Most people have heard of the adage "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" In our industry around California, a similar question should be posed as to whether if governmental activity is occurring and you or no one in the pest management business hears about it, does it have an impact on the industry? The answer is an emphatic yes.

Over my twenty-five plus years in the association legislative and regulatory arena, I can assure you pest management issues are the focus of conversations every single day in your local area and around the state. While you might not hear about them, these conversations might not affect your business today, but somewhere down the line they have the potential to significantly challenge your economic interests in the marketplace.

To help manage these potentially detrimental conversations, the Pest Control Operators of California (PCOC) serves as your general insurance policy that helps defend your business operations from known and unforeseen regulatory and legislative risks. For most companies, the costs to engage in these significant advocacy efforts are typically cost prohibitive and not as successful if limited to one or a few operations.

It is imperative that pest management operators, staff and technicians engage in PCOC’s governmental activity both financially and with their personal time. I can guarantee you that if a significant number of pest control operators and employees did not heed the call to service in the governmental arena, there would be serious consequences. Indifference or inadequate action by pest professionals would foster unfavorable rules and restrictions affecting industry employment opportunities and the financial bottom line of many companies.

While lots of pest management professionals lament government and politics, the reality is that both have a significant effect on the success of individual businesses. While many entrepreneurs overcome governmental barriers to run a prosperous operation, the question is at what cost? What capital improvements or equipment could have been secured if a rule or regulation were prevented before the significant financial burdens ever came into effect? Just like in your operations every day, I can assure you that any upfront treatment of a regulatory rule or legislative requirement is significantly less expensive than the industry virus that infects your business operations afterwards.

Just as the tree falling in the woods produces sound waves that reverberate whether someone is there or not, so too will the effects of unrestricted governmental activity. If you choose not to actively participate, it does not mean you won’t be affected. It just means you have to pay whatever the invoice others determined you must pay — not once but many times contentiously for as long as you are in business. 

Are you willing to actively participate in the process to address these concerns? As mentioned several times since joining PCOC, pest management professionals should heed the Irish statesman Edmund Burke’s famous quote, “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”

It is turning out that 2023 is going to be a very eventful year with full frontal assaults on the way pest management professionals conduct business. The time is now to be involved in PCOC. It is professional pest management contributors that should determine the decisions that drive the future of our companies, not the desire of a few environmental groups or individuals that ignore scientific facts and launch their pest management positions with completely contrary views. If you are a pest management professional and not a member, please join PCOC. If you are a PCOC member and not currently active, we strongly encourage you to engage yourself at district and state levels starting today.

Michael E. Wilson
Executive Director
Pest Control Operators of California