EPA Budget for FY2023 Passed in the December Spending Legislation

The Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA 5) was included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 passed by Congress as one of its final acts in 2022.  On December 29th, the President signed this spending bill into law, and with it, the continued funding of the US EPA and PRIA 5.

 

What does this mean for EPA and toXcel’s clients?

The start date of these changes is retroactive to October 2022 (the beginning of the 2023 Fiscal Year).  As a result, registrants can expect a few changes in the fees and reviews at EPA. We’ve detailed some below:

Maintenance Fees:  EPA issues invoices to registrants for annual fees for each current registration, due mid-January. The EPA Maintenance Fee that EPA is allowed to recuperate from registrants increased for the FY2023 via this new law.  This will result in an increase in the $3,400 per registration that was already billed to registrants for the FY2023 Maintenance Fees and due to the Agency by January 17th; we do not know the increased amount for each registration yet.  While awaiting official word from the Agency, toXcel wants to alert our clients that EPA is planning to issue a supplemental invoice for the difference once they make a determination.  toXcel will keep our clients updated once the Agency has released more information. *UPDATE 1/13/2023: EPA has announced the updated fee, per registration, for FY2023 is $4,875.  Registrants will receive more information over email and the difference (if already paid the initial amount) will be required to be paid by registrants ASAP.

PRIA Fees: The fee-for-service that registrants pay for registrations, amendments, and other actions to the Agency in order to have a timeframe for review, PRIA fees have been reauthorized in this legislation.  The previous PRIA extension was in PRIA 4 in 2018. EPA plans to update the fee tables on the website to reflect the new categories, fees, and timeframes.  The new fees become effect in late February 2023.  toXcel can help our clients determine the fees while EPA is making website updates.

Registration Review:  The deadline for EPA to review all active ingredients that were registered by 2007 has been extended through FY2026, so the Agency can continue their ongoing reviews which had not been met by the previous 2022 timeframe due to backlogs.

Backlogs: While the FY223 budget and PRIA 5 were passed as part of the spending legislation, note that the Agency has seen major backlogs on both the FIFRA and TSCA sides of EPA.  The Agency had requested $400 million in additional funding, but only a third of that was allocated to the EPA in the end, to fund new and ongoing programs.  While hirings and clearing backlogs are needed to give the Agency necessary resources, we are likely to see backlog issues persist at the Agency for some time to come.

Please reach out to us if you have any questions.