President Trump on March 8 signed into law S. 483, the “Pesticide Registration Improvement Extension Act (PRIA) of 2018,” which reauthorizes and updates the fee collection provisions and pesticide review authority for EPA under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.
PRIA allows EPA to collect fees to support the review of new pesticide applications through fiscal 2023. The PRIA extension, known as PRIA 4, was passed as a standalone bill in the Senate on Feb. 14, and passed the House on Feb. 25. Due to a procedural matter, the bill had to go back to the Senate for a voice vote on Feb. 28.
“Since 2004, PRIA has been a key statute to ensuring timely review by EPA of pesticide registrations,” said Alexandra Dapolito Dunn, Assistant Administrator of the EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. “PRIA 4 is supported by farmers and ranchers, environmental justice and worker protection organizations, and a broad array of manufacturers. EPA looks forward to implementing the new law to further the agency’s mission of protecting human health and the environment.”
Bloomberg Law reported that EPA is planning by 2022 to cut an average of 60 days off the time it takes to review pesticide registrations. That line item was part of President Trump’s fiscal 2020 budget proposal, released on March 11. EPA also plans to increase slightly the fees companies pay to register new pesticides, Bloomberg reported.
Pesticide registration fees would account for $49 million by 2020, the budget said. The EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs generally receives about one-third of its funding through fees that industry pays to the agency under PRIA, Bloomberg reported. According to documentation available from EPA, total fees collected under PRIA for fiscal 2018 were $45.2 million.
The budget also includes a proposal to expand the use of pesticide fees to support a wider range of registration and review requirements, and establishes registration service fee set-asides of $2 million for worker protection activities, partnership grants, and pesticide safety education programs. In addition, EPA said it would prioritize pollinator health in the pesticide program by working with federal and state partners to reverse pollinator declines and increase habitat.