Department of Pesticide Regulation

CALIFORNIA STATE AUDITOR July 2024 | Report 2023-128 Table 1 During the Past Five Years, Registration Processing Times Have Increased and Become More Variable FIVE YEAR APPLICATION CATEGORIES 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 TOTAL New Active Ingredient and Average Days to Process 632 1249 1067 1210 1345 1093 Major New Use Variability* (±516) (±588) (±765) (±910) (±1032) (±801) Total Received 42 28 40 27 25 162 Total Processed 35 43 46 31 28 183 Other Application Types Average Days to Process 112 127 163 157 193 148 Variability* (±99) (±117) (±119) (±124) (±182) (±131) Total Received 3434 3965 3646 2869 2679 16593 Total Processed 3408 3551 3621 2998 2525 16103 Source: DPR’s Registration Tracking System. Note: To determine DPR’s time frames for processing various categories of pesticide registration applications, we used data from DPR’s Registration Tracking System to calculate the average number of days from when DPR first received the application to when DPR made a final decision on the application. Although state regulations require DPR to complete the evaluation of data submitted for a pesticide containing a new active ingredient or major new use within 120 days of receipt of all such data, and within 60 days of receipt of all such data for all other pesticides, DPR’s current method of tracking registrations does not capture the appropriate information to determine whether it is meeting those standards. Therefore, we do not compare the information in this table to those standards. * Variability measures the variation of values around the average. This is also known as the standard deviation. Lower variability generally indicates closer proximity and less variance to the average. The wide range of variability can indicate that it is challenging for registrants to predict how long it will take DPR to process an application.