To amend sections 903.25, 905.31, 905.32, 905.34, 905.36, 905.39, 905.41, 905.45, 905.46, 905.47, 905.48, 905.49, 905.50, 905.99, 907.111, 921.06, 921.11, 921.16, 941.14, 953.22, 1511.01, 1511.02, 1511.021, 1511.022, 1511.07, 1511.071, 1515.01, 1515.02, 1515.08, 3717.53, 3734.02, and 3734.029; to amend for the purpose of adopting new section numbers as indicated in parentheses sections 905.501 (905.503), 1511.021 (1511.022), and 1511.022 (1511.024); and to enact new sections 905.501 and 1511.021 and sections 905.321, 905.322, 905.502, and 1511.023 of the Revised Code to revise the law governing the abatement of agricultural pollution, to require a person that applies fertilizer for the purposes of agricultural production to be certified to do so by the Director of Agriculture, to provide for an agricultural pesticide-use category on commercial and private pesticide applicator licenses, and to make other changes to the Agricultural Additives, Lime, and Fertilizer Law.

Section 1.  That sections 903.25, 905.31, 905.32, 905.34, 905.36, 905.39, 905.41, 905.45, 905.46, 905.47, 905.48, 905.49, 905.50, 905.99, 907.111, 921.06, 921.11, 921.16, 941.14, 953.22, 1511.01, 1511.02, 1511.021, 1511.022, 1511.07, 1511.071, 1515.01, 1515.02, 1515.08, 3717.53, 3734.02, and 3734.029 be amended, sections 905.501 (905.503), 1511.021 (1511.022), and 1511.022 (1511.024) be amended for the purpose of adopting new section numbers as indicated in parentheses, and new sections 905.501 and 1511.021 and sections 905.321, 905.322, 905.502, and 1511.023 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 903.25. An owner or operator of an animal feeding facility who holds a permit to install, a permit to operate, a review compliance certificate, or a NPDES permit or who is operating under an operation and management plan, as defined in section 1511.01 of the Revised Code, approved by the chief of the division of soil and water resources in the department of natural resources under section 1511.02 of the Revised Code or by the supervisors of the appropriate soil and water conservation district under section 1515.08 of the Revised Code shall not be required by any political subdivision of the state or any officer, employee, agency, board, commission, department, or other instrumentality of a political subdivision to obtain a license, permit, or other approval pertaining to manure, insects or rodents, odor, or siting requirements for installation of an animal feeding facility.

Sec. 905.31.  As used in sections 905.31 to 905.501 905.503 of the Revised Code:

(A) "Applicant" means the person who applies for the license or requests registration of a fertilizer.

(B) "Brand name" means a name or expression, design, or trademark used in connection with one or several grades of any type of fertilizer.

(C) "Bulk fertilizer" means any type of fertilizer in solid, liquid, or gaseous state, or any combination thereof, in a nonpackaged form.

(D) "Distribute" means to offer for sale, sell, barter, or otherwise supply fertilizer for other than manufacturing purposes.

(E) "Fertilizer" means any substance containing nitrogen, phosphorus, or potassium or any recognized plant nutrient element or compound that is used for its plant nutrient content or for compounding mixed fertilizers. Lime, limestone, marl, unground bone, water, and unmanipulated animal and vegetable manures are excepted unless mixed with fertilizer materials.

(F) "Grade" means the percentages of total nitrogen, available phosphorus or available phosphate (P2O5), and soluble potassium or soluble potash (K2O) stated in the same terms, order, and percentage as in guaranteed analysis.

(G) "Guaranteed analysis" means:

(1) The minimum percentages of plant nutrients claimed in the following order and form:

(2) Guaranteed analysis includes, in the following order:

(a) For bone and tankage, total phosphorus (P) or phosphate (P2O5);

(b) For basic slag and unacidulated phosphatic materials, available and total phosphorus (P) or phosphate (P2O5) and the degree of fineness;

(c) Additional plant nutrients guaranteed expressed as percentage of elements in the order and form as prescribed by rules adopted by the director of agriculture.

(H) "Label" means any written or printed matter on the package or tag attached to it or on the pertinent delivery and billing invoice.

(I) "Manufacture" means to process, granulate, blend, mix, or alter the composition of fertilizers for distribution.

(J) "Mixed fertilizer" means any combination or mixture of fertilizer designed for use, or claimed to have value, in promoting plant growth, including fertilizer pesticide mixtures.

(K) "Net weight" means the weight of a commodity excluding any packaging in pounds or metric equivalent, as determined by a sealed weighing device or other means prescribed by rules adopted by the director.

(L) "Packaged fertilizer" means any type of fertilizer in closed containers of not over one hundred pounds or metric equivalent.

(M) "Per cent" or "percentage" means the percentage of weight.

(N) "Person" includes any partnership, association, firm, corporation, company, society, individual or combination of individuals, institution, park, or public agency administered by the state or any subdivision of the state.

(O) "Product name" means a coined or specific designation applied to an individual fertilizer material or mixture of a fixed composition and derivation.

(P) "Sale" means exchange of ownership or transfer of custody.

(Q) "Official sample" means the sample of fertilizer taken and designated as official by the director.

(R) "Specialty fertilizer" means any fertilizer designed, labeled, and distributed for uses other than the production of commercial crops.

(S) "Ton" means a net weight of two thousand pounds.

(T) "Unmanipulated manure" means any substance composed primarily of excreta, plant remains, or mixtures of such substances that have not been processed in any manner.

(U) "Fertilizer material" includes any of the following:

(1) A material containing not more than one of the following primary plant nutrients:

(a) Nitrogen (N);

(b) Phosphorus (P);

(c) Potassium (K).

(2) A material that has not less than eighty-five per cent of its plant nutrient content composed of a single chemical compound.;

(3) A material that is derived from a residue or by-product of a plant or animal or a natural material deposit and has been processed in such a way that its plant nutrients content has not been materially changed except by purification and concentration.

(V) "Custom mixed fertilizer" means a fertilizer that is not premixed, but that is blended specifically to meet the nutrient needs of one specific customer.

(W) "Director" or "director of agriculture" means the director of agriculture or the director's designee.

(X) "Lot" means an identifiable quantity of fertilizer that may be used as an official sample.

(Y) "Unit" means twenty pounds of fertilizer or one per cent of a ton.

(Z) "Metric ton" means a measure of weight equal to one thousand kilograms.

(AA) "Anhydrous ammonia equipment" means, with regard to the handling or storage of anhydrous ammonia, a container or containers with a maximum capacity of not more than four thousand nine hundred ninety-nine gallons or any appurtenances, pumps, compressors, or interconnecting pipes associated with such a container or containers. "Anhydrous ammonia equipment" does not include equipment for the manufacture of anhydrous ammonia or the storage of anhydrous ammonia either underground or in refrigerated structures.

(BB)(AA) "Anhydrous ammonia system" or "system" means, with regard to the handling or storage of anhydrous ammonia, a container or containers with a minimum capacity of not less than five thousand gallons or any appurtenances, pumps, compressors, or interconnecting pipes associated with such a container or containers. "Anhydrous ammonia system" does not include equipment for the manufacture of anhydrous ammonia or the storage of anhydrous ammonia either underground or in refrigerated structures.

(BB) "Agricultural production" means the cultivation, primarily for sale, of plants or any parts of plants on more than ten acres unless the cultivation is excluded from the term by the director in rules.

(CC) "Rule" means a rule adopted under section 905.322, 905.40, or 905.44 of the Revised Code, as applicable.

Sec. 905.32.  (A) No person shall manufacture or distribute in this state any type of fertilizer until a license to manufacture or distribute has been obtained by the manufacturer or distributor from the department of agriculture upon payment of a five-dollar fee:

(1) For each fixed (permanent) location at which fertilizer is manufactured in this state;

(2) For each mobile unit used to manufacture fertilizer in this state;

(3) For each location out of the state from which fertilizer is distributed in into this state to nonlicensees;

(4) For each location in this state from which fertilizer is distributed in this state.

All licenses shall be valid for one year beginning on the first day of December of a calendar year through the thirtieth day of November of the following calendar year. A renewal application for a license shall be submitted no later than the thirtieth day of November each year. A person who submits a renewal application for a license after the thirtieth day of November shall include with the application a late filing fee of ten dollars.

(B) An application for a license shall include:

(1) The name and address of the licensee;

(2) The name and address of each bulk distribution point in the state, not licensed for fertilizer manufacture and distribution.

The name and address shown on the license shall be shown on all labels, pertinent invoices, and bulk storage for fertilizers distributed by the licensee in this state.

(C) The licensee shall inform the director of agriculture in writing of additional distribution points established during the period of the license.

(D) All money collected under this section shall be credited to the pesticide, fertilizer, and lime program fund created in section 921.22 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 905.321.  (A) As used in this section, "directly supervised" means the application of a fertilizer for purposes of agricultural production by a person who is acting under the instructions and control, as defined in rules, of a person who is certified under this section and employed by the same employer as the person who is applying the fertilizer.

(B) On and after the date that is three years after the effective date of this section, no person shall apply fertilizer for the purposes of agricultural production unless that person has been certified to do so by the director of agriculture under this section and rules or is directly supervised by a person who is so certified.

(C) A person shall be certified to apply fertilizer for purposes of agricultural production in accordance with rules. A person that has been so certified shall comply with requirements and procedures established in those rules.

(D) A person that has been licensed as a commercial applicator under section 921.06 of the Revised Code or as a private applicator under section 921.11 of the Revised Code and that is applying to be certified under this section shall not be required to pay the application fee for certification established in rules adopted under section 905.322 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 905.322.  (A) The director of agriculture shall adopt rules in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code that do both of the following:

(1) Establish all of the following concerning certifications that are required by section 905.321 of the Revised Code:

(a) The amount of the fee that must be submitted with an application for certification, if applicable;

(b) Information that must be included with an application for certification;

(c) Procedures for the issuance, renewal, and denial of certifications;

(d) Grounds for the denial of certifications;

(e) Requirements and procedures governing training that must be successfully completed in order for a person to be certified;

(f) Requirements for the maintenance of records by a person that is certified.

(2) Establish requirements and procedures with which a licensee or registrant must comply when filing an annual tonnage report under section 905.36 of the Revised Code, including the date on which the report must be filed.

(B) The director may adopt rules in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code that establish both of the following:

(1) Any type of cultivation that is excluded from the definition of "agricultural production" in section 905.31 of the Revised Code;

(2) A definition of what constitutes "under the instructions and control" as used in the definition of "directly supervised" in section 905.321 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 905.34.  No distributor shall be required to obtain a license if the manufacturer is licensed under division (A) of section 905.32 of the Revised Code; or to distribute fertilizer if the manufacturer or distributor fertilizer is registered under division (A) of section 905.33 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 905.36.  (A) A licensee or registrant, except registrants who package specialty fertilizers only in containers of ten pounds or less, shall pay the director of agriculture for all fertilizers distributed in this state an inspection fee at the rate of twenty-five cents per ton or twenty-eight cents per metric ton. Licensees and registrants shall specify on an invoice whether the per ton inspection fee has been paid or whether payment of the fee is the responsibility of the purchaser of the fertilizer. The payment of this inspection fee by a licensee or registrant shall exempt all other persons from the payment of this fee for all of the following, as applicable:

(1) All fertilizer that the licensee distributes in this state to a person that has not been issued a license under section 905.32 of the Revised Code;

(2) If the licensee is certified under section 905.321 of the Revised Code, all fertilizer that the licensee applies in this state for purposes of agricultural production;

(3) All fertilizer that the registrant distributes in this state.

However, the inspection fee does not apply to packaged fertilizers that are in containers of ten pounds or less.

