Bill H.814 - Local Option Pesticide Protection

Full Bill Name: An Act empowering towns and cities to protect residents and the environment from harmful pesticides

Current Status: Read more.

Background: Neonicotinoids and glyphosate are causing damage to our Commonwealth’s natural environment. The choice of when and how to restrict chemicals like these is a subject that requires complex trade-offs. In such cases, it is often best to defer to communities to make such decisions for themselves, based on their specific needs and values.   

What this resolution does: H.814 establishes minimum standards and restrictions relative to the use and application and disposal of pesticides. It provides that and cities and towns may, by a majority vote of the legislative body and approval from the municipality's board of health, adopt ordinances and by-laws that regulate, restrict or prohibit the use and application or disposal of pesticides within the city or town that are more stringent than the standards and restrictions established by this bill.