Department of Pesticide Regulation Director Julie Henderson was again in the hot seat on Wednesday, defending her proposal for a 36% bump in the mill fee.
Just 10% of the proposed new positions funded by the increase would help to improve the sluggish registration and reevaluation processes. As a result, the Legislative Analyst’s Office and several lawmakers have questioned whether DPR would meet its goal of accelerating the approval process for new products.
“To the department, there isn't particularly a consequence [to registration delays],” said Republican Assemblymember Heath Flora of Ripon. “But there's a huge consequence to the ag business community.”
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He pointed out that CalEPA canceled the use of chlorpyrifos four years ago and DPR has yet to approve an alternative.
Flora also pressed Henderson over delays in emergency exemptions for combatting pest and disease outbreaks. She responded that a product that would have helped cotton producers last year was instead tied up in litigation. While that played out, DPR worked with UC researchers to identify possible replacements.
Henderson said the administration has learned from the chlorpyrifos incident that it needs a process for sending the market earlier signals on such decisions to allow time for developing alternatives.
