SENATE BILL REPORT

SHB 1917

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

As Reported by Senate Committee On:

Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks, April 2, 2019

Sponsors: House Committee on Rural Development, Agriculture, & Natural Resources (originally sponsored by Representatives Peterson and Dent).

Brief Summary of Bill

Authorizes a special permit and creates an exemption from the prohibition on the use of body-gripping animal traps for airport operators to trap animals under certain conditions.

Majority Report: Do pass.

Signed by Senators Van De Wege, Chair; Salomon, Vice Chair; Warnick, Ranking Member; Honeyford, McCoy, Rolfes and Short.

Background: Use of Body-Gripping Animal Traps. Initiative 713, passed in 2000, made it a gross misdemeanor to use any body-gripping trap to capture any mammal, or to use a leghold trap, neck snare, or other body-gripping trap to capture a mammal for recreation or commerce. The director of the Department of Fish and Wildlife (director) may grant permits to use certain traps in limited circumstances including protection of public health and safety, protection of threatened or endangered species, and wildlife research.

Airport Operators. An airport operator is defined as any municipality, including a city, town, airport district, or port district of the state, or state agency that owns or operates an airport.

Summary of Bill: A new exemption from the prohibition on body-gripping animal traps is added to allow airport operators, under a special permit from the director, to trap an animal to protect human and aviation security. The airport operator must obtain a permit from the director every three years, and must annually report the previous year's trapping activity to the director. Airport operators are prohibited from selling, trading, or exchanging fur of any mammal that has been trapped in the state with certain steel-jawed leghold or any other body-gripping traps.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony: PRO: The bill is proposing more of an administrative timeline change, not a policy change. After the initiative passed, there was an effort to amend the statute to include an exemption for airport operators. Ever since, the airports have completed monthly permits to the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW), and to date, none have been denied. This approach requires a permit every three years, and an annual report to DFW. Airports are mainly concerned with smaller, fast moving animals like a coyote, that may result in a collision with a small aircraft.