As the 2025 Connecticut legislative session enters its final stretch, key environmental bills are advancing—but they need your voice to stay strong. See all the bills we are following here. Here’s what’s happening and how you can take action on two issues: protecting pollinators and advancing renewable solutions.

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🐝 Pollinator Protection at Risk: Urge Lawmakers to Keep SB 9 Strong

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We are calling on the General Assembly to pass a strong neonicotinoid bill this session to eliminate unnecessary, harmful uses of these toxic insecticides on lawns, gardens, and ornamental landscapes. The current neonicotinoid language in Senate Bill 9 (SB 9) represents a meaningful step forward for pollinator protection, water quality, and public health.

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To get here, advocates have already made major compromises—including the removal of all agricultural uses that were originally included in House Bill 6916, such as treated seeds and nursery applications. What remains is a focused effort to curb cosmetic, non-essential uses of neonics that continue to harm bees, butterflies, birds, and even drinking water.

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But now, that progress is under threat.

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Opposition from the pesticide industry is mounting. Lobbyists are working to carve out key protections—specifically pushing to exempt ornamental landscaping like shrubs, trees, and garden beds, leaving only turfgrass restrictions in place. Connecticut Audubon has warned that birds are especially vulnerable to neonic exposure in these ornamental areas, and stripping these protections would leave core ecosystems and communities unprotected.

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Opponents are also attempting to weaken Connecticut’s landmark school grounds pesticide ban by inserting an exception for chlorantraniliprole, a systemic insecticide. Connecticut’s ban on pesticide use on K–8 school grounds is one of the strongest in the country. Creating loopholes would set a dangerous precedent and risk children’s health.

 

✅ Take Action: Contact Your State Senator Today

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Connecticut Senators need to hear from their constituents now. Let your Senator know that you support the pollinator protections in SB 9 and oppose any weakening amendments.

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📞 Call or email your senator using the Connecticut General Assembly's lookup tool:  Find your legislator

 

Suggested Message to Send:
Feel free to copy and paste or personalize the message below.

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"I am writing as a concerned constituent and asking for your help in ensuring the passing of a strong neonicotinoid bill this session—without weakening amendments that would undermine its purpose. Connecticut residents continue to urge action to eliminate unnecessary uses of these harmful insecticides on lawns and ornamental landscapes.

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The neonics language currently in SB 9 is a meaningful step forward for non agricultural use of neonics. It will help protect pollinators, protect water quality, and support healthier communities. Advocates have already made significant compromises to move this legislation forward, including the removal of all agricultural uses—such as treated seeds and nursery applications—that were previously included in HB 6916.

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To maintain the bill’s integrity and impact, we strongly urge you to oppose any additional carve-outs. Unfortunately, the pesticide industry is working hard to weaken this bill. Their lobbyists are pushing to remove protections for ornamental landscaping—gardens, shrubs, and trees—leaving only grass restricted. This would severely weaken SB 9.

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Additionally, opposition groups are attempting to insert a provision into SB 9 that would allow an exception to Connecticut’s 15-year ban on pesticide use on K–8 school grounds—specifically to permit the systemic insecticide chlorantraniliprole. Connecticut's law is one of the strongest school pesticide protections in the country. Allowing this rollback would put children's health at risk.

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Dr. Sarah Evans, an environmental health expert at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, has strongly opposed this proposed exception. She states that no data has shown a need to weaken current protections. In fact, recent rodent studies (not considered in the EPA’s risk assessments) have found that chlorantraniliprole may interfere with fetal development and impact the brain. These findings warrant further investigation, not fewer safeguards and use on school grounds for children to face the risks with this chemical.

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We are asking you to stand with Connecticut residents, children, and pollinators by supporting SB 9 without additional exemptions or weakening amendments."

 

 

 

 

⚡ H.B. 5004 Moves to the Senate—But Key Clean Energy Provisions Were Left Behind 

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House Bill 5004, the main climate mitigation bill introduced in the General Assembly, has passed out of the House of Representatives and now heads to the Senate for further action.

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The bill includes a number of provisions: it updates emissions reduction targets, requires planning for the deployment of efficient, cost-saving technologies like heat pumps and solar canopies, and for state buildings to heat without carbon emissions, and to study and make recommendations for renter accessibility for clean energy programs. After two years without action on climate in the Connecticut legislature, we are encouraged by House Bill 5004, and hope it is the beginning of a new commitment to address the causes of climate change and its costly impacts on people in our state.

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Unfortunately, the bill no longer contains two impactful tools for cutting emissions and lowering energy costs: a Future of Gas study and Thermal Energy Networks.

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We are disappointed that these cost-saving, climate-aligned solutions were stripped out of the final bill. They must now be added to Senate Bill 4 (S.B. 4)—the Senate energy leadership’s priority bill for 2025. 

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What Was Removed—and Why It Matters

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 Future of Gas Study
This study would examine how Connecticut's gas system must evolve in light of the state’s climate laws—just like studies already underway or completed in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Washington, D.C., California, Oregon, Washington State, Nevada, Colorado, and Minnesota. Without it, we risk continued overinvestment in outdated gas infrastructure that will become stranded, costly, and inconsistent with climate mandates.

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Thermal Energy Networks
These networked geothermal systems use underground loops to provide heating and cooling to multiple buildings—without burning fossil fuels. They cut utility bills, reduce air pollution, and create stable union jobs. Thermal energy networks are especially valuable in environmental justice communities, where cleaner and more affordable energy is urgently needed.

 

 What’s Next: Contact Senate Leadership and Energy Committee Chairs

First, ask Senators to support House Bill 5004. Then ask for them to include Future of Gas and Thermal Energy Network provisions in S.B. 4, and to move S.B. 4 forward with strong clean, cost saving renewable energy solutions in the bill. Your voice is crucial. Please call and email the following leaders.

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Senate Leadership

• Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney
  📞 Phone: (860) 240-8600
  📧 Email: martin.looney@cga.ct.gov
   

• Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff
  📞 Phone: (860) 240-0414
  📧 Email: bob.duff@cga.ct.gov
   

Energy and Technology Committee Chairs

• Senator Norm Needleman (Senate Chair)
  📞 Phone: (860) 240-0428
  📧 Email: norm.needleman@cga.ct.gov
   

• Representative Jonathan Steinberg (House Chair)
  📞 Phone: (860) 240-8500
  📧 Email: jonathan.steinberg@cga.ct.gov