SENATE BILL REPORT

SB 6292

BYSenators Hansen and Rasmussen

Making owners of mosquito infested land responsible for their control.

Senate Committee on Agriculture

Senate Hearing Date(s):January 18, 1990; January 26, 1990

Majority Report:  Do pass.

      Signed by Senators Barr, Chairman; Anderson, Vice Chairman; Bailey, Gaspard, Hansen, Madsen, Newhouse.

Senate Staff:Bob Lee (786-7404)

                  February 10, 1990

AS PASSED SENATE, FEBRUARY 9, 1990

BACKGROUND:

Mosquitos can carry diseases which cause sickness or death in humans, such as encephalitis.  Heavy populations also hamper people's enjoyment of the outdoors, particularly during evening hours.  Programs to monitor and suppress mosquito populations are conducted by mosquito control districts and in some cases by local health departments.

Mosquito control districts may be formed at the county level.  The district can comprise all or a part of a county.  Activities of the district are paid through a property tax levied on the lands benefited.  The board of the mosquito control district is appointed by the county commissioners and by participating cities.

In some jurisdictions, lands from which mosquitoes originate are under the management of the Department of Wildlife and other public agencies.  The agencies' increasingly rigorous requirements for spraying the breeding grounds of mosquitoes have forced the costs to escalate.  Some states require state agencies having lands infested by mosquitos to abate the nuisance or to reimburse the district for costs incurred to abate the nuisance.

Relief may be provided by giving authority to the mosquito control board to require persons or entities who have management control over the mosquito breeding areas to be responsible for the control of the pests which originate from their land.

SUMMARY:

An owner of land includes the person in actual possession or the person who has management control over the property.

As an option to levying a property tax as a benefit assessment on residents within the district, a mosquito control district is authorized to adopt by resolution a policy declaring that the control of mosquitoes within the district is the responsibility of the owner of the land from which the pest originates.  The mosquito control board may, following a public hearing, adopt a regulation that requires owners of land within the district to perform certain actions to control mosquitoes.

If landowners do not take sufficient action to comply with the regulation, the board shall notify the owner that a violation exists and order the owner to take action within a reasonable period of time.  If the board deems that the public nuisance, or threat to public health, is sufficiently severe, the board may require control actions to be taken within 48 hours of the receipt of the notification by the owner.

If the owner does not take action required by the board to control mosquitoes, the board may proceed to control mosquitoes and to collect expenses from the owner of the land.  The district may file a lien on the property to recover expenses incurred, including attorney fees, and may by other means available pursuant to law collect expenses in substitution for the enforcement of the lien.

Appropriation:    none

Revenue:    none

Fiscal Note:      requested January 15, 1990

Senate Committee - Testified: Jim Thompson, Grant Co. Mosquito Control; Richard Morton, Benton County Mosquito Control (pro)