Opening Statements

Thank you for being here today as we consider H.R. 1029, The Pesticide Registration Enhancement Act of 2017, also known as PRIA. As we learned in our roundtable earlier this week, PRIA is a very technical bill, but the benefits are straightforward. It has produced predictable timelines for industry, new products for consumers, funds for completion of various registration activities, and funds for pesticide safety education for farmworkers.

Supported by a broad coalition of the registrant community, as well as labor and environmental advocates, PRIA creates a more predictable and effective evaluation process for registrants by coupling the collection of fees with specific decision review periods. The reauthorization bill we are considering provides a few modifications, including reasonable increases in registration fees, funding for Good Laboratory Practices, and a seven year reauthorization as opposed to the five-year reauthorizations of the past.

PRIA expires on September 30th of this year, and I’m glad to be initiating the process well in advance to provide folks with the certainty they need to conduct their business, educate farmworkers, and keep the communication with EPA open and transparent. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this common sense reauthorization.