Invasive Pest Control Administration

The act authorizes the commissioner of agriculture (commissioner) to:

• Enter into an agreement with any person or local government to provide pest control services. The department of agriculture (department) may provide pest control services directly or through a local government and may require remuneration for providing pest control services. The remuneration is deposited in the emergency invasive-pest response fund (fund) created by the act, and the commissioner is authorized to expend money in the fund to implement the act and emergency measures to control or eradicate invasive pests.
• Work cooperatively with the United States secretary of agriculture to implement a joint phytosanitary program if the program would economically or environmentally assist with mitigating or eradicating the spread of a regulated nonquarantine pest;
• Quarantine anything that harbors a pest if the pest has an economically unacceptable impact and if the measures to control the pest may achieve an acceptable level of official control;
• If the commissioner determines that a public nuisance creates an unacceptable risk of spreading a pest, coordinate with industry, support local governments, and make grants to take emergency action to quarantine, control, or eradicate an invasive pest;
• Request that, at the end of each fiscal year, money in the plant health, pest control, and environmental protection cash fund be transferred to the fund; and
• Seek and expend gifts, grants, or donations from private or public sources for the new fund, and requires the department to annually report to the general assembly regarding the amount and source of any gifts, grants, or donations received.

A board of county commissioners may declare a pest to be a public nuisance and require its control or eradication.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)