Pielli’s bill to protect native species passes PA House
Rep. Chris Pielli October 7, 2025 | 3:20 PM
HARRISBURG, Oct. 7 – State Rep. Chris Pielli, D-Chester, announced today that his legislation to protect pollinators and other insects native to Pennsylvania, H.B. 441, has passed the state House of Representatives.
Pennsylvania is currently home to 77 endangered insect species that we know of. Pollinators such as the bumblebee and the monarch butterfly are in rapid decline, threatening the health balance of ecosystems across the country. Studies have shown that flying insect biomass has declined by more than 75% over just a few decades. In the U.S. alone, butterfly numbers have dropped significantly, with some monarch butterfly populations declining by 95%. Almost a quarter of American wild bee species are facing possible extinction. What is extremely alarming is that these are just the species that have been accurately measured.
The bill would amend the Wild Resource Conservation Act of 1982 to give Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources authority over terrestrial insects, which will:
- Help prevent the need for federal Endangered Species Act protection of imperiled insect species by allowing the state to recover species early.
- Give Pennsylvania a voice to speak with federal agencies acting to conserve protected insect species.
- Provide funding opportunities to offset the costs of insect species recovery.
- Permit interagency coordination when insect conservation issues such as highway management and light pollution are discussed.
- Allow DCNR to invest in critically important pollinator species that we need for food production and resilient natural areas.
“Since the 1990s, the population of monarch butterflies in North America has declined by 95%. They are now an endangered species. Without insects and pollinators like the monarch butterfly, flowers and crops cannot survive. To ensure human welfare, we must protect them,” Pielli said. “That is why I've introduced H.B. 441, a bill which will address the conservation of wild native terrestrial insects by adding language that protects them under Pennsylvania’s Wild Resource Conservation Act, thus upholding our constitutional right to the preservation of natural, scenic, historic and aesthetic values of the environment in Pennsylvania."
The bill now heads to the state Senate for consideration.