Pesticide Litigation and Local Jurisdiction Efforts Advocated by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ)
U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D‑NJ) introduced the Pesticide Injury Accountability Act of 2025 on July 17th. The bill seeks to amend the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) by establishing a federal private right of action. This would allow individuals to sue pesticide manufacturers in federal court—regardless of existing state laws or federal approvals, posing a significant risk to the stability of the pesticide registration system. Although framed as a means to enhance accountability, the legislation opens the door to increased litigation and politicized decision-making, rather than relying on the science-based risk assessments conducted by EPA under FIFRA. Moreover, past proposals from Senator Booker have aligned closely with European Union-style pesticide bans and hazard-based decision-making models that NAAA has consistently opposed due to their departure from evidence-based regulatory principles.
Booker and twenty Senate colleagues also sent a letter urging Senate leadership to preserve state and local authority over pesticide regulation in the upcoming Farm Bill or related legislation. While framed as protecting community-level safeguards, the letter directly opposes efforts to include federal pesticide preemption in the Farm Bill, a longstanding priority for NAAA and other stakeholders working to ensure consistent, science-based pesticide oversight, rather than emotion-based, untrained decision-making that stems from local jurisdictions. Weakening federal preemption threatens to create a patchwork of conflicting local regulations, undermining applicators’ ability to operate effectively and predictably across jurisdictions. NAAA has been actively working towards solidifying federal and state preemption in Farm Bill legislation being discussed now in Congress, and will continue to advocate for policies that support practical, uniform, and scientifically sound pesticide regulation for aerial applicators and the broader agricultural community.