South Carolina General Assembly
108th Session, 1989-1990

Bill 1465


                    Current Status

Bill Number:               1465
Ratification Number:       588
Act Number                 491
Introducing Body:          Senate
Subject:                   Standards for applicators of
                           pesticides
View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.


(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

(A491, R588, S1465)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 46-10-120 AND 46-10-130, BOTH AS AMENDED, 46-13-60, AND 46-13-150, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO PESTICIDES AND BOLL WEEVIL CONTROL, SO AS TO PROVIDE REGULATIONS FOR PRIVATE PESTICIDE APPLICATORS, ALL OTHER PESTICIDE APPLICATORS, AND REGULATIONS WHICH APPLY TO BOTH, TO DELETE REFERENCES RELATING TO FINANCIAL SECURITY, NOTIFICATION OF REASONS FOR LICENSE DENIAL, AND ELIGIBILITY FOR REEXAMINATION, ADD MEMBERS TO THE PESTICIDE ADVISORY COMMITTEE, CHANGE THE RECOMMENDING AUTHORITIES FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF SOME OF THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS, AND TO INCREASE THE ANNUAL ASSESSMENT FOR BOLL WEEVIL ERADICATION FROM EIGHT TO TEN DOLLARS AN ACRE.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

Standards for applicators of pesticides

SECTION 1. Section 46-13-60 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 46-13-60. The director may prescribe standards for the certification of applicators of pesticides. The standards must conform with the standards for certification as specified by Section 4, Public Law 92-516. The standards for certification of private applicators of restricted use pesticides do not become effective except as becomes necessary under Section 4, Public Law 92-516 and the resulting regulations established under that law.

(1) Private applicators:

(a) No private applicator' may use or supervise the use of a restricted use pesticide' which is restricted to use by certified applicators' without that private applicator first complying with the certification requirements necessary to prevent unreasonable adverse effects on the environment, including injury to the applicator or other persons, for that specific pesticide use.

(b) Certification standards to determine the individual's competency with respect to the use of the pesticide or class of pesticides the private applicator is to be certified to use must be promulgated by the director.

(i) To be certified as a private applicator to use restricted use pesticides' (categorized for this examination requirement) the applicant is required to pass a written or oral examination or otherwise demonstrate his competency with respect to the use of the pesticide or category of pesticides covered by his certification before purchase and use of the product.

(ii) Applications for a private applicator's license must be in the form and must contain the information prescribed by the director. Each application must be accompanied by a fee equaling one dollar a valid year. All licenses issued under this chapter expire on December thirty-first of the year that the license is dated to expire.

(iii) Private applicator licenses, issued by the director, are valid for a period as prescribed by the director in regulations. The director may renew a private applicator license without reexamination. The director by regulation shall establish provisions, which do not include reexamination unless required to do so by federal law, to ensure that private applicators continue to meet the requirements of changing technology and to ensure a continuing level of competence and ability to use pesticides safely and properly.

(iv) If the director does not issue or renew a private applicator's license, he shall inform the applicant in writing of the reasons therefor. The applicant is eligible for reexamination after thirty days.

(2) Other applicators:

(a) Application for a license must be made in writing to the director on a designated form obtained from the director's office. Each application for a license must contain information regarding the applicant's qualifications and proposed operations, the type of license (commercial or noncommercial), the license classification for which the applicant is applying, and must include the following:

(i) the full name of the person applying for the license;

(ii) the principal business address of the applicant in the State and elsewhere;

(iii) the name and address of a person, who may be the Secretary of State, whose domicile is in the State, and who is authorized to receive and accept services of summons and legal notice of all kinds for the applicant;

(iv) the type of equipment (excluding manually powered equipment) used by the applicant to apply pesticides.

(b) The director may not issue a commercial or noncommercial applicator's license until the individual who uses or supervises the use of a restricted use pesticide is certified by passing an examination to demonstrate to the director his knowledge of how to use and supervise the use of pesticides under the classifications he has applied for, and his knowledge of the nature and effect of pesticides he may apply under those classifications.

(c) If the director finds the applicant qualified to use and supervise the use of pesticides in the classifications he has applied for, and if an applicant applying for a commercial applicator license files the evidence of financial responsibility required under Section 46-13-100, and if the applicant applying for a license to engage in aerial application of pesticides has met all of the requirements of the Federal Aviation Agency, the Aeronautics Commission of the State, and any other applicable federal or state laws or regulations to operate the equipment described in the application, the director shall issue a pesticide applicator's license limited to the classifications for which he is qualified, which shall expire at the end of the calendar year of issue unless it has been revoked or suspended prior thereto by the director for cause. The director may limit the license of the applicant to the use of certain areas, or to certain types of equipment if the applicant is only so qualified.

