NY State Senate Bill 2023-S9069

Senate Bill S9069

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Enacts the restriction of anticoagulant pesticide transactions for online and retail stores act

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Environmental Conservation Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Apr 16, 2024	referred to environmental conservation

2023-S9069 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A10012
Current Committee:: Senate Environmental Conservation
Law Section:: Environmental Conservation Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §33-1301, En Con L

2023-S9069 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Enacts the restriction of anticoagulant pesticide transactions for online and retail stores act to prohibit any person from selling, offering for sale or use, or distributing within the state, any second-generation anticoagulant rodenticide; prohibits the use of either a first-generation anticoagulant rodenticide or a second-generation anticoagulant rodenticide within five hundred feet of a wildlife habitat area.

2023-S9069 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S9069          Revised 4/26/24

SPONSOR: HARCKHAM
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to
enacting the restriction of anticoagulant pesticide transactions for
online and retail stores act

 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to
enacting the restriction of anticoagulant pesticide transactions for
online and retail stores act.

 
PURPOSE:

Enacts the Restriction of Anticoagulant Pesticide Transactions for
Online and Retail Stores (RAPTORS) act.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 states the short title.

Section 2 states the legislative intent, which is to ensure that anti-
coagulant rodenticides are used exclusively by DEC certified profes-
sionals to minimize poisoning non-target species; not only raptor birds
of prey, but also humans and pets.

Section 3 includes definitions, restricts anticoagulant rodenticide
usage to certified pesticide applicators, and prohibits all usage in
wildlife habitat areas.

Section 4 states the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The Bald Eagle has been the official emblem of the United States since
1782. They're held in such high regard that felony convictions for
violating the Bald & Golden Eagle Protection Act can yield a $250,000
fine or two years of imprisonment. However, humans are still killing
Bald Eagles due to a clever loophole in these daunting protection laws:
we're using rats to do it.

When a homeowner or property manager discovers a rodent infestation,
they may search online for the "most effective rat poison" and buy one
of the top sponsored products containing an anticoagulant rodenticide.
These pesticides differ from other rat control methods in 2 unique qual-
ities: 1) A single feeding of Anticoagulant bait is fatal, but it may
take 5-9 days for a rodent to actually die as it gradually becomes more
sedated. 2) Due to this delay, the animals often eat multiple doses,
allowing for super-lethal concentrations of the rodenticide to accumu-
late in its body & persist in the tissue between four months and a year.
Unlike other raptors, the Bald Eagle doesn't typically hunt rats; but
they are opportunistic foragers known to scavenge or prey on small
mammals. Careless homeowners and property managers may also be to blame
for the household pets or the thousands of children and adults who call
poison control centers for anticoagulant exposure, but even when used by

professionals for their intended purpose, anticoagulant rodenticides
have nightmarish impacts on non-target organisms.

A $3 million ecosystem restoration campaign on a rat-infested island off
the coast of Alaska, executed by a federal agency, successfully elimi-
nated the invasive rodents, but lying dead amongst them were 46 bald
eagles, 320 glaucous-winged gulls, one peregrine falcon, and 53 other
birds representing 24 species. Equally troubling, rats are becoming
genetically resistant to anticoagulants like warfarin.  Turkish black
rats and brown rats, common species globally, are showing increases in
genetic mutations that allow for enhanced metabolization & alterations
in enzymes that warfarin attacks.  Continued use of anticoagulants will
likely result in further decreases of effectiveness in rats while
continuing to poison people and other animals. Compared to alternative
pest control methods, one study conducted in homes and rice mills over
two years found that the anticoagulant rodenticide was less effective
than cats, lethal traps, and non-lethal traps. Although the Rat Island
project, genetic mutations, and effectiveness study occurred within the
last two decades, the issue of non-target poisonings has been monitored
by the DEC for over fifty years.

