OLYMPIA – Today 67 members of the House of Representatives swarmed to support Rep. Strom Peterson’s (D – Edmonds) bill to protect honeybee colonies and preserve pollen-rich food sources.
House Bill 1654, which passed on a 67-31 bipartisan vote, would direct the state noxious weed control board to conduct a pilot project to replace invasive weed species with native, high-pollen producing plants.
“Noxious and invasive weeds are a problem we need to eradicate, but removing these high-pollen producing weeds has an unintentional side effect on honeybee populations,” Peterson said. “By replacing high-pollen noxious weeds with high-pollen local plants, we can clean up our environment while not causing damage to the bee population.”
Peterson’s bill now buzzes to the Senate for consideration.