"NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) The legislature finds that Washington's thirty-nine thousand five hundred farms and ranches generate one hundred sixty thousand jobs, forty-nine billion dollars in revenue, and thirteen percent of the state's economy, powering a diverse local food and agricultural economy that is critical to maintaining a strong state economy. The legislature also finds that the dispersed and varied nature of agricultural activities and operations, combined with thin agricultural profit margins, presents unique challenges in addressing nonpoint agricultural water quality issues. The legislature further finds that the cumulative impact of nonpoint water quality regulations and funding preconditions can unintentionally impair the economic viability of agricultural operations and frustrate state policy goals of promoting local food production, preserving open spaces, and protecting farm and ranch lands from conversion to subdivisions, and other nonagricultural uses and developments.
     (2) Therefore, the legislature directs government agencies tasked with protecting water quality to work cooperatively with agricultural landowners and conservation districts to fully utilize voluntary incentives that promote both agricultural viability and water quality solutions, to the maximum extent practicable, prior to taking water quality enforcement action related to nonpoint agricultural activities on agricultural lands.

Sec. 2   RCW 90.48.080 and 1987 c 109 s 126 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) It shall be unlawful for any person to throw, drain, run, or otherwise discharge into any of the waters of this state, or to cause, permit or suffer to be thrown, run, drained, allowed to seep or otherwise discharged into such waters any organic or inorganic matter that shall cause or tend to cause pollution of such waters according to the determination of the department, as provided for in this chapter.
     (2) With regard to the regulation of nonpoint agricultural activities on agricultural lands, the department's efforts to achieve compliance with the water quality laws and rules of the state of Washington must be consistent with the following sequence and conditions:
     (a) The department shall prepare and distribute technical and educational information to help agricultural operations comply with the requirements of water quality laws, and prioritize compliance efforts to address the state's most important water quality issues and areas of concern first, in order to maximize the benefit derived from the financial resources of state and local governments and regulated entities;
     (b) When the department determines that a violation has occurred or is about to occur, it shall first attempt to achieve voluntary compliance. As part of this first response, the department shall offer information and technical assistance in writing identifying one or more means to accomplish compliance through voluntary means, including but not limited to state and federal funding incentives, within the framework of the law;
     (c) Voluntary stewardship or conservation funding incentives to address water quality concerns on agricultural lands must be implemented in accordance with United States department of agriculture natural resource conservation service determinations of what is reasonable and needed, as provided in natural resource conservation service conservation standards, guidelines, and planning tools, and may not include additional buffer or practice requirements from any other federal, state, or local entity as a precondition of receiving the funding;
     (d) If education, technical assistance, and efforts to promote voluntary solutions do not achieve compliance, and the department's determination of noncompliance is consistent with the sound science provisions of RCW 34.05.272 and credible data provisions of RCW 90.48.570 through 90.48.590, the department may issue a notice of violation, a formal administrative order, or a penalty as provided under this chapter, unless the noncompliance is corrected expeditiously or the department determines that the water quality issues have been addressed appropriately. Nothing in this section is intended to prevent the department from taking immediate action to cause a violation to be ceased immediately if the violation is causing substantial harm to public resources.
     (3) For the purposes of this section, "agricultural activities" has the same meaning as defined in RCW 90.58.065."