Illinois Compiled Statutes
Chapter 415 - ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY
415 ILCS 65/ - Lawn Care Products Application and Notice Act.

(415 ILCS 65/1) (from Ch. 5, par. 851)
Sec. 1.
Short title.
This Act may be cited as the Lawn Care Products Application and Notice Act.

(Source: P.A. 86-358.)

(415 ILCS 65/2) (from Ch. 5, par. 852)
Sec. 2. Definitions.
For purposes of this Act:
"Application" means the spreading of lawn care products
on a lawn.
"Applicator for hire" means any person who makes an application of lawn
care products to a lawn or lawns for compensation, including applications made
by an employee to lawns owned, occupied or managed by his employer and
includes those licensed by the Department as licensed commercial
applicators, commercial not-for-hire applicators, licensed public
applicators, certified applicators and licensed operators and those
otherwise subject to the licensure provisions of the Illinois Pesticide
Act, as now or hereafter amended.
"Buffer" means an area adjacent to a body of water that is left untreated with any fertilizer.
"Day care center" means any facility that qualifies as a "day care center" under the Child Care Act of 1969.
"Department" means the Illinois Department of Agriculture.
"Department of Public Health" means the Illinois Department of Public Health.
"Facility" means a building or structure and appurtenances thereto used
by an applicator for hire for storage and handling of pesticides or the
storage or maintenance of pesticide application equipment or vehicles.
"Fertilizer" means any substance containing nitrogen, phosphorus or
potassium or other recognized plant nutrient or compound, which is used for
its plant nutrient content.
"Golf course" means an area designated for the play or practice of the
game of golf, including surrounding grounds, trees, ornamental beds and the like.
"Golf course superintendent" means any person entrusted with and employed
for the care and maintenance of a golf course.
"Impervious surface" means any structure, surface, or improvement that reduces or prevents absorption of stormwater into land, and includes pavement, porous paving, paver blocks, gravel, crushed stone, decks, patios, elevated structures, and other similar structures, surfaces, or improvements.
"Lawn" means land area covered with turf kept closely mown or land area
covered with turf and trees or shrubs. The term does not include (1) land
area used for research for agricultural production or for the commercial
production of turf, (2) land area situated within a public or private
right-of-way, or (3) land area which is devoted to the production of any
agricultural commodity, including, but not limited to plants and plant
parts, livestock and poultry and livestock or poultry products,
seeds, sod, shrubs and other products of agricultural origin raised for
sale or for human or livestock consumption.
"Lawn care products" means fertilizers or pesticides applied or
intended for application to lawns.
"Lawn repair products" means seeds, including seeding soils, that contain or are coated with or encased in fertilizer material.
"Person" means any individual, partnership, association, corporation or
State governmental agency, school district, unit of local government and
any agency thereof.
"Pesticide" means any substance or mixture of substances defined as a
pesticide under the Illinois Pesticide Act, as now or hereafter amended.
"Plant protectants" means any substance or material used to protect
plants from infestation of insects, fungi, weeds and rodents, or any other
substance that would benefit the overall health of plants.
"Soil test" means a chemical and mechanical analysis of soil nutrient values and pH level as it relates to the soil and development of a lawn.
"Spreader" means any commercially available fertilizing device used to evenly distribute fertilizer material.
"Turf" means the upper stratum of soils bound by grass and plant roots into a thick mat.
"0% phosphate fertilizer" means a fertilizer that contains no more than 0.67% available phosphoric acid (P2O5).
(Source: P.A. 96-424, eff. 8-13-09; 96-1005, eff. 7-6-10.)

(415 ILCS 65/3) (from Ch. 5, par. 853)
Sec. 3. Notification requirements for application of lawn care products.
(a) Lawn Markers.
(b) Notification requirement for application of plant protectants on golf
courses.
(c) Information to Customers of Applicators for Hire. At the time of
application of lawn care products to a lawn, an applicator for hire shall
provide the following information to the customer:
(d) Prior notification of application to lawn. In the case of all lawns
other than golf courses:
(e) Prior notification of application to golf courses.
(f) Notification for applications of pesticides to day care center grounds other than day care center structures and school grounds other
than school structures.
(Source: P.A. 96-424, eff. 8-13-09.)

(415 ILCS 65/4) (from Ch. 5, par. 854)
Sec. 4.
Applicator certification and training requirements.

Applicators for hire must be certified and licensed by the Department under
the Illinois Pesticide Act, as now or hereafter amended, before they can
apply lawn care products to lawns.

