[January News] Mississippi may clamp down on out-of-state operators

JACKSON, Miss. — A recently adopted regulation could present challenges to owner/operators who currently service the state of Mississippi but live in other states. The Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce’s Bureau of Plant Industry has adopted a regulation requiring PCOs that do business in Mississippi to have a branch office physically located in the state that is managed by someone who is a resident of the state.

The Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce, which is the state’s lead pesticide regulatory agency, adopted this regulation in response to certain instances in which out-of-state applicators engaged in unlawful practices. Another problem was that the department did not have the ability to take enforcement action against these PCOs or even to have access of these individuals’ application records. While most PCOs would agree these are legitimate problems, they would have preferred the department take a different course of action.

“Our concern is that once you start barring people from other states it interferes with the free trade and open commerce we’ve become accustomed to,” said Bob Rosenberg, director of government affairs, National Pest Management Association.

Per the new regulation, out-of-state PCOs will have tough decisions to make. These include: relocating their company headquarters to Mississippi; opening a branch office in Mississippi and hiring a manager from that state to manage it; or discontinue operating in the state of Mississippi.

And there could be other repercussions, Rosenberg says. For example, if Mississippi starts restricting neighboring state-PCOs, these neighboring states might turn around and restrict Mississippi PCOs from operating in their states. In other words, this action could turn into a “PCO protectionist arms race,” Rosenberg said. This is a scenario troubling to many PCOs. It’s not unusual for PCOs to service multiple states out of one office, especially in geographically densely populated areas such as the Northeast.

Although the regulation has been adopted, it will not be enforced until spring. NPMA is hopeful that Bureau officials will consider an alternative approach. — Brad Harbison