BP BHEAD INT H

AN ACT Relating to handling of medical waste generated by any source or discarded in a manner creating a potential health and safety hazard; adding a new section to chapter 70.95K RCW; creating a new section; and making an appropriation.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that the improper storage, labeling, collecting, handling, transfer, transportation, recycling, and disposal of medical wastes, and the improper discarding of medical wastes, poses a potential health risk and perceived threat to medical waste generators, the public, and workers in the waste and recycling industry. The legislature further finds that the public and workers in the waste and recycling industry have a different and more dangerous perception of health and safety risks associated with medical waste than do many jurisdictional health departments. The legislature further finds that a uniform state-wide handling policy for medical waste will reduce public confusion, enhance public and worker confidence, and provide a state-wide standard which will apply equally and uniformly to public agencies, generators, waste handlers and recyclers, transporters, and disposal facilities.

It is the purpose of this act that the department of health develop, adopt, and coordinate a uniform medical waste handling standard among the various state and local agencies, boards, councils, and commissions that have jurisdiction for one or more aspects of the labeling, storage, collection, handling, transfer, recycling, transportation, or disposal of medical wastes. To the fullest extent possible the department of health shall utilize existing private and public practices and procedures and the existing rules of state agencies, and not develop a new, separate scheme that could be costly and may place unfair and new burdens on the generating, transporting, or disposing entities.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 70.95K RCW to read as follows:

(1) The department of health, in consultation with and cooperation from the department of ecology, the utilities and transportation commission, and other appropriate local, state, and federal agencies, shall adopt a uniform state standard for the storage, labeling, collection, handling, transfer, transportation, recycling, and disposal of medical waste whether generated from a residential or commercial source, or found improperly discarded. The rules shall be drafted and made available for comment by interested and concerned parties no later than December 1, 1993. The department shall prepare the draft and file the proposed rules under the administrative procedure act for an effective date in March 1994.

(2) The purpose of the rules is to provide uniformity in the handling of medical waste throughout the state and for enforcement by a variety of state and local agencies with medical waste handling responsibilities.

(a) The rules shall provide a state-wide, uniform standard to be enforced by every jurisdictional health department.

(b) The department of ecology shall review chapter 173-304 WAC to insure compatibility of existing rules with the rules required by this section.

(c) The utilities and transportation commission shall review chapter 480-70 WAC to insure compatibility of existing rules with the rules required by this section.

(d) The department of health shall review existing rules of state agencies, boards, councils or commissions, and local jurisdictional health departments and local solid waste managers, either having rules, ordinances, resolutions, or policies affecting the storage, labeling, packaging, handling, transportation, transfer, recycling, transportation, sale, or disposal of medical wastes for consistency and compatibility with the uniform medical waste rules required by this section. The department, should it find inconsistent rules, ordinances, policies, or resolutions, shall report such inconsistencies in a report to the senate committee on ecology and parks, the house of representatives committee on environmental affairs, and the legislative transportation committee. The report shall be available to any interested and concerned member of the public, a public agency, or private party by March 30, 1994.

(e) Acting together and cooperatively the departments of health and ecology and the utilities and transportation commission shall determine how the rules required by this section will be applied to solid waste collection companies whether: (i) Regulated by the utilities and transportation commission; or (ii) holding a recycling contract with a county or a municipal solid waste utility.

(3)(a) The rules shall govern and coordinate the proper handling of medical wastes, and shall include at a minimum how the wastes are to be labeled, stored, packaged, handled, transported, transferred, recycled, and disposed, as well as how enforcement is to be coordinated.

(b) The rules shall also address the handling of sharps and other medical wastes found, for example, in school yards, parks, beaches, sidewalks, streets and alleys, playgrounds, and other places where they pose an unknown threat to the health and safety of the public. The departments of health and ecology and the utilities and transportation commission, with the cooperation of the private and public sectors, shall adopt rules and make recommendations to be publicized regarding the safest course of action when improperly disposed or packaged medical waste is found by any private person or public agency.

(4) The department of health is encouraged to consult with interested and concerned parties in the development of these rules. The department of health is further encouraged to utilize the research and information generated by the department of ecology and the utilities and transportation commission from their previous medical waste activities.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The sum of one hundred thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1995, from the solid waste management account to the department of health for the purposes of adopting the rules required by section 2 of this act.