State Sen. Abel Maldonado stepped into the spray fray Wednesday, backing legislation that would require the state to better plan for the arrival of invasive pests and to explain controversial issues surrounding aerial spraying to fight the light brown apple moth.

"What I support is accountability and disclosure," said Maldonado, R-Santa Maria. "I don't know what's the best thing to do away with light brown apple moth, but we have scientists and we have people that are experts. My job is to make sure everybody in my district is safe."

Maldonado's comments came after the Senate agricultural committee, which he leads, voted unanimously in favor of two bills by Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz. Laird wrote the bills after the uproar over the state's decision to aerially spray parts of Santa Cruz and Monterey counties with pesticide to fight the Australian light brown apple moth without first conducting an environmental review.

After airplanes dropped the pesticide CheckMate LBAM-F over the two counties last year, residents complained the spray caused health and respiratory problems, and that they were being used as a "science experiment." State agricultural officials argued the spraying was necessary to fight a pest that could decimate California's crops.

Laird's first resolution, ACR 117, calls on the state to "address unresolved health, scientific and efficacy issues" that surround the spraying. AB 2763 orders the state to list the invasive pests most likely to enter California, and develop plans to deal with them.

County Supervisor Neal Coonerty, an outspoken critic of the moth spraying, said he was pleasantly surprised to hear of Maldonado's position, considering the Republican senator hails from an agricultural region.

"I think the farming community is uneasy about civilians interfering with their need to apply pesticides and chemicals in order to make their crops work," Coonerty said. "I would have thought that he would have come much more from that angle. I'm pleased that he recognizes there is a problem with this situation and he's addressing it."

Judges stopped aerial spraying in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties earlier this year until an environmental review is done, though state officials have said they will appeal. In other parts of the state, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger halted the spraying until Aug. 17 to give health officials time to examine the pesticide's effects on humans.

Meanwhile, Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, spent Wednesday with U.S. Department of Agriculture leaders discussing the apple moth spraying. No announcement was made from those talks, but USDA staff reportedly did answer in writing questions that Farr previously submitted to the federal office.

Those answers state that the federal government identified the light brown apple moth a as a potential pest back in 1957.

Contact G. Bookwalter at 706-3286 or gbookwalter@santacruzsentinel.com.