What's happening
This bill requires farms using pesticides to implement new protections for farm workers, including testing, education, safety equipment, and reporting exposures.
Why it matters
Mandates comprehensive health surveillance. Farms must conduct mandatory testing for organophosphate pesticide exposure on all pesticide handlers both upon arrival and departure, potentially identifying toxic exposures early and helping prevent long-term health problems among workers.
Strengthens workplace safety infrastructure. By requiring fit-tested personal protective equipment, dedicated washing machines for contaminated clothing, and gender-separated shower facilities, the bill aims to reduce the risk of ongoing or secondary pesticide exposure for workers and their families.
Increases transparency and accountability. Immediate reporting of all pesticide exposure incidents to the health department is required, with annual public reports on farm compliance, enforcement actions, and exposure events—potentially deterring unsafe practices and informing public policy.
Protects families and children of farm workers. The bill mandates education for workers and their families about pesticide risks, requires the separation of worker and family laundry, and sets minimum distances for new worker housing from treated fields, reducing the likelihood of take-home exposures and related health risks.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Protect Farm Workers From Pesticides
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
2 Co-sponsors
3 Multi-sponsors
History
- Referred to health
- Referred to health
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
6122
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 23, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. ENGLEBRIGHT, GOTTFRIED, ORTIZ -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. COLTON, COOK, PERRY -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to farm worker protection
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 1331 to read as follows:
§ 1331. Farm worker protection. 1. The following requirements shall be met at any agricultural site to which pesticides have or will be applied. Farm owners or operators shall:
a. Conduct or cause to have conducted mandatory testing for the presence of organophosphate pesticides for all handlers of pesticides, including applicators and mixers of pesticides. This testing shall be conducted within one week of the arrival of such workers at the agricultural site and within one week of the departure of such workers from the site;
b. Provide personal protection equipment which has been fit-tested to all individuals who are required or may be required to wear such equipment in the course of their work, and which is readily available to any worker needing to wear or use such equipment;
c. Provide education and information to farm workers and their families about the hazards of exposure to pesticides, how to avoid such exposures to children, personal clothing and possessions, and what to do if pesticide exposure or contamination occurs;
d. Report to the department every incident of pesticide exposure to farm workers or their families, whether by direct exposure to pesticide applications or from drift of pesticides from the application site. Such reporting shall occur within twenty-four hours of such pesticide expo-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03076-01-7
A. 6122 2
sure and shall include the day and time of day the exposure occurred and the pesticides to which the individuals were exposed;
e. Provide on-site washing machines for workers to clean pesticidecontaminated clothing, which are separate from clothes washing facilities used by families. The farm owner or operator shall be responsible to provide instruction in the proper care of clothing contaminated with or exposed to pesticides;
f. Provide one shower facility for every five workers, with separate facilities for males and females, for the removal of pesticides residues and other contaminants;
g. Provide one or more public telephones for workers to report medical emergencies, including pesticide exposures or contamination; and
h. Ensure that all new housing for farm workers is located at least fifty feet from any field or site, except for enclosed facilities such as greenhouses, which may be treated with pesticides. Existing housing which does not comply with this paragraph shall be replaced within five years or cease to be used after that time.
2. The department shall issue an annual report of all farm inspections on or before March first to the governor and the legislature for the previous calendar year, including compliance with the requirements contained in this section; enforcement actions, fines and penalties for non-compliance resulting from such inspections; and pesticide exposure or contamination reports submitted to the department.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.