by
Jeff Jensen
| Apr 21, 2022
Bill will now move onto Appropriations Committee
California Assembly Bill 2146 passed through the April 5 Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee hearing by a 6-2 vote. The bill seeks to ban the application of insecticides containing neonic active ingredients (such as imidacloprid, acetamiprid, clothianidin, dinotefuran, and thiamethoxam) on turf, specifically. These products are commonly used on golf courses for grub control and other applications. A number of applicator groups, including agriculture and structural pest control, have been exempted and will retain full access to neonic products, but turf applications are being directly targeted.
The bill will now move onto the Appropriations Committee which at the time of this article has yet to be scheduled. I have submitted comments on behalf of the California GCSA in opposition to or in opposition unless amended to allow professionally licensed certified applicators to apply on turf, ornamental plants, and trees. Comments have been submitted to the Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee, Appropriations Committee as well as the bill’s author Assembly Person Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-CA 16).
Neonicotinoids provide a high degree of worker and player safety (low toxicity, Category III), and flexibility in application. They are selective and often require low use rates to achieve sufficient pest control, which reduces both environmental and human exposure and are also used to help grow healthy plants that make a positive contribution to pollinator forage and habitat. Turf applications present the lowest risk of both runoff and impact to pollinators of any outdoor usage of neonicotinoids.
The effectiveness of Neonicotinoids, its breadth of activity and utility in controlling difficult pests would be hard to replace, and some of the alternatives have significant economic and environmental disadvantages.
Any California members wishing to oppose the bill may do so using GCSAA’s Action Alert at https://www.votervoice.net/GCSAA/campaigns/93588/respond. The alert information is already composed, all you need to do is enter your contact information and click on Send Message.
We appreciate your support as we try to defend golf’s use of products beneficial to the industry.