The House Agriculture and Livestock Committee is considering two bills sponsored by Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, to protect pollinators, a group that includes bees and other beneficial insects, songbirds and bats. House Bill 2483 would ban the use of a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids, or neonics, in public road rights of way. The other bill, HB 2484, would create a Bee Pollinator Goals Task Force composed of state agency officials, to develop bee pollinator goals and evaluate what else can be done to protect bees in the state. Bay Scoggin, director of the Texas Public Interest Research Group, said in an announcement, “We hope the committee will have a vibrant discussion about the problems pollinators are facing in this state. We need incremental improvements like these bills to make big steps in protecting our pollinators.” Honeybees and native bee species are essential to our food supply. Without pollination, the Center for Food Safety says that up to 70 percent of plants would be unable to reproduce or provide food.
Two bills to help bees and other pollinators
