SENATE ENROLLED ACT 216: WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU. An update on how the Office of the Indiana State Chemist (OISC) will apply the new law, and the benefits it still delivers for the industry. |
The "reasonable suspicion" provisionOur March 19 summary of the 2024 session reported that SEA 216 would require OISC to have reasonable suspicion before entering a property for an inspection. We have since learned that OISC cannot apply that requirement as written without putting Indiana's primacy agreement with the EPA at risk. Why primacy mattersPrimacy lets OISC regulate pesticides under state law. Without it, the EPA would regulate Indiana under federal law, with stricter rules and penalties. The agreement requires Indiana to keep adequate laws, procedures, record-keeping and certification, and the EPA counts both complaint-driven and random inspections as part of that.
How OISC will apply it
OISC will read the law narrowly and require reasonable suspicion only for inspections prompted by a tip or complaint. The conflict between state and federal law is disappointing, but it is not a major setback. Our goals were to keep professional standards high and to make regulation fair and consistent, and the industry now stands on better legal footing with its regulator. | What SEA 216 still delivers
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