(d) An applicator license issued to an individual representing a government entity or a corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, or other juridical person, is valid only so long as that individual satisfying the examination requirement of Section 46-13-60(2)(b) is employed by the business, or is an official or employee of the governmental entity. A licensee shall notify the director within thirty days of the date of invalidation of a license pursuant to this provision. Supervision required by a licensee pursuant to this chapter must be performed only by an individual satisfying the examination requirement of Section 46-13-60(2)(b).

(3) All persons:

(a) No person (including officials or employees of federal, state, or local government) may use or supervise the use of a restricted use pesticide without a private, commercial, or noncommercial applicator license issued by the director.

(b) An annual fee of twenty-five dollars for each pesticide applicator's license issued to each office at which records relative to the sale or application of pesticides are maintained is required. Payment of this annual fee permits the certification of one individual under any or all of the classifications. A five dollar annual fee is required to certify each additional applicant who desires to be certified in any one classification. Noncommercial applicators are exempt from all fee requirements.

(c) If a license is not issued as applied for, the director shall inform the applicant in writing of the reasons for the denial.

(d) An applicant is eligible for reexamination after thirty days.

(e) The license of an applicator whose financial responsibility, as required by Section 46-13-100 lapses, expires, or otherwise ceases to comply is suspended or cancelled automatically until proof of continuing responsibility is provided by the applicator."

Pesticide advisory committee

SECTION 2. The first paragraph of Section 46-13-150 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"There is created a pesticide advisory committee consisting of five licensed commercial applicators residing in the State, one of whom must be licensed to operate horticultural ground equipment, one must be licensed to operate agricultural ground equipment, one must be licensed to operate aerial equipment, and two must be licensed for structural pest control; one entomologist in public service; one toxicologist in public service; one herbicide specialist in public service; two members from the agrichemical industry, one of whom must be a pesticide dealer; two producers of agricultural crops or products on which pesticides are applied or which may be affected by the application of pesticides; one representative of the South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Department; one plant pathologist in public service; one representative of the South Carolina State Forestry Commission; one representative of the South Carolina Department of Agriculture; one representative of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control; and two citizens from the State at large. The members must be residents of this State and must be appointed by the Governor on the recommendation of the following organizations:

(1) The South Carolina Aerial Applicators' Association shall recommend the pesticide applicator licensed to operate aerial equipment.

(2) The South Carolina Pest Control Operator's Association shall recommend the pesticide applicator licensed to operate horticultural ground equipment and two pesticide applicators licensed for structural pest control.

(3) The Vice President and Vice Provost of Agriculture and Natural Resources of Clemson University shall recommend the herbicide specialist in public service, the entomologist in public service, and the plant pathologist in public service.

(4) The members of the South Carolina Fertilizer and Agrichemical Association shall recommend the member from the agrichemical industry and the pesticide dealer.

(5) The South Carolina Farm Bureau shall recommend the two producers of agricultural crops or products on which pesticides are applied or which may be affected by the application of pesticides, and the commercial applicator licensed to operate agricultural ground equipment.

(6) The Executive Director of the South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Department shall recommend the member from the South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Department.

(7) The State Forester shall recommend the member from the South Carolina State Forestry Commission.

(8) The Commissioner of Agriculture shall recommend the member from the South Carolina Department of Agriculture.

(9) The Commissioner of the Department of Health and Environmental Control shall recommend the member from that department.

(10) The administrator of the Department of Consumer Affairs shall recommend the two citizens at large."

Boll weevil eradication assessment

SECTION 3. Section 46-10-120 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 554 of 1988, is further amended to read:

"Section 46-10-120. The Boll Weevil Eradication Program, as provided for under this chapter, must be implemented for a specified time determined by the commission if it determines that the federal government and the commercial cotton producers of this State, as determined by referendum conducted by the commission, shall cooperate and provide for the cost of carrying out the provisions of this chapter for the specified time. The cotton producer referendum must receive the favorable vote of two-thirds of the producers casting votes. All commercial cotton producers in South Carolina shall receive ballots and are eligible to vote.

Upon termination of the time specified in the last referendum, the commission shall establish an assessment, not to exceed ten dollars an acre, to cover suppression and containment costs on all cotton acreage within the eradication area as long as a containment program is necessary. This assessment and program duration is subject to change when petitioned by ten percent of the commercial cotton producers of this State."

Further

SECTION 4. Section 46-10-130 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 31 of 1989, is further amended to read:

"Section 46-10-130. Each commercial cotton grower in this State is assessed an annual uniform fee determined by the commission not to exceed ten dollars an acre subject to change as provided in Section 46-10-120. The assessment must be utilized by the commission to carry out the provisions of this chapter. The funds must be remitted promptly to the organization certified according to this chapter under terms and conditions the commission considers necessary to ensure that the assessments are used in a sound program of eradication or suppression of the boll weevil or other cotton pests. The certified organization shall provide to the division an annual audit of its accounts performed by a certified public accountant. The assessments collected by the commission under this chapter are not state funds."

Time effective

SECTION 5. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

Approved the 29th day of May, 1990.