of agriculture employee or an independent auditor upon recommendation from the advisory committee. The actual costs of the records reviews and other services performed by the department of agriculture shall be paid by the area committees for areas 2 and 3, established in the marketing order regulating the handling of potatoes grown in the state of Colorado, as amended, issued pursuant to the "Colorado Agricultural Marketing Act of 1939".

The act authorizes the commissioner to investigate and promulgate rules to enforce and administer the act. Civil penalties for violations of the act are specified.

The act also creates the seed potato cash fund (fund), consisting of moneys from fees and civil fines paid under the act. To implement the act, $2,959 is appropriated from the fund to the agricultural services division in the department of agriculture. Of that amount, $905 is appropriated to the department of law for legal services related to the implementation of the act rendered to the department of agriculture.

APPROVED by Governor June 8, 2010
EFFECTIVE July 1, 2010

S.B. 10-81 Interagency farm-to-school coordination task force - creation - report - repeal. In order to facilitate the future development of a state farm-to-school program that will promote in education settings the consumption of nutritional foods provided by state agricultural producers, the act creates the "Farm-to-School Healthy Kids Act", which establishes the interagency farm-to-school coordination task force (task force). The act describes the composition and duties of the task force, and sets a future repeal date of December 31, 2013.

APPROVED by Governor April 15, 2010
EFFECTIVE August 11, 2010

NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause. For further explanation concerning the effective date, see page vi of this digest.

H.B. 10-1377 Agricultural programs funded with both cash fund and general fund moneys - exclusive financing with cash funds for two years - adjustments to the 2010 general appropriation act. For fiscal years 2010 and 2011, the act requires the following agricultural programs, which are normally financed by moneys from both cash funds and the general fund, to be entirely cash-funded:

• Commercial fertilizers, plant amendments, and soil conditioners;

• Measurement standards;

• Commercial feeding stuffs; and

• Farm products and farm commodity handlers.

The act makes the following adjustments to the department of agriculture's appropriations in the 2010 long bill:

• Decreases by $287,064 the general fund appropriation for the commissioner of agriculture's (commissioner) office and administrative services, and correspondingly transfers $178,835 from the inspection and consumer services cash fund and $108,229 from the agriculture services division, which amount is appropriated to the agricultural services division from the inspection and consumer services cash fund, a total of $287,064, to the commissioner's office and administrative services;

• Reduces the general fund appropriation for program costs of the agricultural services division by $974,518 and 12.5 FTE and replaces this appropriation with a transfer of $974,518 and 12.5 FTE to the agricultural services division from the inspection and consumer services cash fund; and

• Decreases by $39,672 the general fund appropriation to the agricultural services division for lease purchase lab equipment, and increases the cash fund appropriation from the inspection and consumer services cash fund, to the agricultural services division for lease purchase lab equipment by $39,672.

APPROVED by Governor May 6, 2010
EFFECTIVE May 6, 2010