(B) Every licensee or registrant shall file with the director an annual tonnage report that includes the number of net tons or metric tons of fertilizer distributed to nonlicensees or nonregistrants in this state by grade; packaged; bulk, dry or liquid in accordance with rules. The report shall be filed on or before the thirtieth day of November of each calendar year and shall include data from the period beginning on the first day of November of the year preceding the year in which the report is due through the thirty-first day of October of the year in which the report is due date specified in rules. The licensee or registrant, except registrants who package specialty fertilizers only in containers of ten pounds or less, shall include with this statement the report the inspection fee at the rate stated in division (A) of this section. For a tonnage report that is not filed or payment of inspection fees that is not made on or before the thirtieth day of November of the applicable calendar year date specified in rules, a penalty of fifty dollars or ten per cent of the amount due, whichever is greater, shall be assessed against the licensee or registrant. The amount of fees due, plus penalty, shall constitute a debt and become the basis of a judgment against the licensee or registrant. For tonnage reports found to be incorrect, a penalty of fifteen per cent of the amount due shall be assessed against the licensee or registrant and shall constitute a debt and become the basis of a judgment against the licensee or registrant.

(C) No information furnished under this section shall be disclosed by any employee of the department of agriculture in such a way as to divulge the operation of any person required to make such a report. The filing by a licensee or registrant of a sales volume tonnage statement report required by division (B) of this section thereby grants permission to the director to verify the same with the records of the licensee or registrant.

(D) All money collected under this section shall be credited to the pesticide, fertilizer, and lime program fund created in section 921.22 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 905.39.  (A) The director of agriculture shall inspect and sample any fertilizer within the state to such an extent as the director considers necessary and make an analysis where need is indicated to determine whether the fertilizer is in compliance with sections 905.31 to 905.50 905.503 of the Revised Code and the rules adopted under those sections. The director may enter upon any public or private premises or conveyances during regular business hours in order to have access to fertilizer subject to sections 905.31 to 905.50 905.503 of the Revised Code and the rules adopted under those sections.

(B) The director shall maintain the services necessary to effectively administer and enforce sections 905.31 to 905.50 905.503 of the Revised Code and the rules adopted under those sections. The methods of sampling and analysis shall be those adopted by the association of official analytical chemists or other sources prescribed by the director.

(C) The results of official analysis of any sample of fertilizer found to be in violation of any provisions of sections 905.31 to 905.50 905.503 of the Revised Code or any rule adopted under those sections, shall be forwarded to the licensee or registrant. A licensee or registrant may request a portion of any such sample, provided that the request is made not more than thirty days after the date of the analysis report.

(D) Analytical tolerances shall be governed by rules adopted by the director.

(E) If the director is denied access to any premises where access is sought for the purpose of inspection and sampling, the director may apply to any court of competent jurisdiction for a search warrant authorizing access to the premises for that purpose. The court, upon application, may issue the search warrant for the purpose requested.

Sec. 905.41. (A) A storage facility for anhydrous ammonia that is used for agricultural purposes shall be designed and constructed in accordance with rules adopted under section 905.40 of the Revised Code. On and after the effective date of this section September 10, 2012, no person shall construct a storage facility for anhydrous ammonia that is used for agricultural purposes without applying for and receiving approval of the design of the facility and approval to construct the facility from the director of agriculture in accordance with those rules.

(B) Upon the submission of an application to the director for the approval of the design and construction of a storage facility for anhydrous ammonia that is used for agricultural purposes in accordance with rules adopted under section 905.40 of the Revised Code, the applicant shall submit written notification of the application to all of the following:

(1) The board of township trustees of the township or the legislative authority of the municipal corporation, as applicable, in which the storage facility is proposed to be located;

(2) The county sheriff, or the police chief of the police department of a municipal corporation, township, or township or joint township police district, as applicable, with jurisdiction over the location where the storage facility is proposed to be located;

(3) The fire chief of the fire department with jurisdiction over the location where the storage facility is proposed to be located.

(C) Prior to approving or disapproving a storage facility for anhydrous ammonia that is used for agricultural purposes, the director may take into consideration any past violations of an applicable state or federal law pertaining to environmental protection or the environmental laws of another country or any conviction of or guilty plea to a violation of section 901.511 of the Revised Code or a felony drug offense as defined in section 2925.01 of the Revised Code related to the use and storage of chemicals used for agriculture by the owner of the storage facility.

Sec. 905.45. (A) The director of agriculture may revoke the registration of any grade and brand name of fertilizer or any license, or may suspend any registration or license, or may refuse to register any grade and brand name of fertilizer, or to license any applicant, upon a finding supported by substantial evidence that the registrant, licensee, or applicant has violated any provision of sections 905.31 to 905.50 of the Revised Code, or any rules adopted under those sections. No do any of the following upon a finding supported by substantial evidence that a registrant, licensee, certificate holder, or applicant has violated any provision of sections 905.31 to 905.503 of the Revised Code or any rules:

(1) Revoke the registration of any grade and brand name of fertilizer;

(2) Revoke any license or certificate;

(3) Suspend any registration, license, or certificate;

(4) Refuse to register any grade and brand name of fertilizer;

(5) Refuse to license or certify any applicant.

(B)(1) Except as provided in division (B)(2) of this section, no registration or, license, or certificate shall be refused, suspended, or revoked, as applicable, until the registrant, licensee, certificate holder, or applicant has been given an opportunity to appear at an adjudication hearing conducted in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code.

(2) The director immediately may suspend a registration, license, or certificate, prior to a hearing, when the director believes that a fertilizer or the application of the fertilizer poses an immediate hazard to human or animal health or a hazard to the environment. Not later than thirty days after suspending the registration, license, or certificate, the director shall determine whether the fertilizer or application of the fertilizer poses such a hazard. If the director determines that no hazard exists, the director shall lift the suspension of the registration, license, or certificate. If the director determines that a hazard exists, the director shall revoke the registration, license, or certificate in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code.

Sec. 905.46.  The director of agriculture may issue an order to the owner or custodian of any lot of fertilizer requiring it to be held at a designated place when the director has found the fertilizer to have been offered or exposed for sale in violation of sections 905.31 to 905.50 905.503 of the Revised Code, or any rule adopted under those sections. A fertilizer shall be held until a release in writing is issued by the director. A release shall not be issued until sections 905.31 to 905.50 905.503 of the Revised Code, and the rules adopted under those sections, are complied with and until all costs and expenses incurred in connection with the violation have been paid by the manufacturer, distributor, licensee, or registrant.

Sec. 905.47.  Any lot of fertilizer not in compliance with sections 905.31 to 905.50 905.503 of the Revised Code, or any rule adopted under those sections, is subject to seizure on complaint of the director of agriculture to a court of competent jurisdiction in the county in which the fertilizer is located. The court upon a finding that the fertilizer is in violation of sections 905.31 to 905.50 905.503 of the Revised Code, or any rule adopted under those sections, shall order the condemnation of the fertilizer, and it shall be disposed of in a manner consistent with the laws of this state. The court shall not order the condemnation of the fertilizer without first giving the manufacturer or distributor an opportunity to reprocess or relabel the fertilizer to bring it into compliance with sections 905.31 to 905.50 905.503 of the Revised Code, and the rules adopted under those sections.

Sec. 905.48.  In addition to the remedies provided and irrespective of whether or not there exists any adequate remedy at law, the director of agriculture may apply to the court of common pleas in the county wherein any of the provisions of sections 905.31 to 905.50 905.503 of the Revised Code, are being violated for a temporary or permanent injunction restraining any person from such the violation.

Sec. 905.49.  Nothing in sections 905.31 to 905.50 905.503 of the Revised Code, shall be considered either to restrict the distribution of fertilizers to each other by importers or manufacturers, who mix fertilizer materials for distribution, or to prevent the free and unrestricted shipment of fertilizer to manufacturers who are licensed or have registered their specialty fertilizer grades and brand names as required by sections 905.31 to 905.50 905.503 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 905.50.  If the director of agriculture has taken an official sample of a fertilizer or mixed fertilizer and determined that it constitutes mislabeled fertilizer pursuant to rules adopted under section 905.40 or 905.44 of the Revised Code, as applicable, the person who labeled the fertilizer or mixed fertilizer shall pay a penalty to the consumer of the mislabeled fertilizer or, if the consumer cannot be determined with reasonable diligence or is not available, to the director to be credited to the pesticide, fertilizer, and lime program fund created under section 921.22 of the Revised Code. The amount of the penalty shall be calculated in accordance with either division (A) or (B) of this section, whichever method of calculation yields the largest amount.

(A)(1) A penalty required to be paid under this section may be calculated as follows:

(a) Five dollars for each percentage point of total nitrogen or phosphorus in the fertilizer that is below the percentage of nitrogen or phosphorus guaranteed on the label, multiplied by the number of tons of mislabeled fertilizer that have been sold to the consumer;

(b) Three dollars for each percentage point of potash in the fertilizer that is below the percentage of potash guaranteed on the label, multiplied by the number of tons of mislabeled fertilizer that have been sold to the consumer.

(2) In the case of a fertilizer that contains a quantity of nitrogen, phosphorus, or potash that is more than five percentage points below the percentages guaranteed on the label, the penalties calculated under division (A)(1) of this section shall be tripled.

(3) No penalty calculated under division (A) of this section shall be less than twenty-five dollars.

(B) A penalty required to be paid under this section may be calculated by multiplying the market value of one unit of the mislabeled fertilizer by the number of units of the mislabeled fertilizer that have been sold to the consumer.

(C) Upon making a determination under this section that a person has mislabeled fertilizer or mixed fertilizer, the director shall determine the parties to whom the penalty imposed by this section is required to be paid and, in accordance with division (A) or (B) of this section, as applicable, shall calculate the amount of the penalty required to be paid to each such party. After completing those determinations and calculations, the director shall issue to the person who allegedly mislabeled the fertilizer or mixed fertilizer a notice of violation. The notice shall be accompanied by an order requiring, and specifying the manner of, payment of the penalty imposed by this section to the parties in the amounts set forth in the determinations and calculations required by this division. The order shall be issued in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code.

No person shall violate a term or condition of an order issued under this division.

Sec. 905.501.  Whenever the director of agriculture has cause to believe that a person has violated, or is violating, sections 905.31 to 905.503 of the Revised Code or rules or an order issued under those sections or rules, the director may conduct a hearing in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code to determine whether a violation has occurred. If the director determines that a violation has occurred, the director may require the violator to pay a civil penalty in accordance with the schedule of civil penalties established in rules. Each day of violation constitutes a separate violation.

Sec. 905.502.  Nothing in sections 905.31 to 905.502 of the Revised Code or rules shall be construed to require the director of agriculture to report any findings to the appropriate prosecuting authority for proceedings in the prosecution of, or issue any order or institute any enforcement procedure for, a violation of sections 905.31 to 905.502 of the Revised Code or rules when the director believes that the public interest will be best served by a suitable written notice of warning. A person who receives a written notice of warning may respond in writing to the notice.

Sec. 905.501 905.503.  (A) As used in this section:

(1) "Political subdivision" means a county, township, or municipal corporation and any other body corporate and politic that is responsible for government activities in a geographic area smaller than that of the state.

(2) "Local legislation" includes, but is not limited to, an ordinance, resolution, regulation, rule, motion, or amendment that is enacted or adopted by a political subdivision.

(B)(1) No political subdivision shall regulate the registration, packaging, labeling, sale, storage, distribution, use, or application of fertilizer, or require a person licensed or registered under sections 905.31 to 905.99 of the Revised Code to obtain a license or permit to operate in a manner described in those sections, or to satisfy any other condition except as provided by a statute or rule of this state or of the United States.

(2) No political subdivision shall enact, adopt, or continue in effect local legislation relating to the registration, packaging, labeling, sale, storage, distribution, use, or application of fertilizers.

Sec. 905.99.  Whoever violates section 905.02, 905.04, 905.08, 905.11, 905.32, 905.33, 905.331, 905.35, 905.36, 905.40, 905.42, 905.43, 905.44, 905.45, 905.50, 905.52, 905.54, 905.55, 905.59, 905.60, or 905.61 of the Revised Code this chapter or rules adopted under it is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second third degree for on a first offense. On each subsequent offense the offender is guilty of, a misdemeanor of the second degree on a second offense, and a misdemeanor of the first degree on a third or subsequent offense.

