[atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to sales of fruit; amending RCW 20.01.440, 20.01.370, and 20.01.420; and adding a new section to chapter 15.17 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 15.17 RCW to read as follows:

To provide uniformity in the marketplace and to protect consignors of apples, the director shall revise state standards for grades and packs of apples. The director shall adopt revisions to the standards for grades and packs of apples that will clarify the standards in such a way that they will be applied consistently among warehouses and commission merchants. That is, these revisions must provide a level of uniformity that will ensure that the apples of a particular variety, grade, and pack sold from one warehouse will be the same as the apples of the same variety, grade, and pack sold from any other warehouse. For this purpose, the director shall invite a grades and packs committee that is widely recognized within the horticultural industry as representing the interests of the industry regarding grades and packs of apples to recommend by consensus revisions to the standards that it believes will provide that uniformity. If the industry committee recommends such revisions by committee consensus by January 1, 2004, the director shall immediately initiate rule making and give great weight to proposing and adopting the recommendations of the committee. If the committee does not make the recommendations by committee consensus by January 1, 2004, the director shall adopt revisions to the standards the director believes will provide such uniformity by January 1, 2005.

Sec. 2. RCW 20.01.440 and 1991 c 109 s 23 are each amended to read as follows:

Every commission merchant shall retain a copy of all records covering each transaction for a period of three years from the date thereof, which copy shall at all times be available for, and open to, the confidential inspection of the director and the consignor, or authorized representative of either. Upon the request of the consignor or the authorized representative of the consignor, the information shall be rendered to the consignor or the authorized representative; however, for a pooling arrangement, the information to be rendered is the information that must be rendered under RCW 20.01.370 or, upon final remittance, the information that must be transmitted under RCW 20.01.370. In the event of any dispute or disagreement between a consignor and a commission merchant arising at the time of delivery as to condition, quality, grade, pack, quantity, or weight of any lot, shipment or consignment of agricultural products, the department shall furnish, upon the payment of a reasonable fee therefor by the requesting party, a certificate establishing the condition, quality, grade, pack, quantity, or weight of such lot, shipment, or consignment. Such certificate shall be prima facie evidence in all courts of this state as to the recitals thereof. The burden of proof shall be upon the commission merchant to prove the correctness of his or her accounting as to any transaction which may be questioned.

Sec. 3. RCW 20.01.370 and 1991 c 109 s 20 are each amended to read as follows:

Every commission merchant taking control of any agricultural products for sale as such commission merchant, shall promptly make and keep for a period of three years, beginning on the day the sale of the product is complete, a correct record showing in detail the following with reference to the handling, sale, or storage of such agricultural products:

(1) The name and address of the consignor.

(2) The date received.

(3) The quality and quantity delivered by the consignor, and where applicable the dockage, tare, grade, size, net weight, or quantity.

(4) An accounting of all sales, including dates, terms of sales, quality and quantity of agricultural products sold, and proof of payments received on behalf of the consignor.

(5) The terms of payment to the producer.

(6) An itemized statement of the charges to be paid by consignor in connection with the sale.

(7) The names and addresses of all purchasers if said commission merchant has any financial interest in the business of said purchasers, or if said purchasers have any financial interest in the business of said commission merchant, directly or indirectly, as holder of the other's corporate stock, as copartner, as lender or borrower of money to or from the other, or otherwise. Such interest shall be noted in said records following the name of any such purchaser.

(8) A lot number or other identifying mark for each consignment, which number or mark shall appear on all sales tags and other essential records needed to show what the agricultural products actually sold for.

(9) Any claim or claims which have been or may be filed by the commission merchant against any person for overcharges or for damages resulting from the injury or deterioration of such agricultural products by the act, neglect or failure of such person and such records shall be open to the inspection of the director and the consignor of agricultural products for whom such claim or claims are made.

Before a commission merchant may handle an agricultural product in a pooling arrangement or accounting, the consignor must have agreed in writing to allow the pooling.

Where a pooling arrangement is agreed to in writing between the consignor and commission merchant, the reporting requirements of subsections (4), (5), (6), and (8) of this section shall apply to the pool rather than to the individual consignor or consignment and the records of the pool shall be available for inspection by any consignor to that pool and, upon the request of the consignor, shall be rendered to the consignor.

For individual accounting, the commission merchant shall transmit a copy of the record required by this section to the consignor on the same day the final remittance is made to the consignor as required by RCW 20.01.430. For a consignor who is participating in a pooling arrangement, the commission merchant shall, on the same day final remittance and accounting are made to the consignor as required by RCW 20.01.430, transmit to the consignor a summary of the records which are available for inspection by any consignor to that pool.

Sec. 4. RCW 20.01.420 and 1991 c 109 s 22 are each amended to read as follows:

When requested by a consignor, a commission merchant shall promptly make available to the consignor or to the director all records of the ongoing sales of the consignor's agricultural products showing the amount sold, the selling price, and any other information required under RCW 20.01.370. Upon the request of the consignor, such information as must be rendered to the consignor under RCW 20.01.370 shall be rendered to the consignor and, upon final remittance, such information as must be transmitted to the consignor under RCW 20.01.370 shall be rendered to the consignor.