Massachusetts Environment Panel Takes Testimony on Rodenticide Home Rule Petitions and Parrot Sales Ban

BOSTON — July 1, 2026 — Massachusetts environment panel hears dueling testimony on rodenticide home rule petitions and a statewide parrot sales ban. The Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, co-chaired by State Senator Rebecca L. Rausch and State Representative Christine P. Barber, held a hybrid public hearing Tuesday on seven late-filed home rule petitions from communities including Andover, North Andover, Topsfield, and Williamstown, each seeking authority to restrict anticoagulant rodenticides on private property within their borders. Andover Select Board Chair Ellen Townsend said her town voted overwhelmingly in April for petition S3093 and that a task force is ready to convene as early as October 30. Save North Andover Wildlife founder Carol Disney reported volunteers counted 683 rodenticide bait boxes in town, nearly half in the reservoir watershed, and that petition S3117 passed town meeting 600 to 10. On H5137, a bill to ban retail parrot sales, Karen Windsor of Foster Parrots Limited testified her rescue has fielded 2,212 surrender requests in two years with 51.2 percent being pet store species, while opponents from the American Federation of Aviculture and the Pet Advocacy Network argued the bill would push demand to unregulated online markets without improving welfare standards. No formal votes were taken; the environmental bond bill containing a rodenticide local option is now in House-Senate conference.