At Town Meeting 2025, Lexington passed Article 24 — Authorize the Town of Lexington to Prohibit or Restrict the Application of Second-Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (Citizen Petition). That article became a home rule petition and is currently at the Statehouse; the bill is known as H.4133: An Act to Authorize the Town of Lexington to Prohibit or Restrict the Application of Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides. H.4133 joins 11 other towns submitting home rule petitions: H.4500 (Concord), H.4266 (Lowell), H.4310 (Belmont), S.26 (Brookline), H.975 (Newbury), H.4172 (Provincetown), H.4091 (Salem), S.552 (Newton), HD.5188 (Arlington), H.995 (Orleans), and H.4191 (Wellfleet). The Orleans and Wellfleet bills address all pesticides, not just SGARs. All these bills reside in the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.
In addition to the home rule petitions, there is a comprehensive bill known as H.965/S.66 An Act Restricting the Use of Rodenticides in the Environment which would restrict all anticoagulant rodenticides. A hearing is scheduled for Oct 27 from 1-4pm. Save Lexington Wildlife will be attending the hearing and we would love to have company! We encourage everyone to submit testimony in support of these bills. Testimony can be submitted in various ways: written as a direct email to the Joint Committee, written and submitted via MAPLE followed by an email, live via a virtual link, and live in-person. To learn more about submitting testimony, Mass Audubon is having a “Tips for Testimony” on October 14 from 7-8pm via Zoom (Register). If you have any questions, please contact us at savelexingtonwildlife@gmail.