On May 8^th, the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) and California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) announced that California would be moving to ban the use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos. Rather than an immediate ban, CalEPA and DPR will work to phase out the use of chlorpyrifos over the next two years, culminating in a ban on any use.

While chlorpyrifos is in its two-year phase-out process, DPR and the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) will convene a cross-sector working group to identify and develop safer and more practical and sustainable alternatives to chlorpyrifos. In his May Revision budget proposal, Governor Gavin Newsom included $5.7 million in funding for additional research and technical assistance to support this effort.

See the press release here