ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1554
State of Washington 68th Legislature 2023 Regular Session
By House Environment & Energy (originally sponsored by
Representatives Doglio, Pollet, Fitzgibbon, Berry, Ramel, Orwall,
Ryu, Fosse, Kloba, Macri, and Duerr)
READ FIRST TIME 02/16/23.
1 AN ACT Relating to reducing public health and environmental
2 impacts from lead; adding a new section to chapter 47.68 RCW; adding
3 a new section to chapter 43.70 RCW; creating a new section; and
4 declaring an emergency.
5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
6 NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature finds that even though
7 lead is a widely recognized hazard to human health and to the
8 environment, and leaded motor vehicle gasoline was phased out across
9 the United States decades ago, leaded gasoline remains in widespread
10 use at general aviation airports by piston engine noncommercial
11 aircraft. Recent studies have found elevated levels of lead in the
12 blood of residents, and particularly worryingly in the blood of
13 children residing in general aviation airport communities, for whom
14 lead is especially harmful to their development. There is consensus
15 among the medical and scientific communities that the levels detected
16 in children living around general airports similar to those in
17 Washington are hazardous. The national academies of sciences,
18 engineering, and medicine in 2015 concluded that lead "is a well-
19 known air pollutant that can lead to a variety of adverse health
20 impacts, including neurological effects in children that lead to
21 behavioral problems, learning deficits, and lowered IQ."
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 1 (2) The United States environmental protection agency has
2 recently taken steps towards making an endangerment finding that may
3 eventually lead, through a complex federal regulatory process
4 involving the United States federal aviation administration, to the
5 elimination of lead from aviation gasoline. That unfolding federal
6 process is too slow to adequately protect those currently living near
7 general aviation airports from the harms of lead.
8 (3) Therefore, it is the intent of the legislature to take steps
9 to mitigate public health and environmental concerns caused by the
10 use of leaded gasoline at airports, and to encourage the federal
11 aviation administration to expedite the transition to the use of
12 unleaded aviation gasoline.
13 NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 47.68
14 RCW to read as follows:
15 (1) The department must carry out an education and outreach
16 campaign targeted to airport operators and pilots of piston-engine
17 aircraft on the topic of lead emissions from piston-engine aircraft
18 and the disposal of fuel samples from sumping aircraft fuel tanks.
19 (2) The department, in coordination with the federal aviation
20 administration and an association representing managers of airports
21 in Washington, must develop a bulletin to send to airport operators.
22 The bulletin must offer best practices to build awareness with
23 communities surrounding general aviation airports at which leaded
24 aviation gasoline is used, with special emphasis on communities
25 overburdened by air pollution as identified by the department of
26 ecology under chapter 70A.02 RCW or chapter 70A.65 RCW, as well as
27 with airport employees, airport-based pilots, transient pilots, fixed
28 base operators, and other on-airport tenants related to the issue of
29 lead emissions from piston-engine aircraft and the handling of leaded
30 aviation fuel.
31 (3) For purposes of subsections (1) and (2) of this section, the
32 department may rely upon primers, guides, tools, and resources
33 developed for airports or aircraft operators under the eliminate
34 aviation gasoline lead emissions initiative.
35 (4) The department must develop and communicate to the federal
36 aviation administration a written recommendation to amend their
37 advisory circular on airport master plans to include evaluation of
38 aircraft runup area locations to limit exposure to the public from
39 piston-engine aircraft, with consideration of the 2021 consensus
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 1 study report from the national academies of sciences, engineering,
2 and medicine entitled "Options for Removing Lead Emissions from
3 Piston-Engine Aircraft."
4 (5)(a) The department must submit a formal request to the federal
5 aviation administration for the prioritization of efforts to
6 accelerate the work of the initiative to eliminate aviation gasoline
7 lead emissions as part of the federal aviation administration's
8 request in the congressional reauthorization act process pertaining
9 to the federal aviation administration.
10 (b) The department must cooperate with and participate in
11 aviation trade associations, including trade associations for state
12 aviation officials and airport executive associations, for the
13 purpose of advocating for the acceleration of the initiative to
14 eliminate aviation gasoline lead emissions as part of those
15 organizations' respective legislative priorities for congressional
16 reauthorization acts pertaining to the federal aviation
17 administration.
18 (6) The department, in consultation with representatives of
19 airport operators, fixed-base operators, and at least one national
20 association representing general aviation pilots, one national
21 association representing business aviation, and the Washington
22 aviation and aerospace advisory committee must submit recommendations
23 to the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 8, 2023,
24 on:
25 (a) Financial incentives including, but not limited to, grants,
26 taxes, aircraft registration fees, other fees, and leasehold excise
27 tax reductions, to be provided by the state for leaded aviation fuel
28 reduction; and
29 (b) Management strategies for airport operators and fixed-base
30 operators, limited fixed-base operators, and businesses operating
31 piston-engine aircraft to pursue programs and projects to acquire
32 equipment, build facilities, or implement operational programs with
33 the goal of reducing emissions from piston-engine aircraft that use
34 leaded aviation fuels and reducing public health impacts from lead
35 exposures associated with airport operations.
36 NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 43.70
37 RCW to read as follows:
38 The department must update its blood lead testing guidance for
39 health care providers related to children living near airports at
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 1 which aviation gasoline is used. The update must include children at
2 risk of lead exposure due to airport operations among the high-risk
3 populations broadly recommended for a blood lead test, without
4 respect to the clinical judgment of the health care provider. For
5 purposes of determining which children are at highest risk of lead
6 exposure due to airport operations, the department must consider
7 including children living, attending day care, preschool, or school
8 within one kilometer of a general aviation airport, among other
9 populations. The department must conduct outreach with and provide
10 information to health care providers about the guidance.
11 NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. If any provision of this act or its
12 application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the
13 remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other
14 persons or circumstances is not affected.
15 NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. This act is necessary for the immediate
16 preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of
17 the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes
18 effect immediately.
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Statutes affected:
Original Bill: 43.21B.110, 43.21B.300
Substitute Bill: 43.21B.110, 43.21B.300