On Friday, July 2, 2010, at the PCOC board of directors meeting in Monterey, Curtis Good was sworn in as a member of the Structural Pest Control Board (SPCB) by Chris Reardon, deputy director of DPR. Curtis was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and will serve a four-year term of office. This important event in the life of our association brought me to reflect upon the significance of the SPCB to our industry and I would like to share with you some of my thoughts...some of which you may also have considered and some which hopefully will set you thinking about the future.
One fact which always surprises me, and impresses legislators, is that PCOC was the prime mover in forming a board which would regulate the pest control industry. For a state trade association to want to regulate itself it a very rare thing around Sacramento! During the early 1930s several loosely formed associations merged into one in order to drive fraudulent pest control operators out of the industry. They lobbied the Legislature to form a structural pest control act and a regulatory board.
On Jan. 1, 1936, the Structural Pest Control Act took effect. An interesting anecdote is that the first conviction under the new structural pest control act came in March of 1936 when R.W. Broadsman was sentenced to 30 days in jail, and fined $50 for operating in Pasadena without a termite control license.
It is, I believe, very significant that in the Act, it states that "it is the intent of the Legislature that consumer protection is the primary mission of the board." In fact the mission statement of the board is as follows: "The Structural Pest Control Board's highest priority is to protect and benefit the public by regulating the pest control industry."
As we move toward the future, the SPCB is now under the authority of the Department of Pesticide Regulation and it is proposed, supported by the PCOC board of directors, that appointments to the board will now be made by the director of DPR, to ensure a smooth operating board: one which will always have a quorum to carry on its critical function of protecting the consumer.
During the transition process, an executive team from PCOC had a series of meetings with the executive team at DPR to discuss all of the options for the board's integration within DPR. These meetings will continue over the coming year. The top priority for PCOC is the preservation of the board intact and to make sure that the consumer protection function of the SPCB is firmly conserved within the new functioning under DPR. All of these priorities were taken very seriously at DPR: especially gratifying for us since this was unfamiliar territory for them!
As an industry, we are very fortunate to have such a mutually respectful relationship to the SPCB. I am convinced that this relationship will long continue because of the commitment of so many dedicated leaders within the pest control industry in this great state of ours. We should not take this for granted as the majority of trade associations do not have such a situation.
We should all count our blessings that we enjoy such a privileged state of affairs.