Ag & Natural Resources Committee rejects pesticide regulation bill

The State Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee resoundingly rejected a bill that would have allowed local governments to regulate pesticide use in their communities, after a nine-hour hearing and 93 witnesses.

The bill’s sponsors, Senators Sonya Jaquez Lewis, D-Longmont, and Kevin Priola, R-Henderson, in an effort to keep the bill alive, tried to water it down, but that didn’t fly with the ag committee either. Senate Bill 22-131 died on a 1-6 vote, with three Democrats voting with the three Republicans against it. The only “yes” vote the bill got was from Jaquez Lewis, the Commit...