Senators clarify who must clean playgrounds after pesticide spraying as Serrano’s parks bill moves forward

Senator Andrea Murray questioned sponsor Senator Luis Serrano about operational details of calendar 563, a parks-and-recreation measure that would require cleanup when pesticide spraying affects playground equipment.

Murray said she “does not want children playing on equipment that is covered in pesticides,” and pressed the sponsor for clarity about overlapping jurisdictions: if county vector control sprays across village and town boundaries, which local government would be responsible for the 24-hour cleanup the bill requires?

Serrano replied the bill assigns responsibility to the entity that authorized the spraying — for example a town, village or the county that issued or requested the treatment — and reiterated that the bill’s implementation depends on buffer-zone regulations to be set by the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Department of Health (DOH). “It would be the responsibility of whoever authorized the spraying,” Serrano said.

After the exchange, Senator Murray said the clarification convinced her and she indicated support "on the bill." The Senate restored the bill to the noncontroversial calendar and later recorded the roll-call vote reporting the bill as passed.

The exchange focused on operational responsibility, regulatory buffer details to be set by DEC/DOH, and the interplay among town, village and county authorities when a spraying crosses jurisdictions.