Public Act 096-1005
 		





HB6099 Enrolled
LRB096 20722 JDS 36455 b





  
    AN ACT concerning agriculture.
  
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
 
represented in the General Assembly:
  






 
 
    Section 5. The Lawn Care Products Application and Notice 
Act is amended by changing Sections 2 and 7 and adding Sections 
5a and 9 as follows:
 



    (415 ILCS 65/2)  (from Ch. 5, par. 852)



    Sec. 2. Definitions. 

    For purposes of this Act:

    "Application" means the spreading of lawn care products
 on 
a lawn.

    "Applicator for hire" means any person who makes an 
application of lawn
care products to a lawn or lawns for 
compensation, including applications made
by an employee to 
lawns owned, occupied or managed by his employer and
includes 
those licensed by the Department as licensed commercial

applicators, commercial not-for-hire applicators, licensed 
public
applicators, certified applicators and licensed 
operators and those
otherwise subject to the licensure 
provisions of the Illinois Pesticide
Act, as now or hereafter 
amended.

    "Buffer" means an area adjacent to a body of water that is 
left untreated with any fertilizer.
    "Day care center" means any facility that qualifies as a 
"day care center" under the Child Care Act of 1969. 
    "Department" means the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

    "Department of Public Health" means the Illinois 
Department of Public Health. 
    "Facility" means a building or structure and appurtenances 
thereto used
by an applicator for hire for storage and handling 
of pesticides or the
storage or maintenance of pesticide 
application equipment or vehicles.

    "Fertilizer" means any substance containing nitrogen, 
phosphorus or
potassium or other recognized plant nutrient or 
compound, which is used for
its plant nutrient content.

    "Golf course" means an area designated for the play or 
practice of the
game of golf, including surrounding grounds, 
trees, ornamental beds and the like.

    "Golf course superintendent" means any person entrusted 
with and employed
for the care and maintenance of a golf 
course.

    "Impervious surface" means any structure, surface, or 
improvement that reduces or prevents absorption of stormwater 
into land, and includes pavement, porous paving, paver blocks, 
gravel, crushed stone, decks, patios, elevated structures, and 
other similar structures, surfaces, or improvements.
    "Lawn" means land area covered with turf kept closely mown 
or land area
covered  with turf and trees or shrubs.  The term 
does not include (1) land
area used for research for 
agricultural production or for the commercial
production of 
turf, (2) land area situated within a public or private

right-of-way, or (3) land area which is devoted to the 
production of any
agricultural commodity, including, but not 
limited to plants and plant
parts, livestock and poultry and 
livestock or poultry products,
seeds, sod, shrubs and other 
products of agricultural origin raised for
sale or for human or 
livestock consumption.

    "Lawn care products" means fertilizers or pesticides 
applied or
intended for application to lawns.

    "Lawn repair products" means seeds, including seeding 
soils, that contain or are coated with or encased in fertilizer 
material. 
    "Person" means any individual, partnership, association, 
corporation or
State governmental agency, school district, 
unit of local government and
any agency thereof.

    "Pesticide" means any substance or mixture of substances 
defined as a
pesticide under the Illinois Pesticide Act, as now 
or hereafter amended.

    "Plant protectants" means any substance or material used to 
protect
plants from infestation of insects, fungi, weeds and 
rodents, or any other
substance that would benefit the overall 
health of plants.

    "Soil test" means a chemical and mechanical analysis of 
soil nutrient values and pH level as it relates to the  soil and 
development of a lawn.
    "Spreader" means any commercially available fertilizing 
device used to evenly distribute fertilizer material.
    "Turf" means the upper stratum of soils bound by grass and 
plant roots into a thick mat.

    "0% phosphate fertilizer" means a fertilizer  that contains 
no more than 0.67% available phosphoric acid (P2O5). 
(Source: P.A. 96-424, eff. 8-13-09.)

