SPONSOR: Yates (D)
TITLE: Vermin Control Policies
LOCATION: House Health Committee
SUMMARY:
Requires boards of health to adopt vermin control policies under which bedbug infestations are treated to the same extent as other infestations.

This is the bill, as introduced last Monday:

A BILL

To enact section 3707.012 of the Revised Code to require boards of health to adopt vermin control policies under which bedbug infestations are treated to the same extent as other infestations.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

Section 1. That section 3707.012 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 3707.012. As used in this section, “board of health” means the board of health of a city or general health district or the city authority having the duties of a board of health under section 3709.05 of the Revised Code.

Each board of health shall adopt policies for the prevention, detection, and eradication of vermin in public places, including residential facilities other than private dwellings. Under each such policy, bedbug infestations shall be treated to the same extent as other vermin infestations.

This is the current status of the bill:

STATUS:
05/19/2008 INTRODUCED.
05/19/2008 To HOUSE Committee on RULES AND REFERENCE.
05/21/2008 From HOUSE Committee on RULES AND REFERENCE: Recommended referral.
05/21/2008 To HOUSE Committee on HEALTH.

This reminds me of when Cincinnati municipal codes needed to be revised in order to class bed bugs as “vermin.”

Treating bed bugs “to the same extent as other vermin infestations” seems to mean that one has to treat them until they are gone. Local, state, and national laws may need to be changed in order to help us fight bed bugs, a pest we haven’t really needed to deal with to this extent since before the 1950s.

Key here: boards of health are responsible for policies regarding the eradication of vermin in public places in Ohio. We often hear it claimed that bed bugs are not a health issue. Despite not being known to spread disease at this time, bed bugs are undoubtedly a health issue. They certainly should not be tolerated in private homes or public spaces.

Thanks go to Rep. Yates for sponsoring this Bill!

Ohio residents, write to your representative and support it! Here’s how to send a letter. Or find your representative by clicking here and email him or her.

Not only will you be letting them know you support H. B. 565, but you will also be letting them know you support bills which help fight bed bugs. This is unlikely to be the last piece of bed bug-related legislation you will ask them to support.

• Bed Bug Awareness bill in Ohio House of Representatives
• Update on New York State bed bug legislation (parental notification re: bed bugs in school)
• Gianaris’ Bedbug Legislation Passes
• Cincinnati officially classes bed bugs as “vermin”

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Since used furniture is such a likely conduit, why, then, does the article tell us that “Health officials recommend getting rid of any infested furniture. . .”? Surely health officials that believe tossing infested furniture is always the best plan are not thinking about the neighbors who will inevitably pick up that furniture, move it in, and start a new infestation.

Yes, it is sometimes (maybe even often) necessary, as the University of Kentucky site tells us. But cities which tell people with bed bugs to toss out their stuff need to provide services for dealing with the refuse. They can’t have people tossing out stuff that isn’t properly wrapped and they can’t have the stuff picked up by neighbors or junk collectors who can “clean” or cover and resell mattresses, or give wooden furniture a new coat of paint.

Cincinnati does have dedicated trash pickup for bed bug-infested furniture, though we have not yet heard much about how well it’s working.

• Cincinnati Establishes Bed Bug Furniture Pick-Up Procedures and Hotline
• Why we need a massive public education campaign about bed bugs (reason #327)
• More bed bug stories from Cincinnati; also, pig spotted in sky over New York City
• Unlucky in Vegas

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