California Scales Back Pesticide PFAS Bill, Enacts Disclosure-Only Law
On September 27, 2026, California enacted legislation requiring the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) to disclose the presence of PFAS in pesticides, defined as substances containing at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom.
The chaptered version of AB 1603 is far narrower than an earlier iteration. As amended in March 2026, the bill would have prohibited the registration or re-registration of pesticides with intentionally added PFAS, imposed labeling requirements, and phased out PFAS in pesticides altogether. More on those proposed requirements can be found in a previous post.
As chaptered, the law instead requires DPR to:
- Indicate if a pesticide contains PFAS ingredients in its pesticide use reporting database and add PFAS as a category of interest in the database;
- Include PFAS trends in its annual pesticide use report and other relevant reporting documents; and
- Publish a list of all registered pesticides containing PFAS on its website and submit it to local officials.
The disclosures apply beyond active ingredients. Specifically, they apply to PFAS intentionally added to a pesticide as active, adjuvant, or inert ingredients.
Notably, despite its narrowed scope, the legislation declares the Legislature’s intent to “[b]egin phasing out the use of PFAS pesticides and take additional steps to address other PFAS in pesticides.”
The database update is required on or before January 1, 2028, or the posting of the pesticide use reporting database containing 2026 data, whichever comes first, and annually thereafter. The list of registered pesticides containing PFAS is also due January 1, 2028, and must be updated within 60 days of the registration of a new pesticide containing PFAS.