Sec. 907.111.  (A) The department of agriculture has sole and exclusive authority to regulate the registration, labeling, sale, storage, transportation, distribution, notification of use, use, and planting of seed within the state. The regulation of seed is a matter of general statewide interest that requires uniform statewide regulation, and this chapter and rules adopted under it constitute a comprehensive plan with respect to all aspects of the regulation of seed within this state.

(B) No political subdivision shall do any of the following:

(1) Regulate the registration, labeling, sale, storage, transportation, distribution, notification of use, use, or planting of seed;

(2) Require a person who has been issued a permit or license under this chapter to obtain a permit or license to operate in a manner described in this chapter or to satisfy any other condition except as provided by a statute or rule of this state or of the United States;

(3) Require a person who has registered a legume innoculant under this chapter to register that innoculant in a manner described in this chapter or to satisfy any other condition except as provided by a statute or rule of this state or of the United States.

(C) No political subdivision shall enact, adopt, or continue in effect local legislation relating to the permitting or licensure of any person who is required to obtain a permit or license under this chapter or to the registration, labeling, sale, storage, transportation, distribution, notification of use, use, or planting of seed.

(D) As used in this section, "political subdivision" and "local legislation" have the same meanings as in section 905.501 905.503 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 921.06.  (A)(1) No individual shall do any of the following without having a commercial applicator license issued by the director of agriculture:

(a) Apply pesticides for a pesticide business without direct supervision;

(b) Apply pesticides as part of the individual's duties while acting as an employee of the United States government, a state, county, township, or municipal corporation, or a park district, port authority, or sanitary district created under Chapter 1545., 4582., or 6115. of the Revised Code, respectively;

(c) Apply restricted use pesticides. Division (A)(1)(c) of this section does not apply to a private applicator or an immediate family member or a subordinate employee of a private applicator who is acting under the direct supervision of that private applicator.

(d) If the individual is the owner of a business other than a pesticide business or an employee of such an owner, apply pesticides at any of the following publicly accessible sites that are located on the property:

(i) Food service operations that are licensed under Chapter 3717. of the Revised Code;

(ii) Retail food establishments that are licensed under Chapter 3717. of the Revised Code;

(iii) Golf courses;

(iv) Rental properties of more than four apartment units at one location;

(v) Hospitals or medical facilities as defined in section 3701.01 of the Revised Code;

(vi) Child day-care centers or school child day-care centers as defined in section 5104.01 of the Revised Code;

(vii) Facilities owned or operated by a school district established under Chapter 3311. of the Revised Code, including an education educational service center, a community school established under Chapter 3314. of the Revised Code, or a chartered or nonchartered nonpublic school that meets minimum standards established by the state board of education;

(viii) Colleges as defined in section 3365.01 of the Revised Code;

(ix) Food processing establishments as defined in section 3715.021 of the Revised Code;

(x) Any other site designated by rule.

(e) Conduct authorized diagnostic inspections.

(2) Divisions (A)(1)(a) to (d) of this section do not apply to an individual who is acting as a trained serviceperson under the direct supervision of a commercial applicator.

(3) Licenses shall be issued for a period of time established by rule and shall be renewed in accordance with deadlines established by rule. The fee for each such license shall be established by rule. If a license is not issued or renewed, the application fee shall be retained by the state as payment for the reasonable expense of processing the application. The director shall by rule classify by pesticide-use category licenses to be issued under this section. A single license may include more than one pesticide-use category. No individual shall be required to pay an additional license fee if the individual is licensed for more than one category.

The fee for each license or renewal does not apply to an applicant who is an employee of the department of agriculture whose job duties require licensure as a commercial applicator as a condition of employment.

(B) Application for a commercial applicator license shall be made on a form prescribed by the director. Each application for a license shall state the pesticide-use category or categories of license for which the applicant is applying and other information that the director determines essential to the administration of this chapter.

(C) If the director finds that the applicant is competent to apply pesticides and conduct diagnostic inspections and that the applicant has passed both the general examination and each applicable pesticide-use category examination as required under division (A) of section 921.12 of the Revised Code, the director shall issue a commercial applicator license limited to the pesticide-use category or categories for which the applicant is found to be competent. If the director rejects an application, the director may explain why the application was rejected, describe the additional requirements necessary for the applicant to obtain a license, and return the application. The applicant may resubmit the application without payment of any additional fee.

(D)(1) A person who is a commercial applicator shall be deemed to hold a private applicator's license for purposes of applying pesticides on agricultural commodities that are produced by the commercial applicator.

(2) A commercial applicator shall apply pesticides only in the pesticide-use category or categories in which the applicator is licensed under this chapter.

(E) If a commercial applicator has been certified under section 905.321 of the Revised Code and applicable rules, the director shall indicate on the applicator's license an agricultural nutrient pesticide-use category. As used in this division, "agricultural nutrient" means fertilizer as defined in section 905.31 of the Revised Code.

(F) All money collected under this section shall be credited to the pesticide, fertilizer, and lime program fund created in section 921.22 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 921.11.  (A)(1) No individual shall apply restricted use pesticides unless the individual is one of the following:

(a) Licensed under section 921.06 of the Revised Code;

(b) Licensed under division (B) of this section;

(c) A trained serviceperson who is acting under the direct supervision of a commercial applicator;

(d) An immediate family member or a subordinate employee of a private applicator who is acting under the direct supervision of that private applicator.

(2) No individual shall directly supervise the application of a restricted use pesticide unless the individual is one of the following:

(a) Licensed under section 921.06 of the Revised Code;

(b) Licensed under division (B) of this section.

(B) The director of agriculture shall adopt rules to establish standards and procedures for the licensure of private applicators. An individual shall apply for a private applicator license to the director, on forms prescribed by the director. The individual shall include in the application the pesticide-use category or categories of the license for which the individual is applying and any other information that the director determines is essential to the administration of this chapter. The fee for each license shall be established by rule. Licenses shall be issued for a period of time established by rule and shall be renewed in accordance with deadlines established by rule. If a license is not issued or renewed, the state shall retain any fee submitted as payment for reasonable expenses of processing the application.

(C) An individual who is licensed under this section shall use or directly supervise the use of a restricted use pesticide only for the purpose of producing agricultural commodities on property that is owned or rented by the individual or the individual's employer.

(D) If a private applicator has been certified under section 905.321 of the Revised Code and applicable rules, the director shall indicate on the applicator's license an agricultural nutrient pesticide-use category. As used in this division, "agricultural nutrient" means fertilizer as defined in section 905.31 of the Revised Code.

(E) All money collected under this section shall be credited to the pesticide, fertilizer, and lime program fund created in section 921.22 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 921.16.  (A) The director of agriculture shall adopt rules the director determines necessary for the effective enforcement and administration of this chapter. The rules may relate to, but are not limited to, the time, place, manner, and methods of application, materials, and amounts and concentrations of application of pesticides, may restrict or prohibit the use of pesticides in designated areas during specified periods of time, and shall encompass all reasonable factors that the director determines necessary to minimize or prevent damage to the environment. In addition, the rules shall establish the deadlines and time periods for registration, registration renewal, late registration renewal, and failure to register under section 921.02 of the Revised Code; the fees for registration, registration renewal, late registration renewal, and failure to register under section 921.02 of the Revised Code that shall apply until the fees that are established under that section take effect on January 1, 2007; and the fees, deadlines, and time periods for licensure and license renewal under sections 921.06, 921.09, 921.11, and 921.13 of the Revised Code.

(B) The director shall adopt rules that establish a schedule of civil penalties for violations of this chapter, or any rule or order adopted or issued under it, provided that the civil penalty for a first violation shall not exceed five thousand dollars and the civil penalty for each subsequent violation shall not exceed ten thousand dollars. In determining the amount of a civil penalty for a violation, the director shall consider factors relevant to the severity of the violation, including past violations and the amount of actual or potential damage to the environment or to human beings. All money collected under this division shall be credited to the pesticide, fertilizer, and lime program fund created in section 921.22 of the Revised Code.

(C) The director shall adopt rules that set forth the conditions under which the director:

(1) Requires that notice or posting be given of a proposed application of a pesticide;

(2) Requires inspection, condemnation, or repair of equipment used to apply a pesticide;

(3) Will suspend, revoke, or refuse to issue any pesticide registration for a violation of this chapter;

(4) Requires safe handling, transportation, storage, display, distribution, and disposal of pesticides and their containers;

(5) Ensures the protection of the health and safety of agricultural workers storing, handling, or applying pesticides, and all residents of agricultural labor camps, as that term is defined in section 3733.41 of the Revised Code, who are living or working in the vicinity of pesticide-treated areas;

(6) Requires a record to be kept of all pesticide applications made by each commercial applicator and by any trained serviceperson acting under the commercial applicator's direct supervision and of all restricted use pesticide applications made by each private applicator and by any immediate family member or subordinate employee of that private applicator who is acting under the private applicator's direct supervision as required under section 921.14 of the Revised Code;

(7) Determines the pesticide-use categories of diagnostic inspections that must be conducted by a commercial applicator;

(8) Requires a record to be kept of all diagnostic inspections conducted by each commercial applicator and by any trained service person.

(D) The director shall prescribe standards for the licensure of applicators of pesticides consistent with those prescribed by the federal act and the regulations adopted under it or prescribe standards that are more restrictive than those prescribed by the federal act and the regulations adopted under it. The standards may relate to the use of a pesticide or to an individual's pesticide-use category.

The director shall take into consideration standards of the United States environmental protection agency.

(E) The director may adopt rules setting forth the conditions under which the director will:

(1) Collect and examine samples of pesticides or devices;

(2) Specify classes of devices that shall be subject to this chapter;

(3) Prescribe other necessary registration information.

(F) The director may adopt rules that do either or both of the following:

(1) Designate, in addition to those restricted uses so classified by the administrator of the United States environmental protection agency, restricted uses of pesticides for the state or for designated areas within the state and, if the director considers it necessary, to further restrict such use;

(2) Define what constitutes "acting under the instructions and control of a commercial applicator" as used in the definition of "direct supervision" in division (Q)(1) of section 921.01 of the Revised Code. In adopting a rule under division (F)(2) of this section, the director shall consider the factors associated with the use of pesticide in the various pesticide-use categories. Based on consideration of the factors, the director may define "acting under the instructions and control of a commercial applicator" to include communications between a commercial applicator and a trained serviceperson that are conducted via landline telephone or a means of wireless communication. Any rules adopted under division (F)(2) of this section shall be drafted in consultation with representatives of the pesticide industry.

(G) Except as provided in division (D) of this section, the director shall not adopt any rule under this chapter that is inconsistent with the requirements of the federal act and regulations adopted thereunder.

(H) The director, after notice and opportunity for hearing, may declare as a pest any form of plant or animal life, other than human beings and other than bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms on or in living human beings or other living animals, that is injurious to health or the environment.

(I) The director may make reports to the United States environmental protection agency, in the form and containing the information the agency may require.

(J) The director shall adopt rules for the application, use, storage, and disposal of pesticides if, in the director's judgment, existing programs of the United States environmental protection agency necessitate such rules or pesticide labels do not sufficiently address issues or situations identified by the department of agriculture or interested state agencies.

(K) The director shall adopt rules establishing all of the following:

(1) Standards, requirements, and procedures for the examination and re-examination of commercial applicators and private applicators;

(2) With respect to training programs that the director may require commercial applicators and private applicators to complete:

(a) Standards and requirements that a training program must satisfy in order to be offered by the director or the director's representative or in order to be approved by the director if a third party wishes to offer it;

(b) Eligibility standards and requirements that must be satisfied by third parties who wish to provide the training programs;

(c) Procedures that third parties must follow in order to submit a proposed training program to the director for approval;

(d) Criteria that the director must consider when determining whether to authorize a commercial applicator or private applicator to participate in a training program instead of being required to pass a re-examination.;

(3) Training requirements for a trained serviceperson;

(4) Pesticide-use categories for commercial applicator licenses and private applicator licenses, including an agricultural nutrient pesticide-use category. As used in division (K)(4) of this section, "agricultural nutrient" means fertilizer as defined in section 905.31 of the Revised Code.

