AN ACT
Relating to the commission on pesticide registration; amending RCW 15.92.010
and 15.92.060; and adding new sections to chapter 15.92 RCW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE
OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 1. A new
section is added to chapter 15.92 RCW to read as follows:
(1) A
commission on pesticide registration is established. The commission shall be
composed of twelve voting members appointed by the governor as follows:
(a)
Eight members from the following segments of the state's agricultural industry
as nominated by a state-wide private agricultural association or agricultural
commodity commission formed under Title 15 RCW: (i) The tree fruit industry;
(ii) hop growers; (iii) potato growers; (iv) wheat growers; (v) vegetable and
seed growers; (vi) berry growers; (vii) wine grape growers; and (viii) the
nursery and landscape industry. Although members are appointed from various
segments of the agriculture industry, they are appointed to represent and
advance the interests of the industry as a whole.
(b)
One member from each of the following: (i) Forest protection industry; (ii)
food processors; (iii) agricultural chemical industry; and (iv) professional
pesticide applicators. One member shall be appointed for each such segment of
the industry and shall be nominated by a state-wide, private association of
that segment of the industry. The representative of the agricultural chemical
industry shall be involved in the manufacture of agricultural crop protection
products.
The
following shall be ex officio, nonvoting members of the commission: The
coordinator of the interregional project number four at Washington State
University; the director of the department of ecology or the director's
designee; the director of the department of agriculture or the director's
designee; the director of the department of labor and industries or the
director's designee, and the secretary of the department of health or the
secretary's designee.
(2)
Each voting member of the commission shall serve a term of three years.
However, the first appointments in the first year shall be made by the governor
for one, two, and three-year terms so that, in subsequent years, approximately
one-third of the voting members shall be appointed each year. The governor
shall assign the initial one, two, and three-year terms to members by lot. A
vacancy shall be filled by appointment for the unexpired term in the same
manner provided for an appointment to the full term. No member of the
commission may be removed by the governor during his or her term of office
unless for cause of incapacity, incompetence, neglect of duty, or malfeasance
in office. Each member of the commission shall receive travel expenses in
accordance with RCW 43.03.050 and 43.03.060 for attending meetings of the
commission and for performing special duties, in the way of official commission
business, specifically assigned to the person by the commission. The voting
members of the commission serve without compensation from the state other than
such travel expenses.
(3)
Nominations for the initial appointments to the commission under subsection (1)
of this section shall be submitted by September 1, 1995. The governor shall
make initial appointments to the commission by October 15, 1995.
(4)
The commission shall elect a chair from among its voting members each calendar
year. After its original organizational meeting, the commission shall meet at
the call of the chair. A majority of the voting members of the commission
constitutes a quorum and an official action of the commission may be taken by a
majority vote of the voting members.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 2. A new
section is added to chapter 15.92 RCW to read as follows:
(1)
The following apply to the use of state moneys appropriated to Washington State
University specifically and expressly for studies or activities regarding the
registration of pesticides:
(a)
The moneys may not be expended without the express approval of the commission
on pesticide registration;
(b)
The moneys may be used for: (i) Evaluations, studies, or investigations
approved by the commission on pesticide registration regarding the registration
or reregistration of pesticides for minor crops or minor uses or regarding the
availability of pesticides for emergency uses. These evaluations, studies, or
investigations may be conducted by the food and environmental quality
laboratory or may be secured by the commission from other qualified
laboratories, researchers, or contractors by contract, which contracts may
include, but are not limited to, those purchasing the use of proprietary
information; (ii) the tracking system described in RCW 15.92.060; and (iii) the
support of the commission on pesticide registration and its activities; and
(c)
Not less than twenty-five percent of such moneys shall be dedicated to studies
or investigations concerning the registration or use of pesticides for crops
that are not among the top twenty agricultural commodities in production value
produced in the state, as determined annually by the Washington agricultural
statistics service.
(2)
The commission on pesticide registration shall establish priorities to guide it
in approving the use of moneys for evaluations, studies, and investigations
under this section. Each biennium, the commission shall prepare a contingency
plan for providing funding for laboratory studies or investigations that are
necessary to pesticide registrations or related processes that will address
emergency conditions for agricultural crops that are not generally predicted at
the beginning of the biennium.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 3. A new
section is added to chapter 15.92 RCW to read as follows:
The
commission on pesticide registration shall:
(1)
Provide guidance to the food and environmental quality laboratory established
in RCW 15.92.050 regarding the laboratory's studies, investigations, and
evaluations concerning the registration of pesticides for use in this state for
minor crops and minor uses and concerning the availability of pesticides for
emergency uses;
(2)
Encourage agricultural organizations to assist in providing funding, in-kind
services, or materials for laboratory studies and investigations concerning the
registration of pesticides for minor crops and minor uses that would benefit
the organizations;
(3)
Provide guidance to the laboratory regarding a program for: Tracking the
availability of effective pesticides for minor crops, minor uses, and emergency
uses; providing this information to organizations of agricultural producers;
and maintaining close contact between the laboratory, the department of
agriculture, and organizations of agricultural producers regarding the need for
research to support the registration of pesticides for minor crops and minor uses
and the availability of pesticides for emergency uses;
(4)
Ensure that the activities of the commission and the laboratory are coordinated
with the activities of other laboratories in the Pacific Northwest, the United
States department of agriculture, and the United States environmental
protection agency to maximize the effectiveness of regional efforts to assist
in the registration of pesticides for minor crops and minor uses and in
providing for the availability of pesticides for emergency uses for the region
and the state; and
(5)
Ensure that prior to approving any residue study that there is written
confirmation of registrant support and willingness or ability to add the given
minor crop to its label including any restrictions or guidelines the registrant
intends to impose.
