An Act to Make Revisions to the Laws Governing Pesticide Control (2006)
As amended by the majority of the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, this otherwise good bill would have made it more difficult to establish regulations that protect Maine people and wildlife from poisonous pesticides. The amended legislation required that all rules governing pesticide application return to the Legislature as so-called “Major Substantive Rules” before they can be implemented. This cumbersome process of bringing regulations back to the Legislature can result in significant delays, increased politicization of the issues, and additional opportunities for regulated industries to weaken the proposals. The amended bill ultimately was rejected and replaced with language that does not categorically require pesticide regulations to return to the Legislature for approval.