(L) The director shall adopt all rules under this chapter in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code.

Sec. 941.14.  (A) The owner shall burn the body of an animal that has died of, or been destroyed because of, a dangerously infectious or contagious disease, bury it not less than four feet under the surface of the ground, dissolve it by alkaline hydrolysis, remove it in a watertight tank to a rendering establishment, or otherwise dispose of it in accordance with section 953.26 or 1511.022 1511.024 of the Revised Code within twenty-four hours after knowledge thereof or after notice in writing from the department of agriculture.

(B) The owner of premises that contain a dead animal shall burn the body of the animal, bury it not less than four feet beneath the surface of the ground, dissolve it by alkaline hydrolysis, remove it in a watertight tank to a rendering establishment, or otherwise dispose of it in accordance with section 953.26 or 1511.022 1511.024 of the Revised Code within a reasonable time after knowledge thereof or after notice in writing from the department or from the township trustees of the township in which the owner's premises are located.

(C) Notwithstanding division (A) or (B) of this section, the director of agriculture, in written notice sent to the owner of a dead animal, may require the owner to employ a specific method of disposition of the body, including burning, burying, rendering, composting, or alkaline hydrolysis, when that method does not conflict with any law or rule governing the disposal of infectious wastes and, in the director's judgment, is necessary for purposes of animal disease control. No person shall fail to employ the method of disposition required under this division.

(D) The director, in written notice sent to the owner of a dead animal, may prohibit the owner from transporting the body of the dead animal on any street or highway if that prohibition does not conflict with any law or rule governing the transportation of infectious wastes and, in the director's judgment, is necessary for purposes of animal disease control. No person shall fail to comply with a prohibition issued under this division.

(E) As used in this section, "infectious wastes" has the same meaning as in section 3734.01 of the Revised Code, and "street" or "highway" has the same meaning as in section 4511.01 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 953.22.  (A) No person shall engage in the business of disposing of, picking up, rendering, or collecting raw rendering material or transporting the material to a composting facility without a license to do so from the department of agriculture.

(B) This chapter does not apply to any of the following:

(1) A farmer who slaughters the farmer's own animals, raised by the farmer on the farmer's own farm, processes the farmer's own meat therefrom, and disposes of the farmer's raw rendering material only by delivery to a person licensed under section 953.23 of the Revised Code;

(2) A person whose only connection with raw rendering material is curing hides and skins;

(3) A person whose only connection with raw rendering material is operating a pet cemetery;

(4) A person who is conducting composting, as defined in section 1511.01 of the Revised Code, in accordance with section 1511.022 1511.024 of the Revised Code;

(5) A person whose only connection with raw rendering material is trapping wild animals in accordance with a nuisance wild animal permit issued by the chief of the division of wildlife in the department of natural resources under rules adopted pursuant to section 1531.08 of the Revised Code;

(6) A county dog warden or animal control officer who transports raw rendering material only for disposal purposes.

Sec. 1511.01.  For the purposes of this chapter:

(A) "Conservation" means the wise use and management of natural resources.

(B) "Critical natural resource area" means an area identified by the director of natural resources in which occurs a natural resource that requires special management because of its importance to the well-being of the surrounding communities, the region, or the state.

(C) "Pollution abatement practice" means any erosion control or animal waste agricultural pollution abatement facility, structure, or procedure and the operation and management associated with it as contained in operation and management plans developed or approved by the chief of the division of soil and water resources or by soil and water conservation districts established under Chapter 1515. of the Revised Code.

(D) "Agricultural pollution" means failure to use management or conservation practices in farming or silvicultural agricultural operations to abate wind or water erosion of the soil or to abate the degradation of the waters of the state by animal waste or soil sediment, including substances attached thereto nutrients, manure, animal bedding, wash waters, waste feed, or silage drainage.

(E) "Waters of the state" means all streams, lakes, ponds, wetlands, watercourses, waterways, wells, springs, irrigation systems, drainage systems, and all other bodies or accumulations of water, surface and underground, natural or artificial, regardless of the depth of the strata in which underground water is located, that are situated wholly or partly within, or border upon, this state or are within its jurisdiction, except those private waters that do not combine or effect a junction with natural surface or underground waters.

(F) "Operation and management plan" means a written record, developed or approved by the district board of supervisors or the chief, for the owner or operator of agricultural land or a concentrated animal feeding operation that contains implementation schedules and operational procedures for a level of management and pollution abatement practices that will abate the degradation of the waters of the state by animal waste and by soil sediment including attached pollutants plan developed under section 1511.021 of the Revised Code, including a plan required by an order issued by the chief of the division of soil and water resources under division (G) of section 1511.02 of the Revised Code.

(G) "Animal waste" "Manure" means animal excreta, discarded products, bedding, wash waters, waste feed, and silage drainage. "Animal waste" also includes the compost products resulting from the composting of dead animals in operations subject to section 1511.022 of the Revised Code when either of the following applies:

(1) The composting is conducted by the person who raises the animals and the compost product is used in agricultural operations owned or operated by that person, regardless of whether the person owns the animals;

(2) The composting is conducted by the person who owns the animals, but does not raise them and the compost product is used in agricultural operations either by a person who raises the animals or by a person who raises grain that is used to feed them and that is supplied by the owner of the animals.

(H) "Composting" means the controlled decomposition of organic solid material consisting of dead animals that stabilizes the organic fraction of the material.

(I) "Nutrient" means a primary chemical element that is essential to plant nutrition.

(J) "Nutrient management plan" means a component of an operation and management plan that contains implementation schedules and operating procedures specific to nutrient management.

(K) "Animal feeding operation" means an agricultural operation where agricultural animals that are capable of producing at least three hundred fifty tons or one hundred thousand gallons of manure in a calendar year are kept and raised in confined areas. "Animal feeding operation" does not include a facility that is issued any type of permit by the department of agriculture or the environmental protection agency.

(L) "Soil and water conservation district" has the same meaning as in section 1515.01 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 1511.02.  The chief of the division of soil and water resources, subject to the approval of the director of natural resources, shall do all of the following:

(A) Provide administrative leadership to local soil and water conservation districts in planning, budgeting, staffing, and administering district programs and the training of district supervisors and personnel in their duties, responsibilities, and authorities as prescribed in this chapter and Chapter 1515. of the Revised Code;

(B) Administer this chapter and Chapter 1515. of the Revised Code pertaining to state responsibilities and provide staff assistance to the Ohio soil and water conservation commission in exercising its statutory responsibilities;

(C) Assist in expediting state responsibilities for watershed development and other natural resource conservation works of improvement;

(D) Coordinate the development and implementation of cooperative programs and working agreements between local soil and water conservation districts and divisions or sections of the department of natural resources, or other agencies of local, state, and federal government;

(E) Subject to the approval of the Ohio soil and water conservation commission, adopt, amend, or rescind rules pursuant to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code. Rules adopted pursuant to this section:

(1) Shall establish technically feasible and economically reasonable standards to achieve a level of management and conservation practices in farming or silvicultural agricultural operations that will abate wind or water erosion of the soil or abate the degradation of the waters of the state by animal waste or by soil sediment including substances attached thereto, agricultural pollution and establish criteria for determination of the acceptability of such management and conservation practices;

(2) Shall establish technically feasible and economically reasonable standards to achieve a level of management and conservation practices that will abate wind or water erosion of the soil or abate the degradation of the waters of the state by soil sediment in conjunction with land grading, excavating, filling, or other soil-disturbing activities on land used or being developed for nonfarm commercial, industrial, residential, or other nonfarm purposes, and establish criteria for determination of the acceptability of such management and conservation practices. The standards shall be designed to implement applicable areawide waste treatment management plans prepared under section 208 of the "Federal Water Pollution Control Act," 86 Stat. 816 (1972), 33 U.S.C.A. 1288, as amended. The standards and criteria shall not apply in any municipal corporation or county that adopts ordinances or rules pertaining to sediment control, nor to lands being used in a strip mine operation as defined in section 1513.01 of the Revised Code, nor to lands being used in a surface mining operation as defined in section 1514.01 of the Revised Code.

(3) May recommend criteria and procedures for the approval of urban sediment pollution abatement plans and issuance of permits prior to any grading, excavating, filling, or other whole or partial disturbance of five or more contiguous acres of land owned by one person or operated as one development unit and require implementation of such a plan. Areas of less than five contiguous acres are not exempt from compliance with other provisions of this chapter and rules adopted under them.

(4) Shall establish procedures for administration of rules for agricultural pollution abatement and urban sediment pollution abatement and for enforcement of rules for agricultural pollution abatement;

(5) Shall specify the pollution abatement practices eligible for state cost sharing and determine the conditions for eligibility, the construction standards and specifications, the useful life, the maintenance requirements, and the limits of cost sharing for those practices. Eligible practices shall be limited to practices that address agricultural or silvicultural operations and that require expenditures that are likely to exceed the economic returns to the owner or operator and that abate soil erosion or degradation of the waters of the state by animal waste or soil sediment including pollutants attached thereto agricultural pollution.

(6) Shall establish procedures for administering grants to owners or operators of agricultural land or concentrated animal feeding operations for the implementation of operation and management plans;

(7) Shall establish procedures for administering grants to soil and water conservation districts for urban sediment pollution abatement programs, specify the types of projects eligible for grants, establish limits on the availability of grants, and establish requirements governing the execution of projects to encourage the reduction of erosion and sedimentation associated with soil-disturbing activities;

(8) Shall do all of the following with regard to composting conducted in conjunction with agricultural operations:

(a) Provide for the distribution of educational material concerning composting to the offices of the Ohio cooperative extension service for the purposes of section 1511.022 1511.024 of the Revised Code;

(b) Establish methods, techniques, or practices for composting dead animals, or particular types of dead animals, that are to be used at such operations, as the chief considers to be necessary or appropriate;

(c) Establish requirements and procedures governing the review and approval or disapproval of composting plans by the supervisors of soil and water conservation districts under division (Q)(P) of section 1515.08 of the Revised Code.

(9) Shall be adopted, amended, or rescinded after the chief does all of the following:

(a) Mails notice to each statewide organization that the chief determines represents persons or local governmental agencies who would be affected by the proposed rule, amendment thereto, or rescission thereof at least thirty-five days before any public hearing thereon;

(b) Mails a copy of each proposed rule, amendment thereto, or rescission thereof to any person who requests a copy, within five days after receipt of the request;

(c) Consults with appropriate state and local governmental agencies or their representatives, including statewide organizations of local governmental officials, industrial representatives, and other interested persons;

(d) If the rule relates to agricultural pollution abatement, develops an economic impact statement concerning the effect of the proposed rule or amendment.

(10) Shall not conflict with air or water quality standards adopted pursuant to section 3704.03 or 6111.041 of the Revised Code. Compliance with rules adopted pursuant to this section does not affect liability for noncompliance with air or water quality standards adopted pursuant to section 3704.03 or 6111.041 of the Revised Code. The application of a level of management and conservation practices recommended under this section to control windblown soil from farming operations creates a presumption of compliance with section 3704.03 of the Revised Code as that section applies to windblown soil.

(11) Insofar as the rules relate to urban sediment pollution, shall not be applicable in a municipal corporation or county that adopts ordinances or rules for urban sediment control, except that a municipal corporation or county that adopts such ordinances or rules may receive moneys for urban sediment control that are disbursed by the board of supervisors of the applicable soil and water conservation district under division (N) of section 1515.08 of the Revised Code. The rules shall not exempt any person from compliance with municipal ordinances enacted pursuant to Section 3 of Article XVIII, Ohio Constitution.

(F) Cost share with landowners on practices established pursuant to division (E)(5) of this section as moneys are appropriated and available for that purpose. Any practice for which cost share is provided shall be maintained for its useful life. Failure to maintain a cost share practice for its useful life shall subject the landowner to full repayment to the division.

