Calif. Governor Vetoes Bill Targeting School Pesticides

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a state senate bill calling for less hazardous pesticides to be used on school grounds in California.

 

Supporters of the bill say it would reduce premature puberty in girls and certain kinds of cancers, both linked to the exposure of some kinds of toxins found in pesticides at schools statewide. The bill, known as the Healthy Schools Act of 2010 (SB 1157), is largely based on a 2002 survey, which uncovered dozens of harmful pesticides at 15 of California’s largest school districts. 

 

The Healthy Schools Act of 2010, authored by state senator Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord), would have required schools to use the least hazardous pesticides available, as rated by the Environmental Protection Agency, and reimburse districts and local agencies for the costs associated with establishing pest management programs.

 

In defending his veto, Gov. Schwarzenegger says he does support voluntary school pest management programs, but not the reimbursements for the programs, which would have been doled out by the Department of Pesticide Regulation under SB 1157.

 

“Unfortunately, I cannot support paying for this school program out of an alternative fund at DPR,” the Governor stated in a written response. “To do so would start a dangerous precedent for finding unrelated revenue sources to fund, expand, or create K-12 programs outside of the Proposition 98 (schools funding) guarantee.”