SENATE BILL REPORT
ESB 6194
As Passed Senate, June 19, 2001
Title: An act relating to authorizing the provision of pilotage services in the Grays Harbor pilotage district by port districts.
Brief Description: Authorizing port districts to provide pilots in Grays Harbor.
Sponsors: Senators Snyder, Hargrove and T. Sheldon.
Brief History:
Committee Activity: Transportation: 6/5/01 [DP].
Second Special Session: Passed Senate: 6/19/01, 44-0.
SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Majority Report: Do pass.
Signed by Senators Haugen, Chair; Gardner, Vice Chair; Eide, Finkbeiner, Horn, Jacobsen, Johnson, Kastama, McDonald, Patterson, Prentice and T. Sheldon.
Staff: Jennifer Strus (786‑7484)
Background: Currently, the persons who provide pilotage services in the Grays Harbor Navigation Channel are paid a fee per ship they pilot into port. With the decline in the timber industry, fewer ships use the Grays Harbor port. As a consequence, the two remaining pilot owners are threatening to leave Grays Harbor, thus leaving the only deep water port on the Pacific Coast without pilots.
Summary of Bill: A countywide port district located within the Grays Harbor pilotage district is created. It may begin pilotage service on or before June 30, 2001.
To be employed by a port district to perform pilotage services, a pilot must be licensed by the Board of Pilotage Commissioners (Board). Before establishing pilotage services in the Grays Harbor pilotage district, a port district must provide 60 days written notice to the chair of the Board.
A port district requiring additional pilots may petition the Board to qualify and license as a pilot a person who has already passed the Grays Harbor pilotage district examination and is on the waiting list for its training program.
The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee must conduct a study to determine the effectiveness of this legislation. The study must be issued to the House and Senate Transportation committees no later than June 30, 2006.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Not requested.
Effective Date: The bill contains an emergency clause and takes effect immediately.
Testimony For: Because of the decline in ship traffic, pilots in Grays Harbor do not have enough business to continue to provide pilotage services. The continuation of shipping in Grays Harbor is critical to the economy of the state. This bill will allow the port to provide stable employment to the pilots in Grays Harbor and continue to provide safe pilotage services in the Grays Harbor pilotage district. The loss of shipping in Grays Harbor port also means the loss of a substantial number of good paying jobs.
Testimony Against: None.
Testified: PRO: Senator Snyder, prime sponsor; Pat Jones, WA Public Ports Assn.; Jack Thompson, Commissioner, Port of Grays Harbor; Gary Nelson, Exec. Dir., Port of Grays Harbor; Ben Watson, Grays Harbor pilot; Bobby DiAngelo, Grays Harbor bar pilot; Bill Bock, Puget Sound Pilots; Randy Ray, Puget Sound Steamship Operators Assn.; Erik Nardahl, Weyerhaeuser; Max Vekich, President, ILWU, Local 24.