(G) Issue orders requiring compliance with any rule adopted under division (E)(1) of this section or with section 1511.022 1511.024 of the Revised Code. Before the chief issues an order, the chief shall afford each person allegedly liable an adjudication hearing under Chapter 119. of the Revised Code. The chief may require in an order that a person who has caused agricultural pollution by failure to comply with the standards established under division (E)(1) of this section operate under an operation and management plan approved by the chief under this section. The chief shall require in an order that a person who has failed to comply with division (A) of section 1511.022 1511.024 of the Revised Code prepare a composting plan in accordance with rules adopted under division (E)(10)(c) of this section and operate in accordance with that plan or that a person who has failed to operate in accordance with such a plan begin to operate in accordance with it. Each order shall be issued in writing and contain a finding by the chief of the facts upon which the order is based and the standard that is not being met.

(H) Employ field assistants and such other employees as are necessary for the performance of the work prescribed by Chapter 1515. of the Revised Code, for performance of work of the division, and as agreed to under working agreements or contractual arrangements with local soil and water conservation districts, prescribe their duties, and fix their compensation in accordance with such schedules as are provided by law for the compensation of state employees.

All employees of the division, unless specifically exempted by law, shall be employed subject to the classified civil service laws in force at the time of employment.

(I) In connection with new or relocated projects involving highways, underground cables, pipelines, railroads, and other improvements affecting soil and water resources, including surface and subsurface drainage:

(1) Provide engineering service as is mutually agreeable to the Ohio soil and water conservation commission and the director of natural resources to aid in the design and installation of soil and water conservation practices as a necessary component of such projects;

(2) Maintain close liaison between the owners of lands on which the projects are executed, local soil and water conservation districts, and authorities responsible for such projects;

(3) Review plans for such projects to ensure their compliance with standards developed under division (E) of this section in cooperation with the department of transportation or with any other interested agency that is engaged in soil or water conservation projects in the state in order to minimize adverse impacts on soil and water resources adjacent to or otherwise affected by these projects;

(4) Recommend measures to retard erosion and protect soil and water resources through the installation of water impoundment or other soil and water conservation practices;

(5) Cooperate with other agencies and subdivisions of the state to protect the agricultural status of rural lands adjacent to such projects and control adverse impacts on soil and water resources.

(J) Collect, analyze, inventory, and interpret all available information pertaining to the origin, distribution, extent, use, and conservation of the soil resources of the state;

(K) Prepare and maintain up-to-date reports, maps, and other materials pertaining to the soil resources of the state and their use and make that information available to governmental agencies, public officials, conservation entities, and the public;

(L) Provide soil and water conservation districts with technical assistance including on-site soil investigations and soil interpretation reports on the suitability or limitations of soil to support a particular use or to plan soil conservation measures. The assistance shall be upon such terms as are mutually agreeable to the districts and the department of natural resources.

(M) Assist local government officials in utilizing land use planning and zoning, current agricultural use value assessment, development reviews, and land management activities;

(N) When necessary for the purposes of this chapter or Chapter 1515. of the Revised Code, develop or approve operation and management plans.

This section does not restrict the excrement of domestic or farm animals manure defecated on land outside a concentrated an animal feeding operation or runoff therefrom into the waters of the state.

Sec. 1511.021.  (A) Any of the following may develop an operation and management plan in accordance with the standards established in rules adopted under division (E)(1) of section 1511.02 of the Revised Code for a person who owns or operates agricultural land or an animal feeding operation:

(1) The chief of the division of soil and water resources;

(2) The supervisors of the soil and water conservation district in which the agricultural land or animal feeding operation is located;

(3) A designee of the chief.

(B) If a designee of the chief develops an operation and management plan under division (A) of this section, the chief shall approve the plan prior to its implementation.

(C) In addition to the standards established in rules adopted under division (E)(1) of section 1511.02 of the Revised Code, an operation and management plan shall include implementation schedules and operational procedures for a level of management and pollution abatement practices that will abate degradation of the waters of the state caused by agricultural pollution. An operation and management plan may include a nutrient management plan.

Sec. 1511.021 1511.022.  (A) Any person who owns or operates agricultural land or a concentrated an animal feeding operation may develop and operate under an operation and management plan approved by the chief of the division of soil and water resources under section 1511.02 of the Revised Code or by the supervisors of the local soil and water conservation district under section 1515.08 of the Revised Code.

(B) Any person who wishes to make a complaint regarding nuisances involving agricultural pollution may do so orally or by submitting a written, signed, and dated complaint to the chief of the division of soil and water resources or to the chief's designee. After receiving an oral complaint, the chief or the chief's designee may cause an investigation to be conducted to determine whether agricultural pollution has occurred or is imminent. After receiving a written, signed, and dated complaint, the chief or the chief's designee shall cause such an investigation to be conducted.

(C) In a private civil action for nuisances involving agricultural pollution, it is an affirmative defense if the person owning, operating, or otherwise responsible for agricultural land or a concentrated an animal feeding operation is operating under and in substantial compliance with an approved operation and management plan developed under division (A) of this section, with an operation and management plan developed by the chief under section 1511.02 of the Revised Code or by the supervisors of the local soil and water conservation district under section 1515.08 of the Revised Code, or with an operation and management plan required by an order issued by the chief under division (G) of section 1511.02 of the Revised Code. Nothing in this section is in derogation of the authority granted to the chief in division (E) of section 1511.02 and in section 1511.07 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 1511.023.  (A) Except as provided in division (B) of this section, the director of natural resources, an employee of the department of natural resources, the supervisors of a soil and water conservation district, an employee of a district, and a contractor of the department or a district shall not disclose either of the following:

(1) Information, including data from geographic information systems and global positioning systems, provided by a person who owns or operates agricultural land or an animal feeding operation and operates under an operation and management plan;

(2) Information gathered as a result of an inspection of agricultural land or an animal feeding operation to determine whether the person who owns or operates the land or operation is in compliance with an operation and management plan.

(B) The director or the supervisors of a district may release or disclose information specified in division (A) of this section to a person or a federal, state, or local agency working in cooperation with the chief of the division of soil and water resources or the supervisors in the development of an operation and management plan or an inspection to determine compliance with such a plan if the director or supervisors determine that the person or federal, state, or local agency will not subsequently disclose the information to another person.

Sec. 1511.022 1511.024.  (A) Any person who owns or operates an agricultural operation, or owns the animals raised by the owner or operator of an agricultural operation, and who wishes to conduct composting of dead animals resulting from the agricultural operation shall do both of the following:

(1) Participate in an educational course concerning composting conducted by the Ohio cooperative extension service and obtain a certificate of completion for the course;

(2) Use the appropriate method, technique, or practice of composting established in rules adopted under division (E)(8) of section 1511.02 of the Revised Code.

(B) Any person who fails to comply with division (A) of this section shall prepare and operate under a composting plan in accordance with an order issued by the chief of the division of soil and water resources under division (G) of section 1511.02 of the Revised Code. If the person's proposed composting plan is disapproved by the board of supervisors of the appropriate soil and water conservation district under division (Q)(P)(3) of section 1515.08 of the Revised Code, the person may appeal the plan disapproval to the chief, who shall afford the person a hearing. Following the hearing, the chief shall uphold the plan disapproval or reverse it. If the chief reverses the disapproval, the plan shall be deemed approved.

Sec. 1511.07.  (A)(1) No person shall fail to comply with an order of the chief of the division of soil and water resources issued pursuant to division (G) of section 1511.02 of the Revised Code.

(2) In addition to the remedies provided and irrespective of whether an adequate remedy at law exists, the chief may apply to the court of common pleas in the county where a violation of a standard established under division (E)(1) or (8)(b) of section 1511.02 of the Revised Code causes pollution of the waters of the state for an order to compel the violator to cease the violation and to remove the agricultural pollutant or to comply with the rules adopted under division (E)(8)(b) of that section, as appropriate.

(3) In addition to the remedies provided and irrespective of whether an adequate remedy at law exists, whenever the chief officially determines that an emergency exists because of agricultural pollution or an unauthorized release, spill, or discharge of animal waste manure, or a violation of a rule adopted under division (E)(8)(b) of section 1511.02 of the Revised Code, that causes pollution of the waters of the state, the chief may, without notice or hearing, issue an order reciting the existence of the emergency and requiring that necessary action be taken to meet the emergency. The order shall be effective immediately. Any person to whom the order is directed shall comply with the order immediately, but on application to the chief shall be afforded a hearing as soon as possible, but not later than twenty days after making the application. On the basis of the hearing, the chief shall continue the order in effect, revoke it, or modify it. No emergency order shall remain in effect for more than sixty days after its issuance. If a person to whom an order is issued does not comply with the order within a reasonable period, as determined by the chief, the chief or the chief's designee may enter upon private or public lands and take action to mitigate, minimize, remove, or abate the agricultural pollution, release, spill, discharge, or conditions caused by the violation of the rule.

(B) The attorney general, upon the written request of the chief, shall bring appropriate legal action in Franklin county against any person who fails to comply with an order of the chief issued pursuant to division (G) of section 1511.02 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 1511.071.  There is hereby created in the state treasury the agricultural pollution abatement fund, which shall be administered by the chief of the division of soil and water resources. The fund may be used to pay costs incurred by the division under division (A)(3) of section 1511.07 of the Revised Code in investigating, mitigating, minimizing, removing, or abating any pollution of the waters of the state caused by agricultural pollution or an unauthorized release, spill, or discharge of animal waste manure into or upon the environment that requires emergency action to protect the public health.

Any person responsible for causing or allowing agricultural pollution or an unauthorized release, spill, or discharge is liable to the chief for any costs incurred by the division and soil and water conservation districts in investigating, mitigating, minimizing, removing, or abating the agricultural pollution or release, spill, or discharge, regardless of whether those costs were paid out of the agricultural pollution abatement fund or any other fund of the division or a district. Upon the request of the chief, the attorney general shall bring a civil action against the responsible person to recover those costs. Moneys recovered under this section shall be paid into the agricultural pollution abatement fund.

Sec. 1515.01.  As used in this chapter:

(A) "Soil and water conservation district" means a district organized in accordance with this chapter.

(B) "Supervisor" means one of the members of the governing body of a district.

(C) "Landowner," "owner," or "owner of land" means an owner of record as shown by the records in the office of the county recorder. With respect to an improvement or a proposed improvement, "landowner," "owner," or "owner of land" also includes any public corporation and the director of any department, office, or institution of the state that is affected by the improvement or that would be affected by the proposed improvement, but that does not own any right, title, estate, or interest in or to any real property.

(D) "Land occupier" or "occupier of land" means any person, firm, or corporation that controls the use of land whether as landowner, lessee, renter, or tenant.

(E) "Due notice" means notice published at least twice, stating time and place, with an interval of at least thirteen days between the two publication dates, in a newspaper of general circulation within a soil and water conservation district.

(F) "Agricultural pollution" means failure to use management or conservation practices in farming or silvicultural operations to abate wind or water erosion of the soil or to abate the degradation of the waters of the state by animal waste or soil sediment including substances attached thereto has the same meaning as in section 1511.01 of the Revised Code.

(G) "Urban sediment pollution" means failure to use management or conservation practices to abate wind or water erosion of the soil or to abate the degradation of the waters of the state by soil sediment in conjunction with land grading, excavating, filling, or other soil disturbing activities on land used or being developed for nonfarm commercial, industrial, residential, or other nonfarm purposes, except lands being used in a strip mine operation as defined in section 1513.01 of the Revised Code and except lands being used in a surface mining operation as defined in section 1514.01 of the Revised Code.

(H) "Uniform assessment" means an assessment that is both of the following:

(1) Based upon a complete appraisal of each parcel of land, together with all improvements thereon, within a project area and of the benefits or damages brought about as a result of the project that is determined by criteria applied equally to all parcels within the project area;

(2) Levied upon the parcels at a uniform rate on the basis of the appraisal.

(I) "Varied assessment" means any assessment that does not meet the criteria established in division (H) of this section.

(J) "Project area" means an area determined and certified by the supervisors of a soil and water conservation district under section 1515.19 of the Revised Code.

