2023 New York Laws › ENV - Environmental Conservation › Article 33 - Pesticides › Title 3 - General Provisions › 33-0303 - Powers and Duties of the Commissioner and the Department.

§ 33-0303. Powers and duties of the commissioner and the department.
1.  Jurisdiction  in all matters pertaining to the distribution, sale,
  use  and  transportation  of  pesticides,  is  by  this  article  vested
  exclusively in the commissioner.
2.  All  authority  vested  in the commissioner by this article may be
  executed with like force and  effect  by  employees  of  the  department
  designated  by  the  commissioner; however, all hearings held under this
  article except those held under the  provisions  of  title  9  shall  be
  conducted  by the commissioner or by a person designated by him for that
  purpose, and any decision rendered after any such hearing shall be  made
  by the commissioner.
3. The commissioner is authorized, after a hearing:
a.  To  declare  as  a  pest any form of plant or animal life or virus
  which is injurious  to  plants,  men,  domestic  animals,  articles,  or
  substances;
b.  To  determine  whether  pesticides are highly toxic to man, and to
  promulgate a list of such pesticides;
c. To determine standards of coloring or discoloring  for  pesticides,
  and  to  subject  pesticides  to  the  requirements  of  paragraph  d of
  subdivision 1 of section 33-l301;
d. To promulgate a list of restricted use pesticides and the usages of
  such pesticides that may be permitted subject to whatever conditions  or
  limitations  which  the  commissioner deems appropriate to fully protect
  the public  interest;  provided,  however,  that  no  hearing  shall  be
  required  on  individual  additions  to such list unless requested sixty
  days after notice has been provided in the environmental notice bulletin
  as prescribed in section 3-0306 of such law, as added by  chapter  seven
  hundred  fourteen  of  the laws of nineteen hundred seventy-five, by the
  applicant or an interested party; and
e. To adopt, promulgate and issue such rules and regulations as he may
  deem necessary to carry out and  give  full  force  and  effect  to  the
  provisions  of  this  article.  However, rules and regulations regarding
  business registration and certification may  be  adopted  only  after  a
  public  hearing.  Such rules and regulations may prescribe methods to be
  used in the application of pesticides, including the time, place, manner
  and method of application  and  equipment  used,  and  may  restrict  or
  prohibit  use  of materials in designated areas during specified periods
  of time, and shall encompass  all  reasonable  factors  which  he  deems
  necessary  to prevent damage or injury to health, property and wildlife.
  Rules and regulations shall be filed and open for public  inspection  at
  the  principal  office  of  the  department  and shall be filed with the
  Secretary of State.  The  commissioner  shall  promulgate  a  regulation
  authorizing   the  use  of  alternative  containers  for  pesticides  by
  pesticide users.
4. In order to avoid confusion endangering the public health,  or  the
  life or health of any other non-target organisms, resulting from diverse
  requirements,  particularly  as  to labeling and coloring of pesticides,
  and to avoid increased costs to the people of  this  state  due  to  the
  necessity  of complying with diverse requirements in the manufacture and
  sale of pesticides, it is desirable  that  there  should  be  uniformity
  between   the  requirements  of  the  several  states  and  the  federal
  government relating to pesticides.  To  this  end  the  commissioner  is
  authorized,  after  due  public  hearing,  to  adopt  by regulation such
  regulations, applicable to and in conformity with the primary  standards
  established  by  this  article,  as  have been or may be prescribed with
  respect to pesticides by departments or agencies of  the  United  States
  government.
5. The commissioner may require the submission of the complete formula
  of any pesticide whenever he deems it necessary in the administration of
  this article. The commissioner, of his own motion or upon complaint, may
  cause  an  examination  to  be  made  to determine whether any pesticide
  complies with the requirements of this article.  If it shall appear from
  such examination that a pesticide fails to comply with the provisions of
  this  article,  the  commissioner  shall cause notice to be given to the
  offending person in the manner provided  in  section  71-2903,  and  the
  proceedings   shall  be  as  provided  in  such  article  provided  that
  pesticides may be seized and confiscated as provided in title 15 of this
  article 33.
6. The commissioner may cooperate with any other agency of  the  state
  or  its  subdivisions  or  with  any agency of any other state or of the
  federal government for the purpose of carrying  out  the  provisions  of
  this article and of securing uniformity of regulations.
7.   The  commissioner,  in  consultation  with  the  commissioner  of
  education and the commissioner of  health,  shall  develop  guidance  on
  pesticide  alternatives  to  facilitate  compliance  with  section  four
  hundred nine-k of the education law and three hundred  ninety-g  of  the
  social services law.