Requires the adoption of integrated pest management techniques, environmental health and safety measures and methods for limiting exposure to toxic substances at child day care centers and head start day care centers; subjects such plans to public review.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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5655
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 14, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ENGLEBRIGHT, RIVERA, COLTON -- Multi-Sponsored by
-- M. of A. ABINANTI, ARROYO, GALEF, ORTIZ, PAULIN, PERRY -- read
once and referred to the Committee on Children and Families
AN ACT to amend the social services law and the environmental conserva-
tion law, in relation to integrated pest management procedures in
child day care center and head start day care center settings
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature hereby finds that
2 young children, including those in day care and head start centers, are
3 at a disproportionate risk to environmental hazards such as pesticide
4 exposure. Due to their smaller body size, developing organ systems and
5 predilection for hand-to-mouth behaviors, they are exposed to and absorb
6 more toxic substances per pound of body weight than adults. Therefore
7 the legislature finds that special protective measures, like integrated
8 pest management programs, are necessary.
9 § 2. Section 390-a of the social services law is amended by adding
10 five new subdivisions 3-a, 6, 7, 8 and 9 to read as follows:
11 3-a. The office of children and family services shall promulgate regu-
12 lations requiring operators, program directors, employees and assistants
13 of child day care centers and head start day care centers to receive two
14 hours of training every two years, in addition to the training required
15 pursuant to subdivision three of this section, on environmental and
16 safety measures, including integrated pest management procedures as
17 defined in subdivision fifty of section 33-0101 of the environmental
18 conservation law and other methods for limiting exposure to toxic
19 substances.
20 6. All providers of a child day care center as defined in section
21 three hundred ninety of this title, or a head start day care center
22 funded pursuant to Title V of the Federal Opportunity Act of nineteen
23 hundred sixty-four, as amended, are required to have integrated pest
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09633-01-9
A. 5655 2
1 management plans which have been developed with public input. Such plans
2 must be completed within six months of completion of the training
3 requirements set forth in subdivision three-a of this section. Such
4 plans shall utilize integrated pest management techniques to manage and
5 control pests and problems as defined in subdivision fifty of section
6 33-0101 of the environmental conservation law. The integrated pest
7 management plans shall include a provision for public access to all
8 information about the implementation of the plans. Such providers shall
9 be prohibited from conducting or having conducted pesticide applications
10 to child day care centers and head start day care centers which are
11 preventive in nature and do not respond to existing, verifiable pest
12 problems.
13 7. Providers of a child day care center or a head start day care
14 center shall be responsible for providing an annual evaluation of the
15 implementation of their integrated pest management plans to the parents
16 of the children attending such center. Such providers shall be responsi-
17 ble for updating their integrated pest management plans every three
18 years. Such information shall be publicly available.
19 8. In all licensed child day care centers and head start day care
20 centers all pesticide applications shall be conducted by a certified
21 commercial applicator. Pesticide applications by persons working under
22 the direct supervision of a certified pesticide applicator shall be
23 prohibited.
24 9. When pesticides are to be applied to a child day care center or
25 head start day care center grounds, turf, trees or shrubs, visual
26 notification markers, as provided in section 33-1003 of the environ-
27 mental conservation law, shall be posted at least every fifty feet with
28 at least one marker on each side of the application area.
29 § 3. Section 33-0101 of the environmental conservation law is amended
30 by adding a new subdivision 50 to read as follows:
31 50. "Integrated pest management" and "IPM" mean a decision-making
32 process for pest control that utilizes regular monitoring to determine
33 if and when controls are needed; employs physical, mechanical, cultural,
34 biological and educational practices to control conditions that promote
35 pest infestations and to keep pest populations at tolerable damage or
36 annoyance levels; and only as a last resort, utilizes least-toxic pesti-
37 cide controls. The overall goal of IPM is to eliminate the unnecessary
38 use of pesticides and reduce the use of all pesticides.
39 § 4. This act shall take effect on the first of June next succeeding
40 the date on which it shall have become a law.