Committee approves pesticide rule changes, separates chemigation licensing and describes groundwater sampling program

The Idaho Senate Agricultural Affairs Committee approved two related rule dockets that rewrite pesticide groundwater protection requirements and separate chemigation licensing from federal categories, both measures the Idaho State Department of Agriculture said will simplify licensing and preserve groundwater protections.

The changes, presented by Brian Slabaugh, administrator of the Division of Agricultural Resources at the Idaho State Department of Agriculture, implement a state-specific chemigation applicator license after the Legislature passed House Bill 549 in 2024 and remove duplicative language that the department said already exists in statute for pesticide management and groundwater monitoring.

The rewrite of the pesticide management plan rule, the department said, removes duplicative or descriptive language that already appears in Title 22, Chapter 34 of Idaho Code and reorganizes definitions and abbreviations to improve clarity. The separate chemigation rule creates a standalone chemigation applicator license and multiple pathways for obtaining it — exam, department-approved training, or on-site demonstration — rather than strictly following federal licensing categories.

"The legislation amended how licenses for chemigation applicators are categorized by separating those licenses from federal categories," Brian Slabaugh,…