STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman CLINTON CALABRESE
District 36 (Bergen and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits sale of milkweed plants treated with certain pesticides.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning the sale of milkweed plants and supplementing Title 13 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. No person shall sell, offer for sale, or transport for sale in the State any milkweed (Asclepias spp.) plant that has been treated with a pesticide determined by the Department of Environmental Protection to be harmful to the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus).
b. The Department of Environmental Protection, in consultation with the Department of Agriculture, shall adopt, pursuant to the “Administrative Procedure Act,” P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), rules and regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this section, including establishing a list of pesticides that are harmful to monarch butterflies.
c. (1) A person who violates this section shall be liable to a civil penalty of up to $100, to be collected in a summary proceeding pursuant to the “Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999,” P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.). If the violation is of a continuing nature, each day during which it continues shall constitute a separate and distinct offense. The municipal court and the Superior Court shall have jurisdiction to enforce the “Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999.”
(2) The Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Agriculture, and any county or municipality shall have the authority to enforce the provisions of this section.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would prohibit the sale, offer for sale, or transportation for sale in the State of any milkweed plant that has been treated with a pesticide determined by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to be harmful to monarch butterflies. The DEP, in consultation with the Department of Agriculture, would develop a list of such pesticides. A person who violates the law would be liable to a civil penalty of up to $100, and each day during which the violation continues would constitute a separate offense.
The monarch butterfly is perhaps the most iconic and studied butterfly in North America. Each year, millions of monarchs migrate from their overwintering sites in Mexico and California to the northern United States and Canada, stopping at sites along the way, including New Jersey, to feed and reproduce. However, in recent years, migrating monarch populations in New Jersey and across the country have decreased significantly. A report from the World Wildlife Fund indicates that migrating monarch butterflies are in “grave danger,” as their overwintering colonies in Mexico now occupy a small fraction of the land they once did. Scientists estimate that, in 2013, the migrating monarch population was just 35 million butterflies, a sharp decline from the nearly one billion monarchs that made the 1,500 mile journey in 1990.
A major cause of the decline in the monarch butterfly population is the widespread loss of a plant called milkweed due to human development. Milkweed is the only plant on which monarch butterflies lay their eggs, and the monarch’s main larval food source. In recent years, there has been a renewed effort by governments, individuals, and organizations to plant milkweed and build and protect butterfly habitats so that future generations may enjoy the annual monarch migration. However, new research has shown that plants treated with certain pesticides, including neonicotinoids, can harm monarch butterflies and their larva. This bill would prohibit the sale of milkweed treated with harmful pesticides in order to protect New Jersey’s migrating monarch butterfly population.