The Washington State Department of Agriculture (Department) administers the state Pesticide Control Act and Pesticide Application Act.  The Department's activities under both acts include adopting rules requiring the registration and restricted use of pesticides, testing and certifying pesticide applicators, issuing handler and worker pesticide training documentation, and providing technical assistance to pesticide applicators and workers.

The Pesticide Advisory Board (Board) advised the Department on pesticide-related actions and was eliminated in 2010.  The Board consisted of members appointed by the Director of the Department (Director) for staggered four-year terms.  Board members included licensed pesticide applicators; members from the agricultural and food processing community, including a member representing agricultural labor; the environmental community; an entomologist; a toxicologist; a pesticide coordinator from Washington State University; and a health care practitioner.  

In addition, the directors or other designated officials of several state agencies served as nonvoting members of the Board.  These included the directors of the departments of Labor and Industries, Fish and Wildlife, Natural Resources, and Ecology, as well as the Environmental Health Specialist from the Department of Health, and the Assistant Director of the Pesticide Management Division of the Department.

Legislative intent is expressed to create a formal and permanent advisory board to advise the Department of Agriculture (Department) on pesticide-related actions.

The Pesticide Advisory Board (Board) is created and is composed of both voting and nonvoting members appointed by the Director of the Department of Agriculture (Director).  Members appointed to the board serve terms of four years and may be appointed for successive four-year terms at the discretion of the Director.  Board member terms must be staggered so that approximately one-fourth of the terms expire on June 30 each year.

The Director must attempt to fill any vacancy on the Board within 30 days. 

The 18 voting Board members appointed by the Director represent a variety of interests including:

• licensed pesticide applicators, pest control professionals, and the agricultural chemical industry;
• agricultural producers;
• agricultural labor and farmworker health;
• the environmental community;
• one representative from a federally recognized Indian tribe; and
• state poison control, toxicology, agricultural hygiene, and pesticide management officials.

The nonvoting members appointed by the Director include:

• an entomologist and a toxicologist in public service;
• a member from the National Pesticide Information Center;
• a pesticide coordinator from Washington State University;
• an agricultural health network advisor from the Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center;
• the Department's pollinator health coordinator, apiarist, or both;
• a commercial beekeeper;
• a member representing the United State's. Environmental Protection Agency Region 10;
• a member representing the Department of Transportation with expertise in vegetation management;
• one member representing the Noxious Weed Control Board.

Additional nonvoting members include directors of the departments of Labor and Industries, Fish and Wildlife, and Ecology; the commissioners of Public Lands and the Employment Security Department; the Director of the Liquor and Cannabis Board; the Environmental Health Specialist from the Department of Health; and the Assistant Director of the Pesticide Management Division of the Department.  These members are not appointed by the Director.