CPR Wins State Funding for Fumigant Replacement Research and Development 

Building upon Gov. Brown's 2012 commitment of $700,000 for fumigant alternatives research, CPR secured an approved budget line-item for $1.8 million in state funding over the next three years for grants to research and field test safe fumigant replacements. Scientists and growers agree this research is critical to ensuring safe and effective replacement products and practices are field ready at scale, which would finally allow California to wean off of fumigants. Although full transition will take more than three years, this is an important step to securing a longer-term state commitment to transition away from fumigants, and we will continue to push for the establishment of an ongoing, fully funded program to see it through.  

An outgrowth of our state budget advocacy is that the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is conducting a review of the California Department of Agriculture's (DPR) risk assessment process. We previously worked with State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson to push for a review of DPR's decision-making processes for pesticide use, and DPR Director Brian Leahy subsequently agreed to this NAS review. CPR is currently watchdogging the process and attending hearings to make sure that the NAS committee hears multiple perspectives on DPR's performance. We see this oversight work as critical in supporting the potential for positive change in how California regulates pesticides.

SB 1405 requires: 1) training for school staff if a school chooses to have staff apply pesticides on its grounds, 2) reporting all pesticide applications on school grounds (including applications by school staff) to DPR, and 3) that all schools have Integrated Pest Management Plans. 

SB 1167 requires building code enforcement officers to order landlords not only to eradicate a pest infestation but also to remediate any underlying conditions (leaks, cracks and crevices, etc.) contributing to the infestation.

SB 1117 instructs DPR to develop a peer-reviewed method that reflects the best available science to determine which pesticides have the potential to contaminate groundwater. It requires DPR to review and potentially cancel or modify the use of a pesticide if its breakdown products are found in water.

AB 1789 (Williams): Pesticides: neonicotinoids: reevaluation: determination.

AB 1789 establishes a 2018 deadline for DPR to finally complete its long-delayed evaluation on neonicotinoid ("neonics") pesticides. With neonics increasingly linked to bee declines, protecting bees is critical to the success of the agricultural industry as well as backyard gardens in California.

SB 1332 (Wolk): Pesticides: carbon monoxide pest control devices. 

SB 1332 gives DPR the authority to regulate the use of carbon monoxide pest control devices and protect children from the health risk of this odorless, colorless and hazardous gas.  

AB 2657 (Bloom): Wildlife habitat areas: use of anticoagulants

Unfortunately, bills to require neighbor notifications, buffer zones, and better field posting for pesticide applications (SB 1411) and labeling of genetically modified food (SB 1381) failed due to strong opposition from the agriculture and pesticide industries.