Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

S-0861.1
                                 SENATE BILL 5605
     State of Washington         68th Legislature        2023 Regular Session
     By Senators Robinson, Dhingra, Hunt, Lovelett, Lovick, and Stanford
     Read first time 01/27/23.      Referred to Committee on Environment,
     Energy & Technology.
     AN ACT Relating to reducing lead in cookware; amending RCW
 43.21B.110 and 43.21B.300; adding a new chapter to Title 70A RCW; and
 prescribing penalties.
 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
     NEW SECTION.    Sec. 1.    The definitions in this section apply
 throughout   this  chapter   unless   the    context   clearly   requires
 otherwise.
     (1) "Cookware" means any metal pots, pans, bakeware, rice
 cookers, pressure cookers, and other containers and devices intended
 for the preparation or storage of food.
     (2) "Component" includes separate or distinct parts of the
 cookware including, but not limited to, accessories such as lids,
 knobs, handles and handle assemblies, rivets, fasteners, valves, and
 vent pipes.
     (3) "Department" means the Washington state department of
 ecology.
     (4)   "Manufacturer"   means   any    person,    firm,   association,
 partnership, corporation, governmental entity, organization, or joint
 venture that produces a product or is an importer or domestic
 distributor of a product sold or offered for sale in or into the
 state.
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     (5) "Vulnerable populations" has the same meaning as defined in
 RCW 70A.02.010.
     NEW SECTION.     Sec. 2.    (1) Beginning January 1, 2025, no
 manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer may manufacture, sell, offer
 for sale, distribute for sale, or distribute for use in this state
 cookware or cookware component containing lead or lead compounds at a
 level of more than five parts per million.
     (2) The department, in consultation with the department of
 health, may lower the five part per million limit established in
 subsection (1) of this section by rule if it determines that the
 lower limit is:
     (a) Feasible for cookware and cookware component manufacturers to
 achieve; and
     (b) Necessary to protect human health, including the health of
 vulnerable populations.
     NEW SECTION.   Sec. 3.    (1) The department may adopt rules as
 necessary for the purpose of implementing, administering, and
 enforcing this chapter.
     (2) A person violating a requirement of this chapter, a rule
 adopted under this chapter, or an order issued under this chapter, is
 subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000 for each violation in
 the case of a first offense. Repeat violations are subject to a civil
 penalty not to exceed $10,000 for each repeat offense.
     (3) Any penalty provided for in this section, and any order
 issued by the department under this chapter, may be appealed to the
 pollution control hearings board.
     (4) All penalties collected under this chapter shall be deposited
 in the model toxics control operating account created in RCW
 70A.305.180.
     Sec. 4. RCW 43.21B.110 and 2022 c 180 s 812 are each amended to
 read as follows:
     (1) The hearings board shall only have jurisdiction to hear and
 decide appeals from the following decisions of the department, the
 director, local conservation districts, the air pollution control
 boards or authorities as established pursuant to chapter 70A.15 RCW,
 local health departments, the department of natural resources, the
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 department of fish and wildlife, the parks and recreation commission,
 and authorized public entities described in chapter 79.100 RCW:
     (a)   Civil   penalties  imposed   pursuant   to  RCW  18.104.155,
 70A.15.3160,    70A.300.090,  70A.20.050,   70A.530.040,  70A.350.070,
 70A.515.060, 70A.245.040, 70A.245.050, 70A.245.070, 70A.245.080,
 70A.65.200, 70A.455.090, section 3 of this act, 76.09.170, 77.55.440,
 78.44.250, 88.46.090, 90.03.600, 90.46.270, 90.48.144, 90.56.310,
 90.56.330, and 90.64.102.
     (b) Orders issued pursuant to RCW 18.104.043, 18.104.060,
 43.27A.190,   70A.15.2520,   70A.15.3010,   70A.300.120,  70A.350.070,
 70A.245.020, 70A.65.200, section 3 of this act, 86.16.020, 88.46.070,
 90.14.130, 90.46.250, 90.48.120, and 90.56.330.
     (c) Except as provided in RCW 90.03.210(2), the issuance,
 modification, or termination of any permit, certificate, or license
 by the department or any air authority in the exercise of its
 jurisdiction, including the issuance or termination of a waste
 disposal permit, the denial of an application for a waste disposal
 permit, the modification of the conditions or the terms of a waste
 disposal permit, or a decision to approve or deny an application for
 a solid waste permit exemption under RCW 70A.205.260.
     (d) Decisions of local health departments regarding the grant or
 denial of solid waste permits pursuant to chapter 70A.205 RCW.
     (e) Decisions of local health departments regarding the issuance
 and enforcement of permits to use or dispose of biosolids under RCW
 70A.226.090.
     (f)   Decisions   of  the   department   regarding   waste-derived
 fertilizer or micronutrient fertilizer under RCW 15.54.820, and
 decisions of the department regarding waste-derived soil amendments
 under RCW 70A.205.145.
     (g) Decisions of local conservation districts related to the
 denial of approval or denial of certification of a dairy nutrient
 management plan; conditions contained in a plan; application of any
 dairy   nutrient  management   practices,   standards,  methods,   and
 technologies to a particular dairy farm; and failure to adhere to the
 plan review and approval timelines in RCW 90.64.026.
     (h) Any other decision by the department or an air authority
 which pursuant to law must be decided as an adjudicative proceeding
 under chapter 34.05 RCW.
     (i) Decisions of the department of natural resources, the
 department of fish and wildlife, and the department that are
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 reviewable under chapter 76.09 RCW, and the department of natural
 resources' appeals of county, city, or town objections under RCW
 76.09.050(7).
