Without a vote to spare, Arizona?EUR??,,????'???s House on May 1 approved legislation that says people can spray chemicals they can buy in hardware and department stores without getting a license from the state.

More to the point, it exempts them from having to undergo 3,000 hours of training. A final Senate vote on the proposal will send the bill to the governor. The May vote is a victory for landscapers, maintenance workers and others who have the occasional need to kill weeds and use off-the-shelf products. They had been considered exempt from licensure, just like homeowners, until state law was changed three years ago.

Rep. John Allen, R-Scottsdale, who supported the change, said it now appears to have been a mistake.

“Basically, we created a monopoly in the pest-control business,” he said.

What it also did is result in the Structural Pest Control Board issuing citations against two Pima County residents: Gary Rissmiller who owns a landscaping business where employees use weed killers, and Larry Park who works as a landscaper for the Sunflower Community Association in Marana.

Allen and Sen. Barbara Leff, R-Paradise Valley, said the law was so broad even those who spray products like RoundUp, which is available to anyone, would wind up in legal trouble if they used it on any property except their own.