(K) "Benefit" or "benefits" means advantages to land and owners, to public corporations, and to the state resulting from drainage, conservation, control, and management of water and from environmental, wildlife, and recreational improvements. "Benefit" or "benefits" includes, but is not limited to, any of the following factors:

(1) Elimination or reduction of damage from flooding;

(2) Removal of water conditions that jeopardize public health, safety, or welfare;

(3) Increased value of land resulting from an improvement;

(4) Use of water for irrigation, storage, regulation of stream flow, soil conservation, water supply, or any other incidental purpose;

(5) Providing an outlet for the accelerated runoff from artificial drainage if a stream, watercourse, channel, or ditch that is under improvement is called upon to discharge functions for which it was not designed. Uplands that have been removed from their natural state by deforestation, cultivation, artificial drainage, urban development, or other human methods shall be considered to be benefited by an improvement that is required to dispose of the accelerated flow of water from the uplands.

(L) "Improvement" or "conservation works of improvement" means an improvement that is made under the authority established in division (C) of section 1515.08 of the Revised Code.

(M) "Land" has the same meaning as in section 6131.01 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 1515.02.  There is hereby established in the department of natural resources the Ohio soil and water conservation commission. The commission shall consist of seven members of equal status and authority, four six of whom shall be appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate, and one of whom shall be designated by resolution of the board of directors of the Ohio federation of soil and water conservation districts. The other two members shall be the director directors of agriculture, environmental protection, and natural resources and the vice-president for agricultural administration of the Ohio state university. The director of natural resources may participate in the deliberations or their designees may serve as ex officio members of the commission, but without the power to vote. A vacancy in the office of an appointed member shall be filled by the governor, with the advice and consent of the senate. Any member appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of the term for which the member's predecessor was appointed shall hold office for the remainder of that term. Of the appointed members, two four shall be farmers and all shall be persons who have a knowledge of or interest in soil- and water-related topics and the natural resources of the state. Not more than two three of the appointed members shall be members of the same political party.

Terms of office of the member designated by the board of directors of the federation and the members appointed by the governor shall be for four years, commencing on the first day of July and ending on the thirtieth day of June.

Each appointed member shall hold office from the date of appointment until the end of the term for which the member was appointed. Any appointed member shall continue in office subsequent to the expiration date of the member's term until the member's successor takes office, or until a period of sixty days has elapsed, whichever occurs first.

The commission shall organize by selecting from its members a chairperson and a vice-chairperson. The commission shall hold at least one regular meeting in each quarter of each calendar year and shall keep a record of its proceedings, which shall be open to the public for inspection. Special meetings may be called by the chairperson and shall be called by the chairperson upon receipt of a written request signed by two or more members of the commission. Written notice of the time and place of each meeting shall be sent to each member of the commission. A majority of the commission shall constitute a quorum.

The commission may adopt rules as necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter, subject to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code.

The governor may remove any appointed member of the commission at any time for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office, after giving to the member a copy of the charges against the member and an opportunity to be heard publicly in person or by counsel in the member's defense. Any such act of removal by the governor is final. A statement of the findings of the governor, the reason for the governor's action, and the answer, if any, of the member shall be filed by the governor with the secretary of state and shall be open to public inspection.

All members of the commission shall be reimbursed for the necessary expenses incurred by them in the performance of their duties as members.

Upon recommendation by the commission, the director of natural resources shall designate an executive secretary and provide staff necessary to carry out the powers and duties of the commission. The commission may utilize the services of such staff members in the college of agriculture of the Ohio state university as may be agreed upon by the commission and the college.

The commission shall do all of the following:

(A) Determine distribution of funds under section 1515.14 of the Revised Code, recommend to the director of natural resources and other agencies the levels of appropriations to special funds established to assist soil and water conservation districts, and recommend the amount of federal funds to be requested and policies for the use of such funds in support of soil and water conservation district programs;

(B) Assist in keeping the supervisors of soil and water conservation districts informed of their powers and duties, program opportunities, and the activities and experience of all other districts, and facilitate the interchange of advice, experience, and cooperation between the districts;

(C) Seek the cooperation and assistance of the federal government or any of its agencies, and of agencies of this state, in the work of the districts;

(D) Adopt appropriate rules governing the conduct of elections provided for in this chapter, subject to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code, provided that only owners and occupiers of lands situated within the boundaries of the districts or proposed districts to which the elections apply shall be eligible to vote in the elections;

(E) Recommend to the director priorities for planning and construction of small watershed projects, and make recommendations to the director concerning coordination of programs as proposed and implemented in agreements with soil and water conservation districts;

(F) Recommend to the director, the governor, and the general assembly programs and legislation with respect to the operations of soil and water conservation districts that will encourage proper soil, water, and other natural resource management and promote the economic and social development of the state.

Sec. 1515.08.  The supervisors of a soil and water conservation district have the following powers in addition to their other powers:

(A) To conduct surveys, investigations, and research relating to the character of soil erosion, floodwater and sediment damages, and the preventive and control measures and works of improvement for flood prevention and the conservation, development, utilization, and disposal of water needed within the district, and to publish the results of those surveys, investigations, or research, provided that no district shall initiate any research program except in cooperation or after consultation with the Ohio agricultural research and development center;

(B) To develop plans for the conservation of soil resources, for the control and prevention of soil erosion, and for works of improvement for flood prevention and the conservation, development, utilization, and disposal of water within the district, and to publish those plans and information;

(C) To implement, construct, repair, maintain, and operate preventive and control measures and other works of improvement for natural resource conservation and development and flood prevention, and the conservation, development, utilization, and disposal of water within the district on lands owned or controlled by this state or any of its agencies and on any other lands within the district, which works may include any facilities authorized under state or federal programs, and to acquire, by purchase or gift, to hold, encumber, or dispose of, and to lease real and personal property or interests in such property for those purposes;

(D) To cooperate or enter into agreements with any occupier of lands within the district in the carrying on of natural resource conservation operations and works of improvement for flood prevention and the conservation, development, utilization, and management of natural resources within the district, subject to such conditions as the supervisors consider necessary;

(E) To accept donations, gifts, grants, and contributions in money, service, materials, or otherwise, and to use or expend them according to their terms;

(F) To adopt, amend, and rescind rules to carry into effect the purposes and powers of the district;

(G) To sue and plead in the name of the district, and be sued and impleaded in the name of the district, with respect to its contracts and, as indicated in section 1515.081 of the Revised Code, certain torts of its officers, employees, or agents acting within the scope of their employment or official responsibilities, or with respect to the enforcement of its obligations and covenants made under this chapter;

(H) To make and enter into all contracts, leases, and agreements and execute all instruments necessary or incidental to the performance of the duties and the execution of the powers of the district under this chapter, provided that all of the following apply:

(1) Except as provided in section 307.86 of the Revised Code regarding expenditures by boards of county commissioners, when the cost under any such contract, lease, or agreement, other than compensation for personal services or rental of office space, involves an expenditure of more than the amount established in that section regarding expenditures by boards of county commissioners, the supervisors shall make a written contract with the lowest and best bidder after advertisement, for not less than two nor more than four consecutive weeks preceding the day of the opening of bids, in a newspaper of general circulation within the district or as provided in section 7.16 of the Revised Code and in such other publications as the supervisors determine. The notice shall state the general character of the work and materials to be furnished, the place where plans and specifications may be examined, and the time and place of receiving bids.

(2) Each bid for a contract shall contain the full name of every person interested in it.

(3) Each bid for a contract for the construction, demolition, alteration, repair, or reconstruction of an improvement shall meet the requirements of section 153.54 of the Revised Code.

(4) Each bid for a contract, other than a contract for the construction, demolition, alteration, repair, or reconstruction of an improvement, at the discretion of the supervisors, may be accompanied by a bond or certified check on a solvent bank in an amount not to exceed five per cent of the bid, conditioned that, if the bid is accepted, a contract shall be entered into.

(5) The supervisors may reject any and all bids.

(I) To make agreements with the department of natural resources giving it control over lands of the district for the purpose of construction of improvements by the department under section 1501.011 of the Revised Code;

(J) To charge, alter, and collect rentals and other charges for the use or services of any works of the district;

(K) To enter, either in person or by designated representatives, upon lands, private or public, in the necessary discharge of their duties;

(L) To enter into agreements or contracts with the department for the determination, implementation, inspection, and funding of agricultural pollution abatement and urban sediment pollution abatement measures whereby landowners, operators, managers, and developers may meet adopted state standards for a quality environment, except that failure of a district board of supervisors to negotiate an agreement or contract with the department shall authorize the division of soil and water resources to implement the required program;

(M) To conduct demonstrations and provide information to the public regarding practices and methods for natural resource conservation, development, and utilization;

(N) To enter into contracts or agreements with the chief of the division of soil and water resources to implement and administer a program for urban sediment pollution abatement and to receive and expend moneys provided by the chief for that purpose;

(O) To develop operation and management plans, as defined in under section 1511.01 1511.021 of the Revised Code, as necessary;

(P) To determine whether operation and management plans developed under division (A) of section 1511.021 of the Revised Code comply with the standards established under division (E)(1) of section 1511.02 of the Revised Code and to approve or disapprove the plans, based on such compliance. If an operation and management plan is disapproved, the board shall provide a written explanation to the person who submitted the plan. The person may appeal the plan disapproval to the chief, who shall afford the person a hearing. Following the hearing, the chief shall uphold the plan disapproval or reverse it. If the chief reverses the plan disapproval, the plan shall be deemed approved under this division. In the event that any person operating or owning agricultural land or a concentrated animal feeding operation in accordance with an approved operation and management plan who, in good faith, is following that plan, causes agricultural pollution, the plan shall be revised in a fashion necessary to mitigate the agricultural pollution, as determined and approved by the board of supervisors of the soil and water conservation district.

(Q) With regard to composting conducted in conjunction with agricultural operations, to do all of the following:

(1) Upon request or upon their own initiative, inspect composting at any such operation to determine whether the composting is being conducted in accordance with section 1511.022 1511.024 of the Revised Code;

(2) If the board determines that composting is not being so conducted, request the chief to issue an order under division (G) of section 1511.02 of the Revised Code requiring the person who is conducting the composting to prepare a composting plan in accordance with rules adopted under division (E)(8)(c) of that section and to operate in accordance with that plan or to operate in accordance with a previously prepared plan, as applicable;

(3) In accordance with rules adopted under division (E)(8)(c) of section 1511.02 of the Revised Code, review and approve or disapprove any such composting plan. If a plan is disapproved, the board shall provide a written explanation to the person who submitted the plan.

As used in division (Q)(P) of this section, "composting" has the same meaning as in section 1511.01 of the Revised Code.

(R)(Q) With regard to conservation activities that are conducted in conjunction with agricultural operations, to assist the county auditor, upon request, in determining whether a conservation activity is a conservation practice for purposes of Chapter 929. or sections 5713.30 to 5713.37 and 5715.01 of the Revised Code.

As used in this division, "conservation practice" has the same meaning as in section 5713.30 of the Revised Code.

(S)(R) To do all acts necessary or proper to carry out the powers granted in this chapter.

The director of natural resources shall make recommendations to reduce the adverse environmental effects of each project that a soil and water conservation district plans to undertake under division (A), (B), (C), or (D) of this section and that will be funded in whole or in part by moneys authorized under section 1515.16 of the Revised Code and shall disapprove any such project that the director finds will adversely affect the environment without equal or greater benefit to the public. The director's disapproval or recommendations, upon the request of the district filed in accordance with rules adopted by the Ohio soil and water conservation commission, shall be reviewed by the commission, which may confirm the director's decision, modify it, or add recommendations to or approve a project the director has disapproved.

Any instrument by which real property is acquired pursuant to this section shall identify the agency of the state that has the use and benefit of the real property as specified in section 5301.012 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 3717.53. (A) As used in this section:

(1) "Food nutrition information" includes, but is not limited to, the caloric, fat, carbohydrate, cholesterol, fiber, sugar, potassium, protein, vitamin, mineral, allergen, and sodium content of food. "Food nutrition information" also includes the designation of food as healthy or unhealthy.

(2) "Political subdivision" and "local legislation" have the same meanings as in section 905.501 905.503 of the Revised Code.

