Reps. Mayes, Accavitti, Ball, Bieda, Brown, Byrum, Caswell, Clack, Condino, Constan, Coulouris, Cushingberry, Dean, Donigan, Espinoza, Farrah, Gonzales, Hammel, Hammon, Hansen, Hopgood, Rick Jones, Robert Jones, Kathleen Law, LeBlanc, Lemmons, Marleau, McDowell, Meadows, Meisner, Polidori, Proos, Shaffer, Alma Smith, Spade, Tobocman, Vagnozzi, Valentine and Warren offered the following resolution:
House Resolution No. 76.
A resolution to memorialize the Congress of the United States to provide resources to address the Colony Collapse Disorder affecting honeybees.
Whereas, Michigan and the nation's agricultural industry rely on honeybees to pollinate plants and enable the production of our nation's fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nuts. Honeybees pollinate at least 90 commercial crops and account for 80 percent of the nation's pollination services, providing $5 billion to $10 billion of direct benefits to United States agriculture; and
Whereas, Honeybees in Michigan and 25 other states have succumbed to a mysterious ailment referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder, where honeybees abandon their hives. In affected states, beekeepers lost up to 50 percent of their colonies last winter, threatening Michigan's $383 million fruit industry and billions of dollars of agricultural production nationwide; and
Whereas, Immediate research is needed to determine the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder and assistance to support our nation's 135,000 beekeepers and the agriculture industry from this potentially crippling threat; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we memorialize the Congress of the United States to provide resources to address the Colony Collapse Disorder affecting honeybees; and be it further
Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the Michigan congressional delegation.