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) monitored
the poisoning of non-target wildlife with anticoagulants from 1971
through 1997, and though half the cases involved raptor birds, other
poisoned animals included gray squirrels, raccoons, white-tailed deer,
red foxes, skunks, and opossums. Cornell University found that 68% of
red-tailed hawks had anticoagulants in their systems during a 2022
study, a shocking increase from the 6% DEC recorded in their study. In
March of 2024, Flaco, the famed Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped the
Central Park Zoo, died with lethal doses in his system of 4 different
anticoagulant rodenticides commonly used for pest control in the City.
Tragically, this same call for action went unheard a decade before
Flaco's rise to fame when anticoagulants took the life of Lima, iconic
mate of a famous Manhattan red-tailed hawk named Pale Male. Interesting-
ly, Flaco's toxicology tests also revealed trace amounts of DDE, a
breakdown product of the pesticide DDT, which has been banned in the
United States since the early 1970s following Rachel Carson's Silent
Spring.

Even though EPA declared that anticoagulants pose an "unreasonable risk"
to kids, pets, and wildlife in 2008, and established regulatory hurdles
to minimize the harm that anticoagulant pesticides inflict on non-target
species, the issue has only become more direliCalifomia became the first
state to restrict anticoagulant rodenticides in 2020, and has since
expanded their restriction as Vermont & Connecticut mobilize. Icons of
New York, emblems of the country, and our loved ones at home can no
longer withstand the poisonÔÇ"this bill is the legislative antidote they
have needed for over 25 years.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is a new bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

TBD.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
on or before such effective date.
Citations:
American Eagle Foundation:  https://eagles.org/what-we-do/educate/learn-
about-eagles/bald-eagle- laws-that-protect/:-:text-
The%201972%20amendments%20increased%20civil.or
$20two%20years%20o%20imprisonments
Anchorage Daily News:  https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/article/rat-
island-appears-be-free/ 2009/08/24/; Audubon:
https://audubon.org/magazine/january-february-2013/ poisons-used-kill-
rodents-have-safer
California Assembly: 2023-3-14.AB.1322.Fact Sheet.pdf
Center for Biological Diversity:
https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/pesticides
reduction/pdfs/DPR-2013-SGAR-Memo.pdf
Cornell:
https://news.com.edu/stories/2022/07/rodenticide-poisoning-widespread-
among-nys-red-tailed-hawks
DOI Foundation:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-26638-5 citeas
EPA:
https://downloads.regulations.gov/EPA-HO-OPP-2006-0955-0764/content.pdf
Journal of Wildlife Diseases:
https://meridian.allenpress.com/jwd/article-pdf/35/2/187/2231130/
0090-3558-35_2_187.pdf
Mass. Div. of Fisheries & Wildlife:
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/masswildlife-monthly-may-2021
Natl Library of Medicine:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6912481/
Natl Library of Medicine:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7552224/
NY Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/25/nyregion/flaco-owl-central-park-zoo-
death-cause.html
NY Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/28/nyregion/groups-press-state-to-ban-
poisons-that-kill-wildlife.html
Science Direct
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048357517305321
Webstaurant Store:
https://www.webstaurantstore.com/it-eaton-709-pn-peanut-butter-
flavor-bait-blocks-144-1-oz-blocks-pail/605JT709
PN.html?utm_source-google&utm-medium=cpc&utm_
campaign=GoogleShopping&gclid=CjwKCAjw8diwBhAb
Eiw3A7i_sJWr-fZNmb8rZXNCfyFERHj6Xlwb9yM6D-
ogFYynMFXwcMqOUTPQAUxoCKQQQAvD_BwE

2023-S9069 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   9069
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              April 16, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. HARCKHAM -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Environmental Conservation
 