(3) "Consumer incentive item" means any licensed media character, toy, game, trading card, contest, point accumulation, club membership, admission ticket, token, code or password for digital access, coupon, voucher, incentive, crayons, coloring placemat, or other premium, prize, or consumer product that is associated with a meal served by or acquired from a food service operation.

(B) The director of agriculture has sole and exclusive authority in this state to regulate the provision of food nutrition information and consumer incentive items at food service operations. The director may adopt rules for that purpose in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code, including rules that establish a schedule of civil penalties for violations of this section and rules adopted under it. Subject to the approval of the joint committee on agency rule review, portions of the rules may be adopted by referencing all or any part of any federal regulations pertaining to the provision of food nutrition information and consumer incentive items.

The regulation of the provision of food nutrition information and consumer incentive items at food service operations and how food service operations are characterized are matters of general statewide interest that require statewide regulation, and rules adopted under this section constitute a comprehensive plan with respect to all aspects of the regulation of the provision of food nutrition information and consumer incentive items at food service operations in this state. Rules adopted under this section shall be applied uniformly throughout this state.

(C) No political subdivision shall do any of the following:

(1) Enact, adopt, or continue in effect local legislation relating to the provision or nonprovision of food nutrition information or consumer incentive items at food service operations;

(2) Condition a license, a permit, or regulatory approval on the provision or nonprovision of food nutrition information or consumer incentive items at food service operations;

(3) Ban, prohibit, or otherwise restrict food at food service operations based on the food nutrition information or on the provision or nonprovision of consumer incentive items;

(4) Condition a license, a permit, or regulatory approval for a food service operation on the existence or nonexistence of food-based health disparities;

(5) Where food service operations are permitted to operate, ban, prohibit, or otherwise restrict a food service operation based on the existence or nonexistence of food-based health disparities as recognized by the department of health, the national institute of health, or the centers for disease control.

Sec. 3734.02.  (A) The director of environmental protection, in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code, shall adopt and may amend, suspend, or rescind rules having uniform application throughout the state governing solid waste facilities and the inspections of and issuance of permits and licenses for all solid waste facilities in order to ensure that the facilities will be located, maintained, and operated, and will undergo closure and post-closure care, in a sanitary manner so as not to create a nuisance, cause or contribute to water pollution, create a health hazard, or violate 40 C.F.R. 257.3-2 or 40 C.F.R. 257.3-8, as amended. The rules may include, without limitation, financial assurance requirements for closure and post-closure care and corrective action and requirements for taking corrective action in the event of the surface or subsurface discharge or migration of explosive gases or leachate from a solid waste facility, or of ground water contamination resulting from the transfer or disposal of solid wastes at a facility, beyond the boundaries of any area within a facility that is operating or is undergoing closure or post-closure care where solid wastes were disposed of or are being disposed of. The rules shall not concern or relate to personnel policies, salaries, wages, fringe benefits, or other conditions of employment of employees of persons owning or operating solid waste facilities. The director, in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code, shall adopt and may amend, suspend, or rescind rules governing the issuance, modification, revocation, suspension, or denial of variances from the director's solid waste rules, including, without limitation, rules adopted under this chapter governing the management of scrap tires.

Variances shall be issued, modified, revoked, suspended, or rescinded in accordance with this division, rules adopted under it, and Chapter 3745. of the Revised Code. The director may order the person to whom a variance is issued to take such action within such time as the director may determine to be appropriate and reasonable to prevent the creation of a nuisance or a hazard to the public health or safety or the environment. Applications for variances shall contain such detail plans, specifications, and information regarding objectives, procedures, controls, and other pertinent data as the director may require. The director shall grant a variance only if the applicant demonstrates to the director's satisfaction that construction and operation of the solid waste facility in the manner allowed by the variance and any terms or conditions imposed as part of the variance will not create a nuisance or a hazard to the public health or safety or the environment. In granting any variance, the director shall state the specific provision or provisions whose terms are to be varied and also shall state specific terms or conditions imposed upon the applicant in place of the provision or provisions. The director may hold a public hearing on an application for a variance or renewal of a variance at a location in the county where the operations that are the subject of the application for the variance are conducted. The director shall give not less than twenty days' notice of the hearing to the applicant by certified mail or by another type of mail accompanied by a receipt and shall publish at least one notice of the hearing in a newspaper with general circulation in the county where the hearing is to be held. The director shall make available for public inspection at the principal office of the environmental protection agency a current list of pending applications for variances and a current schedule of pending variance hearings. The director shall make a complete stenographic record of testimony and other evidence submitted at the hearing. Within ten days after the hearing, the director shall make a written determination to issue, renew, or deny the variance and shall enter the determination and the basis for it into the record of the hearing. The director shall issue, renew, or deny an application for a variance or renewal of a variance within six months of the date upon which the director receives a complete application with all pertinent information and data required. No variance shall be issued, revoked, modified, or denied until the director has considered the relative interests of the applicant, other persons and property affected by the variance, and the general public. Any variance granted under this division shall be for a period specified by the director and may be renewed from time to time on such terms and for such periods as the director determines to be appropriate. No application shall be denied and no variance shall be revoked or modified without a written order stating the findings upon which the denial, revocation, or modification is based. A copy of the order shall be sent to the applicant or variance holder by certified mail or by another type of mail accompanied by a receipt.

(B) The director shall prescribe and furnish the forms necessary to administer and enforce this chapter. The director may cooperate with and enter into agreements with other state, local, or federal agencies to carry out the purposes of this chapter. The director may exercise all incidental powers necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter.

The director may use moneys in the infectious waste management fund created in section 3734.021 of the Revised Code exclusively for administering and enforcing the provisions of this chapter governing the management of infectious wastes.

(C) Except as provided in this division and divisions (N)(2) and (3) of this section, no person shall establish a new solid waste facility or infectious waste treatment facility, or modify an existing solid waste facility or infectious waste treatment facility, without submitting an application for a permit with accompanying detail plans, specifications, and information regarding the facility and method of operation and receiving a permit issued by the director, except that no permit shall be required under this division to install or operate a solid waste facility for sewage sludge treatment or disposal when the treatment or disposal is authorized by a current permit issued under Chapter 3704. or 6111. of the Revised Code.

No person shall continue to operate a solid waste facility for which the director has denied a permit for which an application was required under division (A)(3) of section 3734.05 of the Revised Code, or for which the director has disapproved plans and specifications required to be filed by an order issued under division (A)(5) of that section, after the date prescribed for commencement of closure of the facility in the order issued under division (A)(6) of section 3734.05 of the Revised Code denying the permit application or approval.

On and after the effective date of the rules adopted under division (A) of this section and division (D) of section 3734.12 of the Revised Code governing solid waste transfer facilities, no person shall establish a new, or modify an existing, solid waste transfer facility without first submitting an application for a permit with accompanying engineering detail plans, specifications, and information regarding the facility and its method of operation to the director and receiving a permit issued by the director.

No person shall establish a new compost facility or continue to operate an existing compost facility that accepts exclusively source separated yard wastes without submitting a completed registration for the facility to the director in accordance with rules adopted under divisions (A) and (N)(3) of this section.

This division does not apply to a generator of infectious wastes that does any of the following:

(1) Treats, by methods, techniques, and practices established by rules adopted under division (B)(2)(a) of section 3734.021 of the Revised Code, any of the following:

(a) Infectious wastes that are generated on any premises that are owned or operated by the generator;

(b) Infectious wastes that are generated by a generator who has staff privileges at a hospital as defined in section 3727.01 of the Revised Code;

(c) Infectious wastes that are generated in providing care to a patient by an emergency medical services organization as defined in section 4765.01 of the Revised Code.

(2) Holds a license or renewal of a license to operate a crematory facility issued under Chapter 4717. and a permit issued under Chapter 3704. of the Revised Code;

(3) Treats or disposes of dead animals or parts thereof, or the blood of animals, and is subject to any of the following:

(a) Inspection under the "Federal Meat Inspection Act," 81 Stat. 584 (1967), 21 U.S.C.A. 603, as amended;

(b) Chapter 918. of the Revised Code;

(c) Chapter 953. of the Revised Code.

(D) Neither this chapter nor any rules adopted under it apply to single-family residential premises; to infectious wastes generated by individuals for purposes of their own care or treatment; to the temporary storage of solid wastes, other than scrap tires, prior to their collection for disposal; to the storage of one hundred or fewer scrap tires unless they are stored in such a manner that, in the judgment of the director or the board of health of the health district in which the scrap tires are stored, the storage causes a nuisance, a hazard to public health or safety, or a fire hazard; or to the collection of solid wastes, other than scrap tires, by a political subdivision or a person holding a franchise or license from a political subdivision of the state; to composting, as defined in section 1511.01 of the Revised Code, conducted in accordance with section 1511.022 1511.024 of the Revised Code; or to any person who is licensed to transport raw rendering material to a compost facility pursuant to section 953.23 of the Revised Code.

(E)(1) As used in this division:

(a) "On-site facility" means a facility that stores, treats, or disposes of hazardous waste that is generated on the premises of the facility.

(b) "Off-site facility" means a facility that stores, treats, or disposes of hazardous waste that is generated off the premises of the facility and includes such a facility that is also an on-site facility.

(c) "Satellite facility" means any of the following:

(i) An on-site facility that also receives hazardous waste from other premises owned by the same person who generates the waste on the facility premises;

(ii) An off-site facility operated so that all of the hazardous waste it receives is generated on one or more premises owned by the person who owns the facility;

(iii) An on-site facility that also receives hazardous waste that is transported uninterruptedly and directly to the facility through a pipeline from a generator who is not the owner of the facility.

(2) Except as provided in division (E)(3) of this section, no person shall establish or operate a hazardous waste facility, or use a solid waste facility for the storage, treatment, or disposal of any hazardous waste, without a hazardous waste facility installation and operation permit issued in accordance with section 3734.05 of the Revised Code and subject to the payment of an application fee not to exceed one thousand five hundred dollars, payable upon application for a hazardous waste facility installation and operation permit and upon application for a renewal permit issued under division (H) of section 3734.05 of the Revised Code, to be credited to the hazardous waste facility management fund created in section 3734.18 of the Revised Code. The term of a hazardous waste facility installation and operation permit shall not exceed ten years.

In addition to the application fee, there is hereby levied an annual permit fee to be paid by the permit holder upon the anniversaries of the date of issuance of the hazardous waste facility installation and operation permit and of any subsequent renewal permits and to be credited to the hazardous waste facility management fund. Annual permit fees totaling forty thousand dollars or more for any one facility may be paid on a quarterly basis with the first quarterly payment each year being due on the anniversary of the date of issuance of the hazardous waste facility installation and operation permit and of any subsequent renewal permits. The annual permit fee shall be determined for each permit holder by the director in accordance with the following schedule:

A hazardous waste disposal facility that disposes of hazardous waste by deep well injection and that pays the annual permit fee established in section 6111.046 of the Revised Code is not subject to the permit fee established in this division for disposal facilities using deep well injection unless the director determines that the facility is not in compliance with applicable requirements established under this chapter and rules adopted under it.

In determining the annual permit fee required by this section, the director shall not require additional payments for multiple units of the same method of storage, treatment, or disposal or for individual units that are used for both storage and treatment. A facility using more than one method of storage, treatment, or disposal shall pay the permit fee indicated by the schedule for each such method.

The director shall not require the payment of that portion of an annual permit fee of any permit holder that would apply to a hazardous waste management unit for which a permit has been issued, but for which construction has not yet commenced. Once construction has commenced, the director shall require the payment of a part of the appropriate fee indicated by the schedule that bears the same relationship to the total fee that the number of days remaining until the next anniversary date at which payment of the annual permit fee is due bears to three hundred sixty-five.

The director, by rules adopted in accordance with Chapters 119. and 3745. of the Revised Code, shall prescribe procedures for collecting the annual permit fee established by this division and may prescribe other requirements necessary to carry out this division.

