The League of California Cities, an organization representing most of California’s 482 cities, recently passed a resolution in support of empowering local governments with the ability to ban the use of pesticides within city limits—power they do not currently wield.
Currently, control over regulating pesticides is under preemption, meaning only the state government can control regulation. During a Malibu City Council meeting in May of this year, city council and City Attorney Christi Hogin discussed the importance of working to reverse preemption, allowing each city to make its own laws regarding herbicides and rodenticides, which include anticoagulant rodenticides.
According to information shared by local nonprofit Poison Free Malibu, the league’s general assembly voted “by a large majority” on Friday, Sept. 14, to support a resolution allowing cities and counties to block the use of pesticides.
The use of pesticides is currently banned on all city-owned property and the city encourages businesses and homeowners to avoid the use of herbicides and pesticides.
Now, the league is able to use its political power to lobby the state legislature to pass a bill reversing the preemption and allowing individual cities to write laws regarding pesticide and herbicide use.