HOUSE BILL REPORT

SSB 5565

BYSenate Committee on Parks & Ecology (originally sponsored by  Senators Kreidler, Lee and Bauer)

Requiring gasoline delivery trucks to have meters and supply receipts.

House Committe on Environmental Affairs

Majority Report:  Do pass.  (9)

      Signed by Representatives Rust, Chair; Valle, Vice Chair; Brekke, Jesernig, Lux, Pruitt, Sprenkle, Unsoeld and Walker.

Minority Report:  Do not pass. (3)

      Signed by Representatives Ferguson, Schoon and D. Sommers.

House Staff:Bonnie Austin (786-7107)

AS OF HOUSE SECOND READING APRIL 2, 1987

BACKGROUND:

Leaking underground storage tanks containing petroleum products may pose a risk to the environment, especially to groundwater.  Current inventory procedures utilized by operators of service stations to measure the volume of gasoline in the tanks may be inadequate to detect small leaks because they do not provide for precise measurement.

Gasoline volume of underground tanks is currently determined by "dipping" the tanks with gage sticks and comparing the measurement with daily sales and deliveries.  An accurate measurement of the gasoline delivered into the tanks is dependent upon the availability of certain information necessary to compensate for temperature changes.  Temperature compensation is essential to inventory monitoring, since temperature shifts cause expansion or contraction of the volume of gasoline.  If service station operators know the temperature and gross volume amount of the fuel at the time it was metered on the shipping truck at the supply terminal, the net volume of the gasoline at 60 degrees Fahrenheit,  and the time of delivery to service station tanks, the service station operator can compensate for the effects of temperature on gasoline storage.

The director of the Department of Agriculture is responsible under the 1969 Weights and Measures Act (RCW 19.94) for inspecting motor vehicle fuel pumps and investigating complaints.  Initial violations of the Weights and Measures Act are misdemeanors, and second or subsequent violations are gross misdemeanors.

SUMMARY:

Persons delivering gasoline shall provide the service station with an invoice detailing the gross volume of gasoline and the net volume of gasoline at 60 degrees Fahrenheit, the time and temperature of the gasoline as it was loaded into the delivery truck, and the time of delivery to the retail service station.

Fiscal Note:      Attached.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    None Presented.

House Committee - Testified Against:      None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:    None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None Presented.