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

AUGUSTA — On Thursday, Sen. Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, introduced a bill 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,” was the subject of a public hearing before the Legislature’s Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.

“This bill is seeking to build on work that’s already been done over the years to improve families’ and the public’s awareness of what pesticides are being used at local schools. I first became invested in this issue when I was in high school, after an incident where pesticides were inappropriately sprayed on a windy day,” said Sen. Daughtry. “I’m eager to work with the committee to make sure this bill is one that best helps students, their families and the public.”

LD 524 would require a school to maintain a pest management activity log related to the application of pesticides. This information would be provided annually to the state Board of Pesticides Control, which is part of the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, and requires the board to post the information on its publicly accessible website. It also would require that the board post on its publicly accessible website a list of all board inspections of a school’s use of pesticides and the results of those inspections.

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 faces further action in committee.