 AN ACT to amend the  environmental  conservation  law,  in  relation  to
   enacting  the  restriction of anticoagulant pesticide transactions for
   online and retail stores act
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Short  title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
 the "restriction of anticoagulant pesticide transactions for online  and
 retail stores act" or "RAPTORS act".
   §  2.  Legislative  intent.  The legislature hereby finds and declares
 that it is the policy of this state to ensure that aquatic, terrestrial,
 and avian wildlife species remain a fully functional  component  of  the
 ecosystems  they  inhabit and move through in New York. It is the intent
 of this act to facilitate this goal by prohibiting  the  general  public
 from  purchasing and utilizing the world's deadliest rodenticides, noto-
 riously deployed via helicopter to "restore  the  ecosystem"  of  entire
 rat-infested islands and often killing scores of raptors and other birds
 in the process.
   This legislation also comes in the wake of Flaco's passing. Flaco, the
 Eurasian  eagle-owl  whose  escape from the Central Park Zoo and life on
 the loose captivated New York, had been exposed at the time of his death
 to four of the seven pesticides this bill restricts.    The  legislature
 takes  this  action  to protect all non-target species, not only raptors
 such as eagles, hawks, and owls, but also the thousands of children  and
 pets exposed to anticoagulants that poison control centers receive calls
 for each year.
   §  3. Section 33-1301 of the environmental conservation law is amended
 by adding a new subdivision 14 to read as follows:
   14. A. FOR ANY PERSON WITHIN THE STATE TO SELL, OFFER FOR SALE OR USE,
 DISTRIBUTE, USE, OR DEPLOY ANY PESTICIDE  OR  RODENTICIDE  CONTAINING  A
 RESTRICTED  SGAR  OR FGAR, IN ANY CONCENTRATION, UNLESS SUCH A PURCHASER
 OR USER HAS A VALID PURCHASE PERMIT OR CERTIFICATION IDENTIFICATION CARD
 PURSUANT TO SECTION 33-0903 OF THIS ARTICLE.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD15056-04-4
 S. 9069                             2
 
   B. FOR ANY PERSON, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO,  CERTIFIED  PESTICIDE
 APPLICATORS  AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, TO USE A PESTICIDE CONTAINING ANY
 RESTRICTED SGAR OR FGAR IN, OR WITHIN FIVE HUNDRED FEET OF,  A  WILDLIFE
 HABITAT AREA. THE COMMISSIONER, IN CONSULTATION WITH THE COMMISSIONER OF
 AGRICULTURE  AND MARKETS, MAY PROMULGATE RULES AND REGULATIONS TO PERMIT
 THE USE OF PESTICIDES CONTAINING SGARS OR FGARS BY PESTICIDE APPLICATORS
 CERTIFIED PURSUANT TO SECTION 33-0905 OF THIS ARTICLE WHERE SUCH USE  IS
 NOT  REASONABLY  EXPECTED  TO  RESULT  IN SIGNIFICANT ADVERSE EFFECTS TO
 NON-TARGET WILDLIFE.
   C. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SUBDIVISION THE FOLLOWING TERMS SHALL HAVE
 THE FOLLOWING MEANINGS:
   (1) "FIRST-GENERATION ANTICOAGULANT RODENTICIDE" OR "FGAR"  MEANS  ANY
 PESTICIDE PRODUCT CONTAINING ANY OF THE FOLLOWING ACTIVE INGREDIENTS:
   (I) DIPHACINONE.
   (II) WARFARIN.
   (III) CHLOROPHACINONE.
   (2)  "SECOND-GENERATION ANTICOAGULANT RODENTICIDE" OR "SGAR" MEANS ANY
 PESTICIDE PRODUCT CONTAINING ANY OF THE FOLLOWING ACTIVE INGREDIENTS:
   (I) BRODIFACOUM.
   (II) BROMADIOLONE.
   (III) DIFENACOUM.
   (IV) DIFETHIALONE.
   (3) "WILDLIFE HABITAT AREA" MEANS ANY PARK, WETLAND,  WETLAND  BUFFER,
 NATURE  RESERVE OR PRESERVE, OR WILDLIFE REFUGE MANAGED BY A STATE AGEN-
 CY, REGIONAL GOVERNMENT, OR QUASI-GOVERNMENT AGENCY,  OR  BY  A  SPECIAL
 DISTRICT.
   (4)  "SIGNIFICANT  ADVERSE EFFECT" MEANS A DIRECT OR INDIRECT ACTIVITY
 THAT NEGATIVELY AFFECTS THE HEALTH OR VIABILITY OF A WILDLIFE POPULATION
 OR THAT DAMAGES OR THREATENS WILDLIFE HABITATS.
   § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
 repeal  of  any  rule  or regulation necessary for the implementation of
 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made  and  completed
 on or before such effective date.

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