HOUSE BILL REPORT

SHB 1472

BYHouse Committee on Agriculture & Rural Development (originally sponsored by Representatives Baugher, McLean, Nealey, Rayburn, Doty, Grant, Rasmussen, Holm and Todd; by request of Department of Agriculture)

Revising provisions relating to apiaries.

House Committe on Agriculture & Rural Development

Majority Report:  The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass.  (13)

      Signed by Representatives Rayburn, Chair; Kremen, Vice Chair; Baugher, Bristow, Brooks, Chandler, Doty, Grant, Holm, McLean, Moyer, Nealey and Rasmussen.

House Staff:Kenneth Hirst (786-7105)

AS PASSED HOUSE FEBRUARY 3, 1988

BACKGROUND:

State law grants the Director of Agriculture broad authority to take actions to prevent the introduction or spreading of diseases affecting honey producing bees in this state.  Among the authorities of the Director are those for:  inspecting bees, hives, and appliances; requiring the inspection of bees imported to the state; and seizing and destroying abandoned and diseased bees or related items.  Bees and related items in which the disease American Foulbrood is found are declared by law to be public nuisances and must be abated.

A person who has committed a Class I civil infraction may be assessed a penalty of up to $250.

SUMMARY:

General.  State laws governing apiaries (honey producing bees and related hives and appliances) are amended.  The definition of the "diseases" for which administrative actions may be taken under those laws is amended to include expressly mites and certain other diseases and maladies.  The Director of Agriculture is expressly granted the authority to establish and enforce rules regarding quarantines. Any apiary which is found to be infected with disease (rather than infected with American Foulbrood as under current law) and found to be dangerous to the health of any apiary in the state may be quarantined.  The Director may conduct surveys, perform inspections for out-of-state movement of bees or appliances, and inspect queen bee rearing apiaries.  The Director is also expressly authorized to perform certain inspections and investigations at the expense of the persons requesting the inspections and investigations.  Services provided upon request will be provided only to apiarists who are in compliance with the apiary laws.

The Director may establish the maximum levels of American Foulbrood which would prohibit interstate movement of colonies and may conduct colony strength inspections.  The Director may also establish a beekeeper certification program for those whose colony management systems consistently have only low levels of American Foulbrood.

Nuisances; Abandoned Apiaries.  The provisions of current law which declare an apiary infected with American Foulbrood to be a public nuisance and require its abatement are broadened to include colonies of apis mellifera scutellata (Africanized honey bees) and any hybrids of that subspecies.  They are also broadened to include any abandoned apiary. (Current law is repealed which requires the Director to define abandonment by rule and to provide for the control of abandoned apiaries by rule.)  Provisions are established for the issuance of notices of violations and nuisances.  If an owner fails to abate a nuisance within the time specified in the notice, the Department may abate it at the owner' expense.  The Director is expressly authorized to seize and destroy an abandoned apiary after taking certain actions to establish the ownership of the apiary.

Importation.  A permit is required for the importation of any bees or used appliances. The nature of the certificate regarding diseases required for bees reentering the state after being removed for summer pasture is specified.  Neither such a certificate nor an importation permit is required for empty used package bee cages. Nets or other devices are required to prevent the escape of bees from bee colonies during transit.  Bees or appliances imported without the required certificates and permits or otherwise in violation of these requirements may be quarantined and inspected at the expense of the apiarist in charge of the colonies.

Penalties.  With certain exceptions, the penalties for violations of the apiary laws are altered.  Rather than committing crimes punishable as misdemeanors or gross misdemeanors (as under current law), a person who commits a violation has committed a Class I civil infraction.  (Actions which inflict certain forms of harm on honey bees remain punishable as misdemeanors.)

Registration Fees; Apiary Inspection Fund.  The registration fee for an apiarist which may currently be set by the Department solely to cover the expenses of the Apiary Advisory Board may now be set for other purposes at the request of the industry.  Registration fees and service fees are to be deposited in an Apiary Inspection Fund which is not subject to appropriation.

Fiscal Note:      Requested January 19, 1988.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Mike Schwisow, Department of Agriculture; Wayne Robinson, Friends of Washington Beekeepers; Robert Stump, Pierce County Beekeepers Association.

House Committee - Testified Against:      None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:    (1) Although current law permits regulatory action for a broad range of diseases which threaten honey bees, this bill makes it very clear that the Department has the power to control mites, not just infectious diseases.  (2) The civil penalty provisions of the bill provide greater opportunity for enforcement than do the current provisions for criminal penalties.  (3) If the varroa mite infests this state, up to 90% of the commercial crops which depend on honey bee pollination could be lost.  (4) Border inspections and additional research are needed to keep the varroa mite out of this state.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None Presented.