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• (4) 1999 – Public Act 99-165 – establishes a school pesticide law in response to Environment and Human Health's report on Pesticide uses in Connecticut's Public Schools. The law requires that:

(5) 2005 — Public Act 05-252 - Bans the use of lawn-care pesticides on public and private grammar schools' and children's daycare centers' grounds. This law took effect in January 2006. There is a 3-year exemption for grammar school athletic fields – but in that 3-year period the athletic fields must use Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods and then after the three years is up, those fields must become organic as well. The rationale is that it takes some time to wean athletic fields from their chemical dependency and on to organic methods. The ban on lawn-care pesticides will apply to the grammar school athletic fields as of July 2008.

(6) 2007 – Public Act No. 07-168 establishes a lawn-care pesticide ban on the grounds of public and private schools with grades K-8.  Public Act 05-252 stays in affect for Children's Day Care Centers while Public Act 07-168 supercedes Public Act for  05-252 for grades K-8.

• Bans the use of lawn-care pesticides on public and private school grounds with grades K-8 as of October, 2007.

There is a two-year exemption for the athletic fields of schools K-8 - however the fields must be maintained by using Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods. At the end of the two-year period the athletic fields must become organic as well.  The rationale being that it takes some time to wean athletic fields off of their chemical dependency and onto organic methods.

The ban on lawn-care pesticides applies to school athletic fields with grades K-8 as of July 1, 2010.

(7) 2010 – Public Act 09-56 bans the use of lawn-care pesticides on the grounds of children's day care centers as of July 1, 2010.

(8) 2016 - Public Act No. 16-17: AN ACT CONCERNING POLLINATOR HEALTH. Effective Oct. 1, 2016.

This act establishes numerous requirements related to pollinator health and habitat. Pollinators are organisms that spread pollen between flowers, such as bees and butterflies.

Among other things, the law:

1. Prohibits applying neonicotinoid (a) insecticide to linden or basswood trees or (b) labeled for treating plants to plants with blossoms;
2. Requires the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) commissioner to classify certain neonicotinoids as "restricted use" pesticides;
3. Requires the Department of Agriculture (DoAg) commissioner to develop best practices for minimizing the release of neonicotinoid insecticide dust from treated seeds;
4. Requires the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) to develop a citizen's guide to model pollinator habitat;
5. Establishes a Pollinator Advisory Committee to inform legislators on pollinator issues;
6. Specifies that Connecticut Siting Council orders to restore or revegetate in certain rights-of-way must include provisions for model pollinator habitat; 7. Includes model pollinator habitat in any conservation plan DoAg requires as part of its farm preservation programs;
7. Requires the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) to amend the state's Plan of Conservation and Development to prioritize development with model pollinator habitat;
8. requires reports on (a) legislation needed to restrict or license planting neonicotinoid-treated seeds, (b) conditions leading to an increase in varroa mites, and (c) areas where the Department of Transportation (DOT) can replace turf grass with native plants and model pollinator habitat; and
9. Requires the DOT commissioner to plant vegetation with pollinator habitat, including flowering vegetation, in deforested areas along state highway rights-of-way. Under the bill, a neonicotinoid is a pesticide that (1) selectively acts on an organism's nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (i.e., impacts the nervous system) and (2) the federal Environmental Protection Agency labels, with its "bee advisory box", as potentially hazardous to bees and other insect pollinators.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage, except the provision requiring classifying certain neonicotinoids as "restricted use" is effective October 1, 2016.

§§ 2 & 4 - NEONICOTINOID APPLICATION BANS The bill prohibits applying neonicotinoid (1) insecticides to linden or basswood trees in the state or (2) labeled for treating plants to plants when they have blossoms. The bill allows the (1) DEEP commissioner to enforce the tree application ban and the DoAg commissioner, in conjunction with the DEEP commissioner, to enforce the plant application ban and (2) commissioners to set a fee or fine, respectively, for violating the bans.
§ 3 - RESTRICTED USE CLASSIFICATION The bill requires the DEEP commissioner to classify all neonicotinoids that are labeled for treating plants as "restricted use" pesticides, meaning that they may cause unreasonable adverse environmental effects. By law, this classification requires these pesticides to be applied only by a certified applicator or under his or her direct supervision or subject to other restrictions the commissioner imposes through regulations.

§ 1 - BEST PRACTICES ON NEONICOTINOID DUST By January 1, 2017, the bill requires the DoAg commissioner, in collaboration with CAES and DEEP, to develop best practices for (1) minimizing airborne liberation of neonicotinoid insecticide dust from treated seeds and (2) mitigating the dust's effects on pollinators. The best practices must include:

1. Prohibits applying neonicotinoid (a) insecticide to linden or basswood trees or (b) labeled for treating plants to plants with blossoms;
2. Requires the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) commissioner to classify certain neonicotinoids as "restricted use" pesticides;
3. Requires the Department of Agriculture (DoAg) commissioner to develop best practices for minimizing the release of neonicotinoid insecticide dust from treated seeds;
4. Requires the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) to develop a citizen's guide to model pollinator habitat;
5. Establishes a Pollinator Advisory Committee to inform legislators on pollinator issues;
6. Specifies that Connecticut Siting Council orders to restore or revegetate in certain rights-of-way must include provisions for model pollinator habitat; 7. Includes model pollinator habitat in any conservation plan DoAg requires as part of its farm preservation programs;
7. Requires the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) to amend the state's Plan of Conservation and Development to prioritize development with model pollinator habitat;
8. requires reports on (a) legislation needed to restrict or license planting neonicotinoid-treated seeds, (b) conditions leading to an increase in varroa mites, and (c) areas where the Department of Transportation (DOT) can replace turf grass with native plants and model pollinator habitat; and
9. Requires the DOT commissioner to plant vegetation with pollinator habitat, including flowering vegetation, in deforested areas along state highway rights-of-way. Under the bill, a neonicotinoid is a pesticide that (1) selectively acts on an organism's nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (i.e., impacts the nervous system) and (2) the federal Environmental Protection Agency labels, with its "bee advisory box", as potentially hazardous to bees and other insect pollinators.

(9) 2018 — Public Act No. 18-84: AN ACT PROHIBITING THE USE OF RESIDENTIAL AUTOMATIC PESTICIDE MISTING SYSTEMS.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

(b) The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection may adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54 of the general statutes, to implement the provisions of subsection (a) of this section. Such regulations may include, but shall not be limited to, the establishment of a fine for the violation of subsection (a) of this section.

Approved June 6, 2018