Pest control in Texas is regulated by the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) under the Texas Structural Pest Control Act. The Texas Pest Control License (TPCL) system requires separate certifications for general pest, termite, lawn and ornamental, and other categories. At the federal level, EPA pesticide registration decisions — including recent reviews of neonicotinoids, chlorpyrifos, and organophosphates — directly impact which products Texas applicators can legally use. We track TDA enforcement actions, EPA Federal Register notices, and legislative bills affecting the pest control industry in Texas.
TDA issues roughly 200+ enforcement actions per year against pest control operators for violations ranging from unlicensed application to improper storage. EPA pesticide cancellations can eliminate products that entire business models depend on — the 2021 chlorpyrifos food-use ban affected thousands of agricultural applicators. For consumers, understanding licensing requirements helps verify that their pest control provider operates legally. Texas tenant rights regarding pest control obligations vary by lease terms and local ordinances, with no statewide implied warranty of habitability statute. Our coverage translates dense regulatory language into practical implications for both operators and consumers.
27 articles in this category
A Center for Biological Diversity study finds only about 120 of more than 11,000 watersheds would drop below EPA's atrazine harm threshold — a problem for the sorghum country that leans on the herbicide.
Lower Rio Grande Valley growers have filed comments telling EPA that revoking neonicotinoid food tolerances would strip their tools against Asian citrus psyllid — and their reason to keep farming.
The Center for Biological Diversity wants the EPA and HHS to review pre-harvest desiccation and tighten glyphosate residue limits, reopening a fight Texas grain growers are already watching.
A TAHC executive director order signed Oct. 1 sets entry requirements for all livestock, exotic livestock and fowl coming into Texas from any state with an active New World screwworm zone.
An executive order signed Sept. 29 directs federal agencies to slash invasive mosquito populations in Washington, D.C. by 90 percent by 2028, leaning on sterile-insect and biotech tools Texas helped pioneer.
Rep. Monica De La Cruz's Combatting Pasture Mealybug Act would direct USDA to measure the invasive pest's damage and draft a containment plan.
A Federal Register notice published Sept. 28 extends public comment on EPA's glyphosate literature search to Nov. 23, stretching a review Texas growers watch closely.
EPA announces two major scientific advancements to eliminate mammalian animal testing by 2035, introducing new framework for surfactants and GHS mixtures equation for pesticide risk assessment.
EPA seeks peer-reviewed studies on glyphosate health effects through September 24, 2026, as the agency updates its human health risk assessment for the world's most widely used herbicide.