(3) The prohibition against establishing or operating a hazardous waste facility without a hazardous waste facility installation and operation permit does not apply to either of the following:

(a) A facility that is operating in accordance with a permit renewal issued under division (H) of section 3734.05 of the Revised Code, a revision issued under division (I) of that section as it existed prior to August 20, 1996, or a modification issued by the director under division (I) of that section on and after August 20, 1996;

(b) Except as provided in division (J) of section 3734.05 of the Revised Code, a facility that will operate or is operating in accordance with a permit by rule, or that is not subject to permit requirements, under rules adopted by the director. In accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code, the director shall adopt, and subsequently may amend, suspend, or rescind, rules for the purposes of division (E)(3)(b) of this section. Any rules so adopted shall be consistent with and equivalent to regulations pertaining to interim status adopted under the "Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976," 90 Stat. 2806, 42 U.S.C.A. 6921, as amended, except as otherwise provided in this chapter.

If a modification is requested or proposed for a facility described in division (E)(3)(a) or (b) of this section, division (I)(7) of section 3734.05 of the Revised Code applies.

(F) No person shall store, treat, or dispose of hazardous waste identified or listed under this chapter and rules adopted under it, regardless of whether generated on or off the premises where the waste is stored, treated, or disposed of, or transport or cause to be transported any hazardous waste identified or listed under this chapter and rules adopted under it to any other premises, except at or to any of the following:

(1) A hazardous waste facility operating under a permit issued in accordance with this chapter;

(2) A facility in another state operating under a license or permit issued in accordance with the "Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976," 90 Stat. 2806, 42 U.S.C.A. 6921, as amended;

(3) A facility in another nation operating in accordance with the laws of that nation;

(4) A facility holding a permit issued pursuant to Title I of the "Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972," 86 Stat. 1052, 33 U.S.C.A. 1401, as amended;

(5) A hazardous waste facility as described in division (E)(3)(a) or (b) of this section.

(G) The director, by order, may exempt any person generating, collecting, storing, treating, disposing of, or transporting solid wastes, infectious wastes, or hazardous waste, or processing solid wastes that consist of scrap tires, in such quantities or under such circumstances that, in the determination of the director, are unlikely to adversely affect the public health or safety or the environment from any requirement to obtain a registration certificate, permit, or license or comply with the manifest system or other requirements of this chapter. Such an exemption shall be consistent with and equivalent to any regulations adopted by the administrator of the United States environmental protection agency under the "Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976," 90 Stat. 2806, 42 U.S.C.A. 6921, as amended, except as otherwise provided in this chapter.

(H) No person shall engage in filling, grading, excavating, building, drilling, or mining on land where a hazardous waste facility, or a solid waste facility, was operated without prior authorization from the director, who shall establish the procedure for granting such authorization by rules adopted in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code.

A public utility that has main or distribution lines above or below the land surface located on an easement or right-of-way across land where a solid waste facility was operated may engage in any such activity within the easement or right-of-way without prior authorization from the director for purposes of performing emergency repair or emergency replacement of its lines; of the poles, towers, foundations, or other structures supporting or sustaining any such lines; or of the appurtenances to those structures, necessary to restore or maintain existing public utility service. A public utility may enter upon any such easement or right-of-way without prior authorization from the director for purposes of performing necessary or routine maintenance of those portions of its existing lines; of the existing poles, towers, foundations, or other structures sustaining or supporting its lines; or of the appurtenances to any such supporting or sustaining structure, located on or above the land surface on any such easement or right-of-way. Within twenty-four hours after commencing any such emergency repair, replacement, or maintenance work, the public utility shall notify the director or the director's authorized representative of those activities and shall provide such information regarding those activities as the director or the director's representative may request. Upon completion of the emergency repair, replacement, or maintenance activities, the public utility shall restore any land of the solid waste facility disturbed by those activities to the condition existing prior to the commencement of those activities.

(I) No owner or operator of a hazardous waste facility, in the operation of the facility, shall cause, permit, or allow the emission therefrom of any particulate matter, dust, fumes, gas, mist, smoke, vapor, or odorous substance that, in the opinion of the director, unreasonably interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property by persons living or working in the vicinity of the facility, or that is injurious to public health. Any such action is hereby declared to be a public nuisance.

(J) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, in the event the director finds an imminent and substantial danger to public health or safety or the environment that creates an emergency situation requiring the immediate treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous waste, the director may issue a temporary emergency permit to allow the treatment, storage, or disposal of the hazardous waste at a facility that is not otherwise authorized by a hazardous waste facility installation and operation permit to treat, store, or dispose of the waste. The emergency permit shall not exceed ninety days in duration and shall not be renewed. The director shall adopt, and may amend, suspend, or rescind, rules in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code governing the issuance, modification, revocation, and denial of emergency permits.

(K) Except for infectious wastes generated by a person who produces fewer than fifty pounds of infectious wastes at a premises during any one month, no owner or operator of a sanitary landfill shall knowingly accept for disposal, or dispose of, any infectious wastes that have not been treated to render them noninfectious.

(L) The director, in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code, shall adopt, and may amend, suspend, or rescind, rules having uniform application throughout the state establishing a training and certification program that shall be required for employees of boards of health who are responsible for enforcing the solid waste and infectious waste provisions of this chapter and rules adopted under them and for persons who are responsible for the operation of solid waste facilities or infectious waste treatment facilities. The rules shall provide all of the following, without limitation:

(1) The program shall be administered by the director and shall consist of a course on new solid waste and infectious waste technologies, enforcement procedures, and rules;

(2) The course shall be offered on an annual basis;

(3) Those persons who are required to take the course under division (L) of this section shall do so triennially;

(4) Persons who successfully complete the course shall be certified by the director;

(5) Certification shall be required for all employees of boards of health who are responsible for enforcing the solid waste or infectious waste provisions of this chapter and rules adopted under them and for all persons who are responsible for the operation of solid waste facilities or infectious waste treatment facilities;

(6)(a) All employees of a board of health who, on the effective date of the rules adopted under this division, are responsible for enforcing the solid waste or infectious waste provisions of this chapter and the rules adopted under them shall complete the course and be certified by the director not later than January 1, 1995;

(b) All employees of a board of health who, after the effective date of the rules adopted under division (L) of this section, become responsible for enforcing the solid waste or infectious waste provisions of this chapter and rules adopted under them and who do not hold a current and valid certification from the director at that time shall complete the course and be certified by the director within two years after becoming responsible for performing those activities.

No person shall fail to obtain the certification required under this division.

(M) The director shall not issue a permit under section 3734.05 of the Revised Code to establish a solid waste facility, or to modify a solid waste facility operating on December 21, 1988, in a manner that expands the disposal capacity or geographic area covered by the facility, that is or is to be located within the boundaries of a state park established or dedicated under Chapter 1541. of the Revised Code, a state park purchase area established under section 1541.02 of the Revised Code, any unit of the national park system, or any property that lies within the boundaries of a national park or recreation area, but that has not been acquired or is not administered by the secretary of the United States department of the interior, located in this state, or any candidate area located in this state and identified for potential inclusion in the national park system in the edition of the "national park system plan" submitted under paragraph (b) of section 8 of "The Act of August 18, 1970," 84 Stat. 825, 16 U.S.C.A. 1a-5, as amended, current at the time of filing of the application for the permit, unless the facility or proposed facility is or is to be used exclusively for the disposal of solid wastes generated within the park or recreation area and the director determines that the facility or proposed facility will not degrade any of the natural or cultural resources of the park or recreation area. The director shall not issue a variance under division (A) of this section and rules adopted under it, or issue an exemption order under division (G) of this section, that would authorize any such establishment or expansion of a solid waste facility within the boundaries of any such park or recreation area, state park purchase area, or candidate area, other than a solid waste facility exclusively for the disposal of solid wastes generated within the park or recreation area when the director determines that the facility will not degrade any of the natural or cultural resources of the park or recreation area.

(N)(1) The rules adopted under division (A) of this section, other than those governing variances, do not apply to scrap tire collection, storage, monocell, monofill, and recovery facilities. Those facilities are subject to and governed by rules adopted under sections 3734.70 to 3734.73 of the Revised Code, as applicable.

(2) Division (C) of this section does not apply to scrap tire collection, storage, monocell, monofill, and recovery facilities. The establishment and modification of those facilities are subject to sections 3734.75 to 3734.78 and section 3734.81 of the Revised Code, as applicable.

(3) The director may adopt, amend, suspend, or rescind rules under division (A) of this section creating an alternative system for authorizing the establishment, operation, or modification of a solid waste compost facility in lieu of the requirement that a person seeking to establish, operate, or modify a solid waste compost facility apply for and receive a permit under division (C) of this section and section 3734.05 of the Revised Code and a license under division (A)(1) of that section. The rules may include requirements governing, without limitation, the classification of solid waste compost facilities, the submittal of operating records for solid waste compost facilities, and the creation of a registration or notification system in lieu of the issuance of permits and licenses for solid waste compost facilities. The rules shall specify the applicability of divisions (A)(1), (2)(a), (3), and (4) of section 3734.05 of the Revised Code to a solid waste compost facility.

(O)(1) As used in this division, "secondary aluminum waste" means waste material or byproducts, when disposed of, containing aluminum generated from secondary aluminum smelting operations and consisting of dross, salt cake, baghouse dust associated with aluminum recycling furnace operations, or dry-milled wastes.

(2) The owner or operator of a sanitary landfill shall not dispose of municipal solid waste that has been commingled with secondary aluminum waste.

(3) The owner or operator of a sanitary landfill may dispose of secondary aluminum waste, but only in a monocell or monofill that has been permitted for that purpose in accordance with this chapter and rules adopted under it.

Sec. 3734.029.  (A)(1) Except as otherwise provided in division (A)(2) of this section, the standards of quality for compost products established in rules adopted under division (A) of section 3734.028 of the Revised Code apply to compost products produced by a facility composting dead animals that is subject to section 1511.022 1511.024 of the Revised Code in addition to compost products produced by facilities subject to this chapter.

(2) The standards of quality established in rules adopted under division (A) of section 3734.028 of the Revised Code do not apply to the use, distribution for use, or giving away of the compost products produced by a composting facility subject to section 1511.022 1511.024 of the Revised Code when either of the following applies:

(a) The composting is conducted by the person who raises the animals and the compost product is used in agricultural operations owned or operated by that person, regardless of whether the person owns the animals;.

(b) The composting is conducted by the person who owns the animals, but does not raise them and the compost product is used in agricultural operations either by a person who raises the animals or by a person who raises grain that is used to feed them and that is supplied by the owner of the animals.

(B) No owner or operator of a composting facility that is subject to regulation under section 1511.022 1511.024 of the Revised Code shall sell or offer for sale at retail or wholesale, distribute for use, or give away any compost product that does not comply with the standard of quality applicable under division (A) of this section for the use for which the product is being sold, offered for sale, distributed, or given away.

No person shall violate this division.

Section 2.  That existing sections 903.25, 905.31, 905.32, 905.34, 905.36, 905.39, 905.41, 905.45, 905.46, 905.47, 905.48, 905.49, 905.50, 905.501, 905.99, 907.111, 921.06, 921.11, 921.16, 941.14, 953.22, 1511.01, 1511.02, 1511.021, 1511.022, 1511.07, 1511.071, 1515.01, 1515.02, 1515.08, 3717.53, 3734.02, and 3734.029 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.

Section 3. (A) In accordance with the amendment of section 1515.02 of the Revised Code by this act, the Governor shall appoint two additional members to the Ohio Soil and Water Conservation Commission established in that section, as amended by this act, not later than thirty days after the effective date of this section as follows:

(1) One member shall be appointed for a term ending June 30, 2015.

(2) One member shall be appointed for a term ending June 30, 2016.

Thereafter, terms of office for the additional members shall be for four years, each term ending on the same day of the same month of the year as did the term that it succeeds. Those additional members may be reappointed in accordance with section 1515.02 of the Revised Code, as amended by this act.

(B) The Soil and Water Conservation Commission established in section 1515.02 of the Revised Code, as amended by this act, is a continuation of the Soil and Water Conservation Commission established in that section prior to its amendment by this act.