Anti-community state pesticide preemption laws prevent local governments from protecting people from harm

Abstract

During the past 25 years, many state governments in the United States have adopted anti-community state preemption laws to preclude local governments from enacting ordinances regulating pesticides. In the absence of local controls, people and property are being adversely effected. The issue accompanying state preemption statutes is whether the laws constitute a reasonable resolution of the positive and negative externalities that accompany pesticide usage. Through a discussion of the tradeoffs involving pesticide preemption, we show that states having divergent agricultural, residential, commercial, and recreational activities might be better served by allowing local governments to govern selected matters involving pesticides. State pesticide preemption laws denigrate local governance and compromise public health and economic well-being. If legislators care about the health of their communities and citizens, they need to repeal preemption laws that prevent appropriate safety regulations by local governments.

Keywords

• citizen involvement
• law
• local government
• pesticides
• preemption