     (j) Forest health hazard orders issued by the commissioner of
 public lands under RCW 76.06.180.
     (k) Decisions of the department of fish and wildlife to issue,
 deny, condition, or modify a hydraulic project approval permit under
 chapter 77.55 RCW, to issue a stop work order, to issue a notice to
 comply, to issue a civil penalty, or to issue a notice of intent to
 disapprove applications.
     (l) Decisions of the department of natural resources that are
 reviewable under RCW 78.44.270.
     (m) Decisions of an authorized public entity under RCW 79.100.010
 to take temporary possession or custody of a vessel or to contest the
 amount of reimbursement owed that are reviewable by the hearings
 board under RCW 79.100.120.
     (n) Decisions of the department of ecology that are appealable
 under RCW 70A.245.020 to set recycled minimum postconsumer content
 for covered products or to temporarily exclude types of covered
 products in plastic containers from minimum postconsumer recycled
 content requirements.
     (o) Orders by the department of ecology under RCW 70A.455.080.
     (2) The following hearings shall not be conducted by the hearings
 board:
     (a) Hearings required by law to be conducted by the shorelines
 hearings board pursuant to chapter 90.58 RCW.
     (b) Hearings conducted by the department pursuant to RCW
 70A.15.3010, 70A.15.3070, 70A.15.3080, 70A.15.3090, 70A.15.3100,
 70A.15.3110, and 90.44.180.
     (c) Appeals of decisions by the department under RCW 90.03.110
 and 90.44.220.
     (d) Hearings conducted by the department to adopt, modify, or
 repeal rules.
     (3) Review of rules and regulations adopted by the hearings board
 shall be subject to review in accordance with the provisions of the
 administrative procedure act, chapter 34.05 RCW.
     Sec. 5. RCW 43.21B.300 and 2022 c 180 s 813 are each amended to
 read as follows:
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      (1) Any civil penalty provided in RCW 18.104.155, 70A.15.3160,
 70A.205.280,    70A.300.090,   70A.20.050,   70A.245.040,   70A.245.050,
 70A.245.070, 70A.245.080, 70A.65.200, 70A.455.090, section 3 of this
 act,    88.46.090,    90.03.600,   90.46.270,    90.48.144,   90.56.310,
 90.56.330, and 90.64.102 and chapter 70A.355 RCW shall be imposed by
 a notice in writing, either by certified mail with return receipt
 requested or by personal service, to the person incurring the penalty
 from the department or the local air authority, describing the
 violation with reasonable particularity. For penalties issued by
 local air authorities, within 30 days after the notice is received,
 the person incurring the penalty may apply in writing to the
 authority for the remission or mitigation of the penalty. Upon
 receipt of the application, the authority may remit or mitigate the
 penalty upon whatever terms the authority in its discretion deems
 proper. The authority may ascertain the facts regarding all such
 applications in such reasonable manner and under such rules as it may
 deem proper and shall remit or mitigate the penalty only upon a
 demonstration of extraordinary circumstances such as the presence of
 information or factors not considered in setting the original
 penalty.
      (2) Any penalty imposed under this section may be appealed to the
 pollution control hearings board in accordance with this chapter if
 the appeal is filed with the hearings board and served on the
 department or authority 30 days after the date of receipt by the
 person penalized of the notice imposing the penalty or 30 days after
 the date of receipt of the notice of disposition by a local air
 authority of the application for relief from penalty.
      (3) A penalty shall become due and payable on the later of:
      (a) Thirty days after receipt of the notice imposing the penalty;
      (b) Thirty days after receipt of the notice of disposition by a
 local air authority on application for relief from penalty, if such
 an application is made; or
      (c) Thirty days after receipt of the notice of decision of the
 hearings board if the penalty is appealed.
     (4) If the amount of any penalty is not paid to the department
 within 30 days after it becomes due and payable, the attorney
 general, upon request of the department, shall bring an action in the
 name of the state of Washington in the superior court of Thurston
 county, or of any county in which the violator does business, to
 recover the penalty. If the amount of the penalty is not paid to the
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 authority within 30 days after it becomes due and payable, the
 authority may bring an action to recover the penalty in the superior
 court of the county of the authority's main office or of any county
 in which the violator does business. In these actions, the procedures
 and rules of evidence shall be the same as in an ordinary civil
 action.
     (5) All penalties recovered shall be paid into the state treasury
 and credited to the general fund except those penalties imposed
 pursuant to RCW 18.104.155, which shall be credited to the
 reclamation   account  as   provided   in   RCW  18.104.155(7),   RCW
 70A.15.3160, the disposition of which shall be governed by that
 provision, RCW 70A.245.040 and 70A.245.050, which shall be credited
 to the recycling enhancement account created in RCW 70A.245.100, RCW
 70A.300.090 and section 3 of this act, which shall be credited to the
 model toxics control operating account created in RCW 70A.305.180,
 RCW 70A.65.200, which shall be credited to the climate investment
 account created in RCW 70A.65.250, RCW 90.56.330, which shall be
 credited to the coastal protection fund created by RCW 90.48.390, and
 RCW 70A.355.070, which shall be credited to the underground storage
 tank account created by RCW 70A.355.090.
     NEW SECTION.     Sec. 6.    Sections 1   through   3   of   this   act
 constitute a new chapter in Title 70A RCW.
     NEW SECTION.    Sec. 7.    If any provision of this act or its
 application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the
 remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other
 persons or circumstances is not affected.
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Statutes affected: 
Original Bill: 70A.305.180, 43.21B.300