Legislative and Advocacy
Noxious weed and invasive species prevention and management is a non-partisan issue that impacts all Colorado residents and visitors: agriculture, conservation, environmental protection, forestry, natural resources, outdoor recreation, tourism, water, etc. are all impacted by invasive species.
Learn about CWMA’s efforts and stay informed about statewide legislative concerns that affect the weed management industry!
2023 Colorado Legislative Session
Pesticide Applicators Act Sunset Review
Background: Colorado’s General Assembly sets specific dates that a particular agency, board, or function of government will terminate unless the legislature enacts new legislation to continue. So, the “sun sets” on that part of government if it is not reauthorized. In 2022 the Pesticide Applicators Act was Reviewed by the Colorado Division of Policy, Research and Regulatory Reform (COPRRR), the Act was recommended for continuation, and there were 9 recommendations made by COPRRR regarding the Pesticide Applicators Act, and 3 administrative recommendations directed at the Colorado Department of Agriculture.
In previous legislative sessions, work conducted by the CWMA Legislative Committee engaged with the legislature on a few different issues and topics related to pesticide use, and pest management. Current state law prohibits local governments from substantively regulating the use and application of pesticides. There was significant discussion from some individual stakeholders regarding the ability to ban or regulate specific pesticides at local scales. 2020 Session saw a bill that attempted to undermine state-wide control in SB20-189. If attempted, allowing local control of pesticide use and applications would result in patchwork or mosaic of regulations that would be difficult to impossible to navigate. This threatens the safety of individuals and community by the potential erroneous removal of specific active ingredients necessary for pest management ranging from noxious weed mitigation, to groundhog controls, to bedbug management and beyond.
In 2022 CWMA Legislative Committee engaged with, and testified in hearings related to, SB22-131 Protect Health Of Pollinators And People. As this bill was moving through the legislative process, there were significant attempts to overturn statewide uniformity. This was ultimately defeated in that previous context, but we are seeing additional attempts to overturn precedent with the Pesticide Applicators Act sunset renewal.
Current Status: Colorado Weed Management Association, through our partnership with Coloradoans for Responsible Pesticide Applications have received notification that the Governor’s office will be including a directive to allow for local control of pesticides within the renewal of the Pesticide Applicators Act. This will threaten the success of noxious weed management programs, which depend on large scale, landscape level controls for our degrading State-listed invasive plant species. If included, local control of pesticides would allow each county and municipality to create its own regulations related to pesticide use, notification, reporting, enforcement and more. Please consider the impacts that variable regulations across local governments could have on your programs, operations and businesses.
How you can help!
- Write or Call the Governor’s office to let them know you do not support local government pesticide regulations!
– Sample language can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OnLds1PouBcztH9LBaNbw1liA83aXKw4/view?usp=share_link - Have discussions with your elected leadership and inform them of the potential impact that local control would have on your programs and your communities.
- Contact your legislative representative and let them know how local control will impact your community, constituents and operations. Find your representative here: https://www.leg.colorado.gov/find-my-legislator
CWMA tracks legislation that impacts our industry so you don’t have to! We sweep for newly introduced bills each week.