Sec.
4. RCW
15.92.010 and 1991 c 341 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
Unless
the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply
throughout this chapter.
(1) "Agricultural
commodity" means any distinctive type of agricultural, horticultural,
viticultural, floricultural, vegetable, or animal product, including but not
limited to, products qualifying as organic food products under chapter 15.86
RCW, private sector cultured aquatic products as defined in RCW 15.85.020, bees
and honey, and Christmas trees but not including timber or timber products.
(2)
"Center" means the center for sustaining agriculture and natural
resources established at Washington State University.
(((2)))
(3) "Laboratory" means the food and environmental quality
laboratory established at Washington State University at Tri-Cities.
(((3)))
(4) "Integrated pest management" is a strategy that uses
various combinations of pest control methods, biological, cultural, and
chemical, in a compatible manner to achieve satisfactory control and ensure
favorable economic and environmental consequences.
(((4)))
(5) "IR‑4 program" means interregional research project
number four, clearances of chemicals and biologics for minor or special uses,
established in 1963 by the cooperative state research service of the United
States department of agriculture, the coordinated national program involving
land-grant universities and the United States department of agriculture to
provide data required for the registration of pesticides needed for the
production of minor crops.
(((5)))
(6) "Minor crop" means an agricultural crop considered to be minor
in the national context of registering pesticides.
(7)
"Minor use" means a pesticide use considered to be minor in the
national context of registering pesticides including, but not limited to, a use
for a special local need.
(8)
"Natural resources" means soil, water, air, forests, wetlands,
wildlands, and wildlife.
(((6)))
(9) "Pesticide" means chemical or biologic used to control
pests such as insect, rodent, nematode, snail, slug, weed, virus, or any
organism the director of agriculture may declare to be a pest.
(((7)))
(10) "Registration" means use of a pesticide approved by the
state department of agriculture.
(((8)))
(11) "Sustainable agriculture" means a systems approach to
farming, ranching, and natural resource production that builds on and supports
the physical, biological, and ecological resource base upon which agriculture
depends. The goals of sustainable agriculture are to provide human food and
fiber needs in an economically viable manner for the agriculture industry and
in a manner which protects the environment and contributes to the overall
safety and quality of life.
Sec.
5. RCW 15.92.060
and 1991 c 341 s 7 are each amended to read as follows:
The
responsibilities of the laboratory shall include:
(1)
Evaluating regional requirements for minor crop registration through the
federal IR‑4 program;
(2) Providing
a program for tracking the availability of effective pesticides for minor
crops, minor uses, and emergency uses in this state;
(3)
Conducting studies on the fate of pesticides on crops and in the environment,
including soil, air, and water;
(((3)))
(4) Improving pesticide information and education programs; ((and
(4))) (5)
Assisting federal and state agencies with questions regarding registration of
pesticides which are deemed critical to crop production, consistent with
priorities established in RCW 15.92.070; and
(((5)))
(6) Assisting in the registration of biopesticides, pheromones, and
other alternative chemical and biological methods.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 6. A new
section is added to chapter 15.92 RCW to read as follows:
By
December 15, 2002, the commission shall file with the legislature a report on
the activities supported by the commission for the period beginning on the
effective date of this act and ending on December 1, 2002. The report shall
include an identification of: The priorities that have been set by the
commission; the state appropriations made to Washington State University that
have been within the jurisdiction of the commission; the evaluations, studies,
and investigations funded in whole or in part by such moneys and the registrations
and uses of pesticides made possible in large part by those evaluations,
studies, and investigations; the matching moneys, in-kind services, and
materials provided by agricultural organizations for those evaluations,
studies, and investigations; and the program or programs for tracking pesticide
availability provided by the laboratory under the guidance of the commission
and the means used for providing this information to organizations of
agricultural producers.
During
the regular session of the legislature in the year 2003, the appropriate
committees of the house of representatives and senate shall evaluate the
effectiveness of the commission in fulfilling its statutory responsibilities.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 7. A new
section is added to chapter 15.92 RCW to read as follows:
The
commission on pesticide registration, and Washington State University on behalf
of the commission, may receive such gifts, grants, and endowments from public
or private sources as may be used from time to time, in trust or otherwise, for
the use and benefit of the commission and expend the same or any income
therefrom according to the terms of the gifts, grants, or endowments.
