Legislation

[We lost data over the weekend and some pages, posts and comments were lost. This was posted December 6.]

We will be monitoring and updating developments on Intro 873, the bill introduced in the New York City Council on November 19, on this page.

The bill would require the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene:

1. create a bed bug control training program for:
   • pest control providers, and
   • property owners;
2. make available bed bug information on its website; and
3. establish a bed bug toll-free hotline, like 311, to report bed bug infestations and request bed bug control information.

Check back for updates. We’ll track the bill’s progress, who supports it, who opposes it and who needs to be persuaded to consider it.

Please weigh in if you have thoughts. We want to hear from everyone.

Thanks!

And, since the above was written, my colleagues Jessica and Nobugs have weighed in on the bill:

12/6: Chicago vs Bed Bugs – New York City’s New Bed Bug Bill

[M]ost cities or states don’t have specific training and certification programs for [pest management companies] to learn how to treat bed bug infestations properly.

And they should.

This is because bed bug infestations are extremely difficult to treat. Bed bugs, you see, are not like any other pests, for many reasons. You can’t just set off a bug bomb and get rid of bed bugs, because that will just make them scatter through your walls and into another room (or your neighbor’s apartment!). And you can’t just haphazardly spray a bunch of pesticides around the bedroom and get rid of bed bugs, either, because their eggs will hatch in a week or two and you’ll end up with bed bugs all over again. You can’t throw out your mattress and get rid of them, you can’t vacuum till you fall over and get rid of them, and you can’t launder every stitch of clothing you own and get rid of them.

12/8: Bedbugger – New York City has a new bed bug bill!

The bill does not go into a lot of detail on these steps, for example, I’d love to know more how these training programs will be carried out. It’s essential that the best advice and bed bug expertise will be sought in creating and implementing them.

No other reports or press releases have been filed anywhere.

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Note: Check updates on our efforts on Intro 873 here.

I was about to write something that looked back and puzzled over how bed bug bills (both the bold and the timid) go to the Consumer Affairs Committee to die, like this one and this one and this one.

But, while at the Council’s website, what do I find? I scarcely credit my eyes, but there’s a new bill just introduced on November 19. (Nope, nobody tells us anything. That’s something, isn’t it? But we’ll talk about that another day.)

Anyway, this time? Buh-bye Consumer Affairs, hello Health.

This time, what will you do?

Before we go further, can I ask a simple question?

Will you consider:

• picking up the phone?
• writing a letter?
• both?

Because, if you are not willing to do any of the above, can you honestly complain? Rail against the apathy of our city? Against the ignorance of your neighbors and your landlord? Can you continue to declare, with some indignation, that we need more education and more awareness? Can you, in short, whine? (I’ve done my share.)

I hope you will think a good bit about what you will do. This is your city, our city. You don’t want bed bugs, I’m positive of that.

Of course, I’m not above begging you.

If you are a New Yorker and this matters to you, now is when it counts.

The bill

So, the bill, intro 873, is a bit strange, you will see. Gone is any ambition for inter-agency cooperation, for a task force. Forgotten are the woeful mattresses. This bill targets one particular department, but it happens to be the right one.

It has 14 sponsors.

Check it out:

Int. No. 873

By Council Members Brewer, Barron, Comrie, Dickens, Eugene, Felder, Gerson, Gonzalez, James, Koppell, Liu, Nelson, Sears and Weprin

A Local. Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring the department of health and mental hygiene to establish a bed bug technique training program for pest control.

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1. Chapter 1 of title 17 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 17-194 to read as follows:

§17-194 Bed bug techniques training program. a. The department shall establish a program to train exterminators in the proper techniques to eliminate bed bugs. Upon successful completion of this program, the exterminator shall be considered trained pursuant to this provision, in the proper techniques of bed bug extermination.

b. The department shall establish a program to train property owners in the proper techniques to eliminate bed bugs and to prevent the transfer and spread of any bed bug infestation. Upon successful completion of this program, such owner shall be considered trained pursuant to this provision in the proper techniques of bed bug extermination.

c. Any training programs developed pursuant to this section shall include, but not be limited to, identification of bed bugs and understanding their life cycle, inspection procedures to identify infested areas and furnishings, techniques to prepare infested sites for containment and extermination, encasement techniques, and proper techniques for the moving and disposal of infested furnishings and materials. Any training program should also provide instruction on which techniques and pesticides are inappropriate for bed bug elimination.

d. The department shall make available on its website general information on bed bug awareness, infestation and control.

e. The department shall ensure that a toll-free hotline number, such as the 311 citizen service center, shall be made available to the public for any person seeking to report an incidence of bed bug infestation or to request information on bed bugs.

f. A list of exterminators trained pursuant to this section shall be made available to the public on the department’s website, upon request by calling the 311 citizen service center, and upon request in person at department offices to be located in each of the five boroughs, as determined by the department.

§2. This local law shall take effect ninety days after its enactment, provided, however, that the department of health and mental hygiene shall take any necessary actions to implement this law, including the promulgation of rules, prior to such effective date.

Thoughts? Ideas? And tell me you noticed the hotline!

Below are links to the sponsors and the committee members. If you live in their districts, well, you don’t need me to spell it out, do you? And if your council member is not on the list of sponsors, will you call and explain exactly what you want them to do?

Just off the top of my head, neither Diana Reyna nor David Yassky are on this list. And we know their districts are heavily infested. And Peter Vallone? You see how we can go on and on.

It’s our city and we’re all in this together. Our neighbors and our co-workers are struggling with bed bugs; our elderly parents and grandparents are vulnerable; our kids are exposed. It’s no longer enough to say that this or that bill was co-sponsored or to acknowledge the complex issues. It’s time to get things done.

The sponsors

Charles Barron
Gale A. Brewer
Leroy G. Comrie, Jr.
Inez Dickens
Mathieu Eugene
Simcha Felder
Alan J. Gerson
Sara M. Gonzalez
Letitia James
G. Oliver Koppell
John C. Liu
Michael C. Nelson
Helen Sears
David I. Weprin

The Health Committee

Joel Rivera – Chair
Maria del Carmen Arroyo
Maria Baez
Inez E. Dickens
Helen D. Foster
John C. Liu
Michael E. McMahon
Rosie Mendez
Helen Sears
Kendall Stewart
Albert Vann

And hey, can we say, hearing! I promise you it won’t happen unless you—yes, you—make it happen. Remember, all the other bills, going back to 2005, have died. Died dead, dead.

So, what will it be, NYC?

Find your NYC council member here.

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