CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT

                        SENATE BILL 5778

                        52nd Legislature

                      1991 Regular Session

Passed by the Senate March 15, 1991

  Yeas 42   Nays 0

President of the Senate

Passed by the House April 16, 1991

  Yeas 94   Nays 0

Speaker of the

       House of Representatives

Approved

Governor of the State of Washington

CERTIFICATE

I, Gordon Golob, Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SENATE BILL 5778 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth.

Secretary

                                     FILED         

                        Secretary of State   

                       State of Washington

                  _______________________________________________

                                 SENATE BILL 5778

                  _______________________________________________

                     Passed Legislature - 1991 Regular Session

State of Washington              52nd Legislature             1991 Regular Session

By Senators Newhouse and Hansen.

Read first time February 20, 1991.  Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Water Resources.Requiring persons filing reports of pesticide damage to cooperate with the department of agriculture.

     AN ACT Relating to the filing of a report of damage due to the use or application of a pesticide; amending RCW 17.21.190; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

     Sec. 1.  RCW 17.21.190 and 1989 c 380 s 51 are each amended to read as follows:

     Any person suffering property loss or damage resulting from the use or application by others of any pesticide shall file with the director a verified report of loss setting forth, so far as known to the claimant, the following:

     (1) The name and address of the claimant.

     (2) The type, kind, property alleged to be injured or damaged.

     (3) The name of the person applying the pesticide and allegedly responsible.

     (4) The name of the owner or occupant of the property for whom such application of the pesticide was made.

     The report shall be filed within thirty days from the time that the property loss or damage becomes known to the claimant.  If a growing crop is alleged to have been damaged, the report shall be filed prior to harvest of fifty percent of that crop, unless the loss or damage was not then known.  The department shall establish time periods by rule to determine investigation response time.  Time periods shall range from immediate to forty-eight hours to initiate an investigation, depending on the severity of the damage.

Any person filing a report of loss under this section shall cooperate with the department in conducting an investigation of such a report and shall provide the department or authorized representatives of the department access to any affected property and any other necessary information relevant to the report.  If a claimant refuses to cooperate with the department, the report shall not be acted on by the department.

     The filing of such report or the failure to file such a report need not be alleged in any complaint which might be filed in a court of law, and the failure to file the report shall not be considered any bar to the maintenance of any criminal or civil action.

     The failure to file such a report shall not be a violation of this chapter.  However, if the person failing to file such report is the only one suffering loss from such use or application of a pesticide by a pesticide applicator or operator, the director may refuse to act upon the complaint.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.      This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect immediately.