Who should pay to protect bees in Oregon?

A package of legislation aimed at improving pollinator health had broad support at a legislative hearing Thursday.

But arguments erupted over who should pay the bill.

While taxpayers would be on the hook for most of the funding, several interest groups objected to increased costs for their members.

The dispute could imperil passage of at least one of the bills, Harry Vanderpool, vice-president of the Oregon State Beekeepers Association, told the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources.

The legislation – four bills – came out of a task force formed last year following a number of highly publicized mass bee kills, some of which were caused by a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids.

It would tap the state general fund for $500,000 for Oregon State University's bee health diagnostic facility and for $1.5 million to improve education and outreach to pesticide workers and homeowners.

One bill, HB 3362, also would draw on the fees that pesticide manufacturers pay each year to register their products in Oregon, eliminating the current $250 cap.

That increase would be passed on to buyers, some of whom don't depend on pollinators, said Roger Beyer of the Oregon Seed Council.

"Grass seed is not pollinated by bees. It's pollinated by wind," Beyer said. "We cannot support this bill unless there is a cap, and we support the current $250 cap."

Meanwhile, the beekeepers association objects that a proposed 50 cent per hive assessment would fund research on native, or wild, bees as well as honeybees.

"In our beekeeping operations and hives, we have absolutely nothing to do with native pollinators," Vanderpool said. "There is no basis or justification for any amount of the per-hive proposed assessment to be spent on research other than honeybee research."

Vanderpool also complained that out-of-state apiaries who bring in hives to pollinate crops would not pay a share of the total fees.

A separate bill that did not come from the task force would ban the use of some neonicotinoid pesticides, which have been implicated in some mass bee kills. It is scheduled for a hearing next Thursday. A bill to regulate bee hives in residential areas also has been introduced.

tloew@statesmanjournal.com, (503) 399-6779 or follow at Twitter.com/SJWatchdog

About the bills

HCR 9 Recognizes the importance of insect pollinators and urges support of programs to ensure their safety. The committee moved the bill to the House floor.

HB 3362 establishes a pollinator health outreach and education plan.

HB 3361 appropriates money from the general fund for Oregon State University Extension Service pollinator health outreach.

HB 3360 appropriates money from the general fund for Oregon State University's bee health diagnostic facility.

HB 2589 would ban the use of some neonicotinoids, the class of pesticides blamed for most of the mass bee kills.

HB 2653 requires the state to establish rules for owning bee hives in residential areas. It was removed from Thursday's agenda and has not been rescheduled.