H-0582.4  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 1080

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      54th Legislature     1995 Regular Session

By Representatives Pennington, Chappell, McMorris, Carlson, Benton, McMahan, B. Thomas, Clements, Brumsickle, Boldt, Hatfield, Buck, Campbell, Delvin, Johnson, Sheldon, Mulliken, Kessler, Basich, Fuhrman, Morris, Huff, Honeyford, Chandler, Elliot, Schoesler and Sheahan

Read first time 01/11/95.  Referred to Committee on Agriculture and Ecology.

Establishing an exemption to the outdoor burning permit program for certain nonurban areas.

    AN ACT Relating to exempting certain nonurban areas from outdoor burning permit requirements; and amending RCW 70.94.745.

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

    Sec. 1.  RCW 70.94.745 and 1991 c 199 s 401 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) It shall be the responsibility and duty of the department of natural resources, department of ecology, department of agriculture, fire districts, and local air pollution control authorities to establish, through regulations, ordinances, or policy, a limited burning permit program ((for the people of this state, consisting of a one-permit system, until such time as)).  The permit program shall apply to the nonurban areas of any county with an unincorporated population of greater than fifty thousand, and to any city that is not otherwise prohibited from burning pursuant to RCW 70.94.743.  Burning shall be prohibited in an area when an alternate technology or method((s)) of disposing of the organic refuse ((have been developed that are)) is available, reasonably economical, and less harmful to the environment as determined by the permitting entity.  It is the policy of this state to foster and encourage development of alternate methods or technology for disposing of or reducing the amount of organic refuse.

(2) The exemption to the limited burning permit program in this section applies only to residential burning.

(3) Residential burning conducted without a permit as provided by this section is subject to RCW 70.94.750.

(4) As used in this section, "nonurban areas" means any unincorporated area within a county that is not designated as an urban growth area under chapter 36.70A RCW.

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