Kentucky Legislature Forces Through Bill Giving Pesticide Makers Immunity After Governor’s Veto

Kentucky lawmakers have approved a bill that grants pesticide manufacturers immunity, overriding a veto from Gov. Andy Beshear.

The Kentucky Senate, in a 24–12 vote on March 31, overrode Beshear’s veto on Senate Bill 199, following an earlier House of Representatives override. All override votes came from Republicans.

The bill says that pesticides approved by federal officials and displaying approved labeling from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) containing health assessments “shall be deemed a sufficient warning label” under state law.

Plaintiffs across the country have been suing Monsanto, which makes the pesticide glyphosate, for failing to warn of cancer risks. Juries have ruled for the plaintiffs in some of the cases.

With backing from the Trump administration, Bayer—Monsanto’s parent company—has asked the Supreme Court to rule that labeling with federally approved language is sufficient.

The Kentucky Medical Freedom Coalition, some other organizations, and certain state lawmakers opposed Senate Bill 199 because of the protection it would grant.

Beshear, a Democrat, said in his veto message on March 30 that the legislation “tries to shield makers of dangerous pesticides from being held accountable for the harm their products cause Kentuckians,” including cancer. The warnings on the labels “are not enough to allow corporations to escape legitimate lawsuits over their failure to warn,” said Beshear, who used to be Kentucky’s attorney general.

He also said that “if passed, Senate Bill 199 would make Kentucky only the third state in America with such a law, as similar legislation in at least a dozen other states failed to pass in the past three years.”

State Sen. Reginald Thomas, a Democrat, said before the veto was overridden that “we’ve seen too many people get harmed, maimed, and killed by these pesticides, and they ought to have an opportunity to have their case resolved in court.”

He said that manufacturers worried about lawsuits should make safer products.

Kentucky Senate Republicans said in a statement after senators overrode the veto that the measure aligns Kentucky’s labeling standards with EPA determinations “while maintaining liability protections when safety information is withheld.”

State Sen. Jason Howell, a Republican who sponsored the bill, noted in a statement to news outlets that the legislation had drawn support from groups such as the Kentucky Farm Bureau and lawmakers including Republican state Rep. Ryan Bivens, a farmer.

“By overriding the governor’s veto of this much-needed bill, we reaffirmed our commitment to Kentucky’s agriculture community and a commonsense approach that protects both agriculture and public health by relying on EPA guidance for pesticide use,” he said.