 
    (415 ILCS 65/5a new)
    Sec. 5a. Fertilizer; application restrictions. 
    (a) No applicator for hire shall:
        (1) Apply   phosphorus-containing fertilizer to a lawn, 
    except as demonstrated to be necessary by a soil test that 
    establishes that the soil is lacking in phosphorous when 
    compared against the  standard established by the 
    University of Illinois. The soil test required under this 
    paragraph (1)  shall be conducted no more than 36 months 
    before the intended application of the fertilizer and by a 
    soil testing laboratory that  has been identified by the 
    University of Illinois as an acceptable laboratory for soil 
    testing. However, a  soil test shall not be required under 
    this paragraph (1)  if  the fertilizer  to be applied is a 0% 
    phosphate fertilizer or  the fertilizer is being applied to 
    establish a lawn in the first 2 growing seasons.
        (2) Apply fertilizer  to an impervious surface, except 
    where the application is inadvertent and fertilizer  is 
    swept or blown back into the target area or returned to 
    either its original or another appropriate container for 
    reuse.
        (3) Apply fertilizer  using a spray, drop, or rotary 
    spreader with a deflector within a 3 foot buffer of any 
    water body, except that when this equipment is not used, 
    fertilizer  may not be applied within a 15 foot buffer of 
    any water body.
        (4) Apply fertilizer at any time when the lawn is 
    frozen  or saturated. For the purposes of this paragraph 
    (4), a lawn is frozen when its root system is frozen 
    (typically 3 or 4 inches down), and a lawn is saturated 
    when it bears  ample evidence of being or having been 
    inundated by standing water.
    (b) This Section does not apply to the application of 
fertilizer  on property used in the operation of a commercial 
farm, lands classified as agricultural lands, or golf courses.
    (c) This Section does not apply to the application of lawn 
repair products. 
    (d) Paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of this Section  does 
not apply to the application of animal or vegetable manure that 
is ground, pelletized, mechanically dried, packaged, or 
supplemented with plant nutrients or other substances other 
than phosphorus. 
 



    (415 ILCS 65/7)  (from Ch. 5, par. 857)



    Sec. 7. 
When an administrative hearing is held by the 
Department, the
hearing officer, upon determination of any 
violation of this Act or rule or
regulation, shall either refer 
the violation to the States Attorney's
office in the county 
where the alleged violation occurred for prosecution
or levy 
the following administrative monetary penalties:


        (a) a penalty of $250 $100 for a first violation;


        (b) a penalty of $500 $200 for a second violation; and


        (c) a penalty of $1,000 $500 for a third or subsequent 
    violation.

    The penalty levied shall be collected by the Department, 
and all
penalties collected by the Department under this Act 
shall be deposited
into the Pesticide Control Fund.  Any penalty 
not paid within 60 days of
notice from the Department shall be 
submitted to the Attorney General's
office for collection.

    Upon prosecution by a State's Attorney, a violation of this 
Act or rules shall be a petty offense subject to a
fine of $250 
$100 for a first offense, a fine of $500 $200 for a second 
offense and a
fine of $1,000 $500 for a third or subsequent 
offense.

(Source: P.A. 86-358; 87-1033.)

 
    (415 ILCS 65/9 new)
    Sec. 9. Home rule. 
    (a) On and after the effective date of this amendatory Act 
of the 96th General Assembly, a unit of local government may 
not regulate fertilizer in a manner more restrictive than the 
regulation of fertilizer by the State under this Act, unless 
the Department of Agriculture determines that a proposed 
ordinance of a unit of local government is reasonable under the 
specific circumstances based on standards that the Department 
shall adopt by rule. This Section is a limitation under 
subsection (i) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois 
Constitution on the concurrent exercise by home rule units of 
powers and functions exercised by the State. 
    (b) Subsection (a) of this Section  shall not apply to any 
local ordinance or regulation in effect before the effective 
date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly. 
 
    (415 ILCS 65/8 rep.)
    Section 10. The Lawn Care Products Application and Notice 
Act is amended by repealing Section 8.
 
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, 
2010.