A. The Board shall adopt regulations to certify the competence of (i) contractor-applicators, (ii) licensees, and (iii) employees, representatives, or agents of state agencies, localities, or other governmental entities who apply any regulated product to nonagricultural lands.

Terms Used In Virginia Code 3.2-3602.1

  • Board: means the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
  • Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
  • Contractor-applicator: means any person required to hold a permit to apply any regulated product pursuant to § 3. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Department: means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
  • Fertilizer: means any substance containing one or more recognized plant nutrients, which is used for its plant nutrient content, and which is designed for use, or claimed to have value, in promoting plant growth. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. Source: OCC
  • Lawn fertilizer: means any fertilizer intended for nonagricultural use on newly established turf areas from sod or seed during the first growing season, turf areas being repaired or renovated, and turf areas where soil tests performed within the past three years indicate a nutrient deficiency. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Lawn maintenance fertilizer: means any fertilizer intended for the nonagricultural routine maintenance of turf. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Licensee: means the person who receives a license to distribute any regulated product under the provisions of this chapter. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
  • Regulated product: means any product governed by this chapter, including any fertilizer, specialty fertilizer, soil amendment, digestate, and horticultural growing medium. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245

B. The regulations shall establish (i) training requirements; (ii) proper nutrient management practices in accordance with § 10.1-104.2, including soil analysis techniques, equipment calibration, and the timing of the application; and (iii) reporting requirements, including the submission of an annual report as specified by the Commissioner regarding the location of lawn fertilizer and lawn maintenance fertilizer applications. Contractor-applicators and licensees who apply lawn fertilizer and lawn maintenance fertilizer to more than a total of 50 acres of nonagricultural lands annually and employees, representatives, or agents of state agencies, localities, or other governmental entities who apply lawn fertilizer and lawn maintenance fertilizer to nonagricultural lands shall submit an annual report on or before February 1 and on a form prescribed by the Commissioner. The annual report shall include the total acreage or square footage by zip code of the land receiving lawn fertilizer and lawn maintenance fertilizer in the preceding calendar year. The Department shall provide for optional reporting by electronic methods. The Department shall make publicly available every year the total acreage or square footage by zip code. Any personal information collected pursuant to this section shall be exempt from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.), except that the Commissioner may release information that has been transformed into a statistical or aggregate form that does not allow identification of the persons who supplied, or are the subject of, particular information.

C. The Board may impose a civil penalty of up to $1,000 on any contractor-applicator or licensee who fails to comply with the regulations. The amount of the civil penalty shall be paid into the special fund established in § 3.2-3617.

D. The Board shall form a technical advisory committee of stakeholders. The Board shall consult with the technical advisory committee of stakeholders and the Department of Conservation and Recreation in the development of the regulations.

E. Any person who is subject to regulation and who applies any regulated product to nonagricultural lands shall comply with the regulations within 12 months of the effective date of the regulations.

F. Contractor-applicators and licensees in compliance with regulations adopted by the Board pursuant to this section shall not be subject to local ordinances governing the use or application of lawn fertilizer and lawn maintenance fertilizer.

2008, c. 686, § 3.1-106.4:2; 2011, cc. 341, 353, 552, 564; 2020, c. 413.

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