The recent incursion of Homalodisca coagulata (Say) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), to southern California has substantially increased the temporal and spatial spread of Xylella fastidosa Wells et al., the Pierce’s disease bacterium, to grapevines, relative to spread by native vectors. This epidemic is taking place in grape-growing areas that were traditionally not affected by Pierce’s disease. The high rate and wide-range of this epidemic is a consequence of biological and ecological aspects of H. coagulata, and its interaction with X. fastidiosa and their hosts. The devastation that has already occurred, and the potential of future Pierce’s disease epidemics throughout California have compelled substantial research at many levels. The goals of this research are to understand details of basic biological aspects of the vector, the pathogen, their hosts, and the interactions between these three divergent organisms that culminate in a disease epidemic. A necessary extension of this research is using new information in conjunction with knowledge of cropping systems to generated disease management tactics. Under development are novel disease management tactics that are being developed for landscape, vineyard, and grapevine levels of deployment. These tactics focus on reducing the numbers of H. coagulata over a large area, keeping them out of vineyards, manipulating their interactions with grapevines, and manipulating the interactions between grapevines and X. fastitiosa.