MoreLINCOLNWOOD, Ill. -- The International Sanitary and Supply Association (ISSA) and a group of allied industry associations including the Chemical Producers and Distributors Association, the Consumer Specialty Products Association, and the American Chemistry Council are supporting Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin's (D) proposed Pesticide Maintenance Frees Reauthorization Act.
"While we have made significant progress, ISSA needs the help of its member companies in securing additional co-sponsors of S. 1474 by writing to those senators representing the states where your offices, plants and other company facilities are located," said Bill Balek, ISSA Legislative Affairs attorney, OSHA Certified Instructor and board member (vice president) of the National Floor Safety Institute.
While S.1474, introduced by Sen. Harkin on Sept. 26, would increase fees from their current levels, it's drastic reduction from a Bush Administration's Budget proposal, which contained an overall increase in pesticide fees of 442 percent, from $14 million to $76 million for each of the next five years.
The current fee package would raise total maintenance fees from $14 million to $20 million annually. This increase in fees will provide the additional funds needed by EPA to implement the provisions of the Food Quality Protection Act.
S. 1474, the Pesticide Maintenance Fees Reauthorization Act, calls for a five-year extension of maintenance fees through Sept. 30, 2006 at an annual amount of $20 million with no cost of living adjustment (COLA). Large and small business caps, no subject to a COLA, would increase modestly. The proposal also calls for 1/7th of the total maintenance fees collected annually ($2.868 million as compared to the current level of $2 million) to be allocated for "fast track" registrations. The proposal also calls for the revision of the small business definition as presently contained in FIFRA to cover any company (including affiliates) with 500 or fewer employees and $60 million or less in global gross revenue from pesticides.
Most importantly, the current prohibition on registration fees would continue for the duration of the five-year proposal, translating into a total savings for industry of $125 million. In the absence of a prohibition on registration fees, EPA would be free to seek $25 million per year in registration fees as called for in the FY 2002 Bush budget.
The industry coalition draft proposal also would extend for another five years the current restriction on the imposition of new tolerance fees, a potential savings of as much as $171 million. Under the Food Quality Protection Act, tolerance fees now apply to sanitizers used on food contact surfaces.
For more information, visit ISSA at www.issa.com; contact Tracy Novak, ISSA, (800) 225-4772, via email at tracy@issa.com.
