Department of Pesticide Regulation Releases First Strategic Plan Progress Update

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The update highlights advancements in sustainable pest management, enforcement consistency, data transparency, and modernization.

SACRAMENTO – The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) today released its first progress report on its 2024–28 Strategic Plan, outlining achievements and measurable progress made in scientific evaluation, community-monitoring studies, enforcement oversight, and digital modernization. The 2026 Strategic Plan Progress Update reflects accomplishments through the first quarter of 2026, and provides a clear, accessible summary of progress across the department’s four strategic goals, including:

• Increasing access to safe, effective and sustainable pest management
• Tracking, evaluating and enforcing safe pesticide use
• Fostering engagement, collaboration and transparency
• Promoting organizational excellence and innovation

Today’s update highlights strong department-wide progress with 98% of DPR’s strategic objectives either complete or progressing as scheduled. To make this information more accessible to the public, DPR launched a new interactive dashboard that offers an at-a-glance view of performance metrics and strategic plan milestones, alongside a complete list of Goals, Sub-Goals, Objectives and the status of each.

Across program areas, the department reports meaningful progress in strengthening statewide oversight, expanding access to sustainable pest management tools, enhancing data systems, and deepening engagement with communities, government partners and regulated communities. These advancements reflect DPR’s broader efforts to improve transparency, modernize services, and ensure more consistent and effective regulatory processes.

“This progress update shows the dedication, expertise, and commitment across our team to advancing DPR’s mission,” said DPR Director Karen Morrison. “We have made significant strides in strengthening our regulatory foundation, expanding access to information, and supporting safer, more sustainable pest management across California, and we will continue to build on this momentum in the years ahead.”

The update highlights advancements in key program initiatives, operational improvements, and modernization efforts including:

• Advancing statewide sustainable pest management through coordinated interagency action.
• Modernizing pesticide registration with new digital systems and expanded review capacity.
• Expanding community‑driven air and water monitoring across key regions.
• Strengthening enforcement through enhanced oversight and county partnership.
• Building language access tools to expand multilingual accessibility to programs and services.
• Improving public access to data through new dashboards and system upgrades.

These efforts, combined with public outreach and strategic partnerships, aim to make regulatory information easier to access while improving customer experience for licensees, registrants, growers, and California communities.

Taken together, these accomplishments reflect substantial progress toward implementing the department’s five-year plan and advancing DPR’s mission to protect human health and the environment while supporting safe, effective, and sustainable pest management statewide.