HOUSE BILL No. 5903

 

 

May 1, 2018, Introduced by Reps. Cochran, Elder, Zemke, Hoadley, Green, Clemente, Ellison, Dianda, Wittenberg, Chang and Cambensy and referred to the Committee on Agriculture.

 

     A bill to provide for the protection of certain pollinators in

 

this state; to create the pollinator protection fund and to provide

 

for contributions to and expenditures from that fund; to create a

 

pollinator stewardship program; and to prescribe the powers and

 

duties of certain state and local agencies and officials.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the

 

"pollinator protection act".

 

     Sec. 2. As used in this act:

 

     (a) "Department" means the department of natural resources.

 

     (b) "Fund" means the pollinator protection fund created in

 

section 4.

 

     (c) "Pollinator" means an insect, including, but not limited


to, a bee, that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to

 

the female stigma of a flower.

 

     (d) "Stewardship program" means the pollinator stewardship

 

program created in section 3.

 

     Sec. 3. The department shall create a pollinator stewardship

 

program to protect and enhance sustainable populations of

 

pollinators in this state. The stewardship program shall administer

 

grants from money distributed to the fund that allow municipalities

 

and nonprofit organizations to develop and maintain pollinator

 

habitats and engage in monitoring research of pollinators.

 

     Sec. 4. (1) The pollinator protection fund is created within

 

the state treasury.

 

     (2) The state treasurer may receive money or other assets from

 

any source for deposit into the fund. The state treasurer shall

 

direct the investment of the fund. The state treasurer shall credit

 

to the fund interest and earnings from fund investments.

 

     (3) Money in the fund at the close of the fiscal year shall

 

remain in the fund and shall not lapse to the general fund.

 

     (4) The department shall be the administrator of the fund for

 

auditing purposes.

 

     (5) The department shall expend money from the fund, upon

 

appropriation, only to implement the stewardship program.

 

     Enacting section 1. This act takes effect 90 days after the

 

date it is enacted into law.