The California Ecosystems Protection Act (AB 1322)
went into effect on January 1, 2024

On October 13, 2023, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 1322 (Chapter 836, Statues of 2023) to restrict the use of diphacinone products due to their threat to mountain lions and other non-target wildlife.

Effective January 1, 2024, most uses of the rodenticide diphacinone are prohibited and most products containing diphacinone are required to be sold by licensed dealers.  Because uses prohibited under AB 1322 are restricted materials starting January 1, 2024, only licensed pest control dealers can sell diphacinone products labeled for any prohibited use to end-users.

Restricted uses include residential, industrial, and institutional settings, like schools, parks, and airports. Prohibited uses include use in and around restaurants (that do not have an attached brewery or winery), grocery stores, airports, offices, construction sites, ports and terminal buildings, shipyards, timber yards, schools, shopping malls, sewers, and sewage treatment plants. In addition, many non-production agricultural uses (such as cemeteries, golf courses, parks, highways, and railroads) are also prohibited.

Amended FAC section 12978.7 allows continued use of diphacinone for specified users and uses.

• Persons who are certified Vector Control Technicians employed by a vector control district or other government agency.
• Government agency employees protecting water supply infrastructure and facilities (e.g. wells, surface-water intakes, dams, reservoirs, storage tanks, drinking-water facilities, pipes, and aqueducts). 
• Persons who are certified as private applicators to apply Restricted Use Pesticides.  County agricultural commissioners are responsible for examining and certifying private applicators.

• Use by a mosquito or vector control district, including use under a contract with a pest control businesses licensed by the Department or registered with the Structural Pest Control Board.
• For eradication of non-native invasive species on offshore islands.
• If the Department of Fish and Wildlife determines the use is required to control or eradicate an invasive rodent population for the protection of threatened or endangered species or their habitats.
• To control an actual or potential infestation associated with an urgent, non-routine public health need declared by the State Public Health Officer or a local public health officer.
• For research authorized by DPR to provide information for DPR’s SGAR or diphacinone reevaluations.
• At medical waste generators as defined in Health and Safety Code section 117705, such as the following examples: Medical, dental, and veterinary offices, clinics, hospitals, surgery centers, etc.; Pet shops; and Trauma scene waste management practitioners.
• At FDA-registered and inspected facilities involved in the commercial manufacture, preparation, compounding, etc., of drugs.
• On agricultural sites producing any horticultural, viticultural, aquacultural, forestry, dairy, livestock, poultry, bee, or farm product.
• At other noted sites, specifically: A warehouse used to store foods for human or animal consumption; A food manufacturing or processing plant, such as a slaughterhouse or cannery; A factory, brewery, or winery; On-farm water storage and conveyance facilities to protect on-farm water supply systems, facilities, and related infrastructure. This includes on-farm areas such as waterways, irrigation canals, levies, dams, ponds, reservoirs, wells, water tanks, irrigation pumps and pump houses, and drip tape or other irrigation lines outside of farm fields. On-farm storage housing rights-of-way and other transportation infrastructure materials to protect on-farm transportation infrastructure. This includes on-farm areas such as driveways (including driveways to barns and houses), farm or ranch roads (such as along farm fields), and bridge or culvert embankments.