Blowing Away an L.A. Law

If you can’t beat the regulators on the local level, there’s always one final fallback position: Get the Legislature to do it for you. That is the course being pursued by Sen. Richard G. Polanco (D-Los Angeles) in behalf of gardener groups that rely heavily on noisy leaf blowers to clean lawns and such.

Sponsors, including the Assn. of Latin American Gardeners of Los Angeles, say the idea behind Polanco’s SB 1651 is to pressure industry to develop quieter blowers. Landscape architects and the state Chamber of Commerce are also expected to support the measure Monday at the first hearing on the legislation. Beginning in 2000, commercial gardeners could use blowers only if they met strict new noise standards.

All well and good. But that’s not all. In the interim, the proposed legislation would nullify most municipal leaf blower ordinances now on the books, including that of Los Angeles.

It’s not unusual for the state to preempt local laws in order to adopt a single statewide standard. The state usually steps in when the problem is common to all of California, such as controlling the sale of guns or establishing automobile emission levels.

The state has a proper role in setting reasonable statewide noise standards on leaf blower manufacturers--just as it has set standards for auto emissions. That way the industry would not be confronted with differing standards in various and disparate communities. But if ever there was a local issue, the proper use of leaf blowers by gardeners themselves would seem to be it.

Let city councils and local gardener groups work out their own compromises that more or less suit local tastes and local law enforcement capabilities. Such compromises don’t come easily, and the state really shouldn’t preempt local decisions in this matter.