SENATE BILL REPORT

                   SB 5424

              As Reported By Senate Committee On:

  Environmental Quality & Water Resources, February 12, 1999

                  Ways & Means, March 8, 1999

Title:  An act relating to aquatic plant management.

Brief Description:  Allowing the use of certain commercially approved herbicides for aquatic plant management.

Sponsors:  Senators Winsley, Fraser, Honeyford, Hochstatter, Hale, McCaslin, West and Haugen.

Brief History:

Committee Activity:  Environmental Quality & Water Resources:  2/4/99, 2/12/99 [DPS-WM].

Ways & Means:  3/8/99 [DPS (EQWR)].

SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY & WATER RESOURCES

Majority Report:  That Substitute Senate Bill No. 5424 be substituted therefor, and the substitute bill do pass and be referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

  Signed by Senators Fraser, Chair; Eide, Vice Chair; Morton, Honeyford, Jacobsen, McAuliffe and Swecker.

Staff:  Richard Ramsey (786-7412)

SENATE COMMITTEE ON WAYS & MEANS

Majority Report:  That Substitute Senate Bill No. 5424 as recommended by Committee on Environmental Quality & Water Resources be substituted therefor, and the substitute bill do pass.

  Signed by Senators Loveland, Chair; Bauer, Vice Chair; Brown, Vice Chair; Fairley, Fraser, Honeyford, Kline, Kohl‑Welles, Long, McDonald, Rasmussen, Roach, Rossi, B. Sheldon, Snyder, Spanel, Thibaudeau, Winsley, Wojahn and Zarelli.

Staff:  Kari Guy (786-7437)

Background:  The Department of Ecology authorizes and guides the use of pesticides to control aquatic plants and weeds based on information in the 1992 Aquatic Plant Management Program Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).  The EIS reviewed the aquatic plant control methods available at the time and recommended conditions or prohibitions to be placed on pesticide use.  Since 1992, the Environmental Protection Agency has approved aquatic plant pesticides for commercial use, but the state has not had an instrument to review these products or evaluate new information relevant to pesticides evaluated in the 1992 EIS.

Summary of Substitute Bill:  The Department of Ecology must update the final environmental impact statement completed in 1992 for the aquatic plant management program to reflect new information on herbicides evaluated in 1992 and new, commercially available herbicides.  The department must maintain the currency of the information on herbicides and evaluate new herbicides as they become commercially available.

Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill:  The intent section acknowledges the Department of Agriculture's approval authority for herbicides.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Available.

Effective Date:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For:  Mason Lake is among the cleanest in the state.  The state needs to update the list of approved herbicides.  The state needs to update the EIS.  Washington's fish species and lake chemistry differ from other states; rather than using other states' analyses, the state's analysis of appropriate herbicides must be specific to the state's resources.  Fusion watermill is a growing problem in both eastern and western Washington.  The state needs up-to-date information to combat aquatic needs.

Testimony Against:  None.

Testified:  Senator Shirley Winsley, prime sponsor (pro); Senator Tim Sheldon (pro); Terry McNabb, Resource Management Inc. (pro); Dick Wallace, Department of Ecology (budget concerns); April Cassell, Mason Lake (pro); Dan Robinson, Lake Limerick (pro); Warren Perkins, Washington State Lake Protection Association (pro).