The department shall, by rule, after public hearing following due notice:
 1. Declare as a pest any form of plant or animal life or virus which is unduly injurious to plants, humans, domestic animals, articles, or substances.

Terms Used In Iowa Code 206.19

  • Commercial applicator: means a person, corporation, or employee of a person or corporation who enters into a contract or an agreement for the sake of monetary payment and agrees to perform a service by applying a pesticide but does not include a farmer trading work with another, a person employed by a farmer not solely as a pesticide applicator who applies pesticide as an incidental part of the person's general duties, or a person who applies pesticide as an incidental part of a custom farming operation. See Iowa Code 206.2
  • Department: means the department of agriculture and land stewardship. See Iowa Code 206.2
  • following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • property: includes personal and real property. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Public applicator: means an individual who applies pesticides as an employee of a state agency, county, municipal corporation, or other governmental agency. See Iowa Code 206.2
  • Rule: includes "regulation". See Iowa Code 4.1
  • year: means twelve consecutive months. See Iowa Code 4.1
 2. Determine the proper use of pesticides including but not limited to their formulations, times and methods of application, and other conditions of use.
 3. Determine in cooperation with municipalities, the proper notice to be given by a commercial or public applicator to occupants of adjoining properties in urban areas prior to or after the exterior application of pesticides, and establish a schedule to determine the periods of application least harmful to living beings. The rules shall provide that a commercial or public applicator must provide notice only if an occupant requests that the commercial or public applicator provide the occupant notice in a timely manner prior to the application. The request shall include the name and address of the occupant, a telephone number of a location where the occupant may be contacted during normal business hours and evening hours, and the address of each property that adjoins the occupant’s property. The notification shall expire on December 31 of each year, or the date when the occupant no longer occupies the property, whichever is earlier. Municipalities shall cooperate with the department by reporting infractions and in implementing this subsection.
 4. Adopt rules providing guidelines for public bodies to notify adjacent property occupants regarding the application of herbicides to noxious weeds or other undesirable vegetation within highway rights-of-way.
 5. a. Establish, assess, and collect civil penalties for a violation of a provision in this chapter or a rule adopted pursuant to this chapter by a commercial applicator or private applicator. In determining the amount of a civil penalty to be assessed for a violation, the department shall consider all of the following factors:

 (1) The willfulness of the violation.
 (2) The actual or potential danger of injury to the public health or safety, or damage to the environment caused by the violation.
 (3) The actual or potential cost of the injury or damage caused by the violation to the public health or safety, or to the environment.
 (4) The actual or potential cost incurred by the department in enforcing this chapter and rules adopted pursuant to this chapter against the violator.
 (5) The remedial action required of the violator.
 (6) The violator’s previous history of complying with orders or decisions of the department.
 b. The amount of the civil penalty shall not exceed five hundred dollars for each offense.