Another critical fact is that Milorganite, Bay State Fertilizer, and similar fertilizers are NOT "phosphorus containing fertilizer" according to the MA law. You might say, "Huh, how can that be?" -- according to a plain reading of the key sentence quoted above, any "phosphorus containing fertilizer" is restricted, and Milorganite and Bay State Fertilizer have phosphorus in them!
Yes, what I describe below will sound like "lawyering the rules" but I think it was completely intentional by the various lobbying organizations involved - to satisfy the "green" activists that wanted a strict fertilizer law yet wanted to allow organic fertilizers, and also to satisfy the lawn care industry and golf courses to allow them to apply fertilizers with phosphorus to their properties...
The critical detail stems from the fact that the law provides a definition of "phosphorus containing fertilizer" which is somewhat different than would be concluded from a plain reading:
''Phosphorus containing fertilizer'', fertilizer labeled for use on lawn or non-agricultural turf in which the available phosphate content is greater than 0.67 per cent by weight, excluding organic compost and natural organic fertilizer.
The key detail is the phrase "excluding natural organic fertilizer." The term "natural organic fertilizer" is also officially defined:
''Natural organic fertilizer'', materials derived from either plant or animal products containing 1 or more elements, other than carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, which are essential for plant growth. These materials may be subject to biological degradation processes under normal conditions of aging, rainfall, sun-curing, air drying, composting, rotting, enzymatic or anaerobic or aerobic bacterial action or any combination of those conditions. These materials shall not be mixed with synthetic materials or changed in any physical or chemical manner from the material's initial state except by manipulations such as drying, cooking, chopping, grinding, shredding, hydrolysis or pelleting.
You can find the above definitions at
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralL ... /Section64
What this means is that Milorganite and Bay State Fertilizer are NOT, according the MA fertilizer law, a "Phosphorus containing fertilizer" since they are excluded from the definition as they are each a "Natural organic fertilizer."
Bay State Fertilizer explicitly uses the wording "Natural organic fertilizer" right on the bag.
Coincidence? I think not...
(sarcasm) I asked her about the signs regarding no-phosphorus fertilizers and when they were posted, and she...literally said..."what? signs? where? oh what's that?" and started walking over a few feet to read them........I just left her. 
