Committee approves Sen. Daughtry bill to provide transparency about pesticides used at schools

AUGUSTA — On Tuesday, the Legislature’s Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry voted in favor of a bill from Sen. Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, to improve transparency about what pesticides are being used on school grounds. LD 524, “An Act To Require Schools To Submit Pest Management Activity Logs to the Board of Pesticides Control and the Posting of Inspection Results for the Purpose of Providing Information to the Public,” received a vote of 12-1.

“This issue is incredibly personal to me — I first testified to the Maine Legislature as a teen about an inappropriate application of a pesticide on a windy day at school. The more we know about what pesticides are being used around students, and how those pesticides are being applied, the better off we’ll all be,” said Sen. Daughtry. “I’m thankful to the committee for their thoughtful work on this bill, and their strong support of this important issue.”

As amended, LD 524, as a resolve, would direct the state Board of Pesticides Control, which is part of the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, to collect data on pesticides used at schools and determine the best way to share this information with the public.

Kathy Murray, integrated pest management entomologist with the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, testified in support of the bill, saying the department “supports making these records more easily accessible to the general public.”

“Schools are accountable to the parents and communities they serve. Transparency is important in maintaining the public trust,” said Krystyna Dzialo, testifying in support of the bill on behalf of the Maine Education Association. “This bill will simply require schools to document and make available to the public, details of the pest management products that they are using as well as details on the application of these products.”

LD 524 now faces votes in the Senate and House.