The Bexley City Council held a third reading of the proposed "Mosquito Contractor" ordinance at their October 10th meeting.  When the measure was called, the city attorney informed the council members that OhioPLANT's legal arguments, provided in testimony at a prior council meeting, were correct and that the ordinance was preempted by the state's pesticide law. 

OhioPLANT's lobbyist, Tony Seegers, had testified at the September 26 council meeting that the Ohio Department of Agriculture has the sole authority to license and regulate commercial applicators under Chapter 921 of the Ohio Revised Code.  Under the law, local governments are explicitly prohibited from requiring commercial applicators to register with them.  The law also prohibits local governments from regulating the operations of commercial applicators in their jurisdiction. Additionally, the pesticide preemption language OhioPLANT successfully lobbied to become law last year also was cited in the testimony as new authority to prohibit such an ordinance.  (You can read about this new preemption statute, here.)

After the city attorney informed the council that OhioPLANT's arguments were right, the council voted to withdraw the proposed ordinance and no longer consider the issue.