(Source: P.A. 86-358.)

(415 ILCS 65/5) (from Ch. 5, par. 855)
Sec. 5. Containment of spills, wash water, and rinsate collection.
(a) No loading of lawn care products for distribution to a customer or
washing or rinsing of pesticide residues from vehicles,
application equipment, mixing equipment, floors or other items used for the
storage, handling, preparation for use, transport, or application of
pesticides to lawns shall be performed at a facility except in designated
containment areas in accordance with the requirements of this
Section.
A lawn care containment permit, issued by the Department, shall be
obtained prior to the operation of the containment area. The
Department shall issue a lawn care containment permit when the containment
area or facility complies with the provisions of this Section and the rules
and regulations adopted under Sections 5 and 6. A permit fee of $100 shall be submitted to the Department with each permit application or permit renewal
application. All moneys collected pursuant to this Section
shall be deposited into the Pesticide Control Fund.
(b) No later than January 1, 1993, containment areas
shall be
in use in any facility as defined in this Act and no wash water or rinsates
may be released into the environment except in accordance with applicable
law. Containment areas shall include the following
requirements:
(c) The requirements of this Section shall not apply to situations
constituting an emergency where washing or rinsing of pesticide residues
from equipment or other items is necessary to prevent imminent harm to human
health or the environment.
(d) The requirements of this Section shall not apply to persons subject
to the containment requirements of the Illinois Pesticide Act or the
Illinois Fertilizer Act of 1961
and any rules or regulations adopted thereunder.

(Source: P.A. 96-1310, eff. 7-27-10.)

(415 ILCS 65/5a)
Sec. 5a. Fertilizer; application restrictions.
(a) No applicator for hire shall:
(b) This Section does not apply to the application of fertilizer on property used in the operation of a commercial farm, lands classified as agricultural lands, or golf courses.
(c) This Section does not apply to the application of lawn repair products.
(d) Paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of this Section does not apply to the application of animal or vegetable manure that is ground, pelletized, mechanically dried, packaged, or supplemented with plant nutrients or other substances other than phosphorus.

(Source: P.A. 96-1005, eff. 7-6-10.)

(415 ILCS 65/6) (from Ch. 5, par. 856)
Sec. 6. This Act shall be administered and enforced by the Department. The Department may promulgate rules and regulations as necessary for the
enforcement of this Act. The Department of Public Health must inform school boards and the owners and operators of day care centers about the provisions of this Act that are applicable to school districts and day care centers, and it must inform school boards about the requirements contained in Sections 10-20.49 and 34-18.40 of the School Code. The Department of Public Health must recommend that day care centers and schools use a pesticide-free turf care program to maintain their turf. The Department of Public Health must also report violations of this Act of which it becomes aware to the Department for enforcement.

(Source: P.A. 96-424, eff. 8-13-09; 96-1000, eff. 7-2-10.)

(415 ILCS 65/7) (from Ch. 5, par. 857)
Sec. 7.
When an administrative hearing is held by the Department, the
hearing officer, upon determination of any violation of this Act or rule or
regulation, shall either refer the violation to the State's Attorney's
office in the county where the alleged violation occurred for prosecution
or levy the following administrative monetary penalties:
The penalty levied shall be collected by the Department, and all
penalties collected by the Department under this Act shall be deposited
into the Pesticide Control Fund. Any penalty not paid within 60 days of
notice from the Department shall be submitted to the Attorney General's
office for collection.
Upon prosecution by a State's Attorney, a violation of this Act or rules shall be a petty offense subject to a
fine of $250 for a first offense, a fine of $500 for a second offense, and a
fine of $1,000 for a third or subsequent offense.

(Source: P.A. 99-642, eff. 7-28-16.)

(415 ILCS 65/8)
Sec. 8. (Repealed).

(Source: P.A. 86-358. Repealed by P.A. 96-1005, eff. 7-6-10.)

(415 ILCS 65/9)
Sec. 9. Home rule.
(a) On and after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly, a unit of local government may not regulate fertilizer in a manner more restrictive than the regulation of fertilizer by the State under this Act, unless the Department of Agriculture determines that a proposed ordinance of a unit of local government is reasonable under the specific circumstances based on standards that the Department shall adopt by rule. This Section is a limitation under subsection (i) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution on the concurrent exercise by home rule units of powers and functions exercised by the State.
(b) Subsection (a) of this Section shall not apply to any local ordinance or regulation in effect before the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly.

(Source: P.A. 96-1005, eff. 7-6-10.)