Researcher: KLM Page 1 4/21/22
OLR Bill Analysis
sSB 120 (File 68, as amended by Senate “A”)*
AN ACT CONCERNING THE USE OF CHLORPYRIFOS ON GOLF
COURSES AND NEONICOTINOIDS FOR NONAGRICULTURAL USE.
SUMMARY
Beginning January 1, 2023, this bill prohibits using or applying
chlorpyrifos (1) on golf courses or (2) for cosmetic or nonagricultural
uses (see BACKGROUND). The bill allows the Department of Energy
and Environmental Protection (DEEP) commissioner to assess a civil
penalty of up to $2,500 to violators of the ban.
The bill also requires the DEEP commissioner to establish a working
group to determine (1) if additional statutory restrictions or prohibitions
on using neonicotinoids are needed (see BACKGROUND) and (2) the
agricultural plants and pet care and personal products that should be
exempt from them. The commissioner must submit a report to the
Environment Committee by January 1, 2023, on the working group’s
recommendations.
Under the bill, the DEEP commissioner selects the working group’s
members. Members must be from DEEP, the Connecticut Agricultural
Experiment Station, the Connecticut Grounds Keepers Association, the
Connecticut Pest Control Association, the Connecticut Association of
Golf Course Superintendents, Friends of the Earth, Pollinators Pathway,
and the Connecticut Beekeeper’s Association.
*Senate Amendment “A” (1) replaces the underlying bill’s general
ban on using pesticides with neonicotinoids with the neonicotinoid
working group; (2) establishes the specific civil penalty for a
chlorpyrifos ban violation, instead of allowing DEEP to enforce the ban
within its existing pesticide enforcement authority; and (3) delays the
chlorpyrifos ban by three months (from October 1, 2022, to January 1,
2023). 2022SB-00120-R01-BA.DOCX
Researcher: KLM Page 2 4/21/22
EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2023, except the working group
provision takes effect upon passage.
BACKGROUND
Agriculture Under § 1-1(q)
The state’s general definitions of agriculture and farming include,
among other things, (1) soil cultivation; (2) dairying; (3) forestry; and
(4) raising or harvesting an agricultural commodity, including raising,
shearing, feeding, caring for, training, and managing livestock,
including horses, bees (honey production), poultry, fur-bearing
animals, and wildlife. The terms also include such things as aquaculture;
operating or maintaining a farm and its equipment (as part of farming
operations); harvesting or producing maple syrup or lumber (as part of
farming operations); harvesting mushrooms; hatching poultry; making
or maintaining ditches or waterways for farming; and certain actions to
market or sell farm products.
Chlorpyrifos
Chlorpyrifos is a “restricted use” organophosphate pesticide used
mainly to control foliage and soil-borne insect pests. By law, because
chlorpyrifos is a restricted use pesticide, it may only be applied by
someone (1) certified under state law to do so or (2) directly supervised
by a certified individual. Restricted use pesticides are those classified by
the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or DEEP as they
may cause unreasonable adverse health or environmental effects.
There is an ongoing review and assessment of the pesticide’s
registration. In 2021, EPA issued a final rule revoking the tolerances of
chlorpyrifos (i.e., the maximum amount of a pesticide that may remain
in or on a food) as of February 28, 2022. The tolerance revocation applies
to land and greenhouse food crops and certain commercial livestock
uses.
Neonicotinoid
By law, a neonicotinoid is a pesticide that selectively acts on an
organism’s nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (i.e., impacts the nervous
system), including clothianidin, dinotefuran, imidacloprid, 2022SB-00120-R01-BA.DOCX
Researcher: KLM Page 3 4/21/22
thiamethoxam, and any other pesticide that the DEEP commissioner,
after consulting with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station,
determines will kill at least 50% of a bee population when up to two
micrograms of it is applied to each bee (CGS § 22-61k). Neonicotinoids
that are labeled for treating plants are “restricted use,” meaning that
they may only be applied by someone (1) certified under state law to do
so or (2) directly supervised by a certified person (see Chlorpyrifos,
above). Neonicotinoids are also under EPA review.
Existing law prohibits applying (1) an insecticide that is a
neonicotinoid to linden or basswood trees in the state (CGS § 22a-61a)
and (2) a neonicotinoid that is labeled for treating plants to a blossoming
plant unless it, among other things, is in a greenhouse that is inaccessible
to pollinators (CGS § 22a-61b).
COMMITTEE ACTION
Environment Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 21 Nay 10 (03/04/2022)
Appropriations Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 36 Nay 12 (04/18/2022)