Congress Passes Bill to Create More Predictable, Effective Evaluation Process for Pesticide Approvals

  • On March 6, 2019

On February 28, the U.S. Senate passed ASTA-supported legislation reauthorizing EPA to collect pesticide registration and maintenance fees through fiscal year 2023. The bill, which extends the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA), cleared the House earlier in the week.

PRIA allows EPA to collect user fees from pesticide manufacturers seeking to get their products approved for sale in the U.S. In turn, the agency is required to make a decision on registration within a set time-frame. The law expired in 2017 and has been continued through short-term resolutions passed by Congress. Passage of the legislation provides much-needed certainty for consumers, farmers and industry.

“The reauthorization of PRIA is essential in ensuring that growers and users of pesticides have timely access to products that help them produce the food, fuel, and fiber the world depends on,” stated ASTA and other agriculture groups in a letter to House and Senate Agriculture Committee leadership in December. “Long-term authorization is needed to provide the assurance that EPA requires to hire and maintain staff to carry out its important mission within the Office of Pesticide Programs.”

The original intent of the law was to create a more predictable and effective evaluation process for affected pesticide registration and maintenance fees through fiscal year 2023.

It now heads to President Trump’s desk to be signed into law.