Pesticides, Continued: Most Bills Exterminated in Hartford for 2013

It seems as if the General Assembly in Hartford is following through on something we were told last month: they will act on no major pesticide bills this year and instead will form a task force.

The Connecticut Post has an account, here.

We were told that the pro-pesticide lobby and legislators were poised to overturn a ban on the use of pesticides at pre-K through 8th-grade schools, and that the task force idea was a way for legislators who favor tougher pesticide rules to buy time.

An exception to the no-pesticide-bill decision seems to be a bill that would ban two mosquito insecticides, resmethrin and methoprene, in the coastal zone. It moved out of the Environment Committee this week and is waiting to be put on the House calendar for a vote.

We have more about these bills and our positions on them on our Legislative Tracking page. — Tom Andersen, director of communications and community outreach.