FINAL BILL REPORT
SHB 1269
C 212 L 03
Synopsis as Enacted
Brief Description: Regulating structural pest inspectors.
Sponsors: By House Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources (originally sponsored by Representatives Linville and Schoesler; by request of Department of Agriculture).
House Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources
Senate Committee on Agriculture
Background:
The state's Pesticide Control Act (Act) requires pesticides to be registered by the state's Department of Agriculture (WSDA). The Act also requires pesticide dealers, dealer managers, and public and private pest control consultants to be licensed.
A special category of the pest control consultant's license is for structural pest inspectors. A structural pest inspector is a person who inspects buildings for wood destroying organisms, their damage, or conditions conducive to their infestation. As a condition for licensure, a pest control inspector must provide evidence of financial responsibility in the form of a surety bond or an errors and omissions insurance policy or certification. The minimum amounts required for the bonds and policies are specified under the Act.
Summary:
Structural Pest Inspector's License. Structural pest inspection is no longer a licensing subcategory of a pest control consultant's license. A structural pest inspector's license is required for a person who conducts as a service a complete or a specific wood destroying organism inspection. A "complete" wood destroying organism inspection is an inspection conducted to determine evidence of infestation or damage by, or conducive conditions for, wood destroying organisms as part of the transfer, exchange, or refinancing of a structure. Any inspection conducted as the result of a telephone solicitation must be conducted as such a complete inspection. The "specific" version of the inspection is one for the purpose of identifying or verifying evidence of an infestation of wood destroying organisms prior to pest management activities. A wood destroying organism is one that consumes, excavates, develops in, or otherwise modifies the integrity of wood or wood products.
A person who currently holds a valid license to perform such services is exempted from this requirement until the expiration of the license. The license application fee is $45, as it was when the license was a subcategory of a consultant's license. Persons who had been exempted from licensure to perform such inspections because they hold other pesticide licenses and are operating within the authority of those other licenses are now exempt only from the license application fee requirement. The exemption no longer applies to all governmental employees acting within their official capacities or to pesticide dealer managers or their employees. The other licenses to which the fee exemption applies include a pest control consultant's license.
An applicant for a structural pest inspector's license must pass a written examination designed to demonstrate certain knowledge, including knowledge of the conditions that are conducive to the development of wood destroying organisms.
Company License. A business that conducts such structural pest inspections must itself be licensed; it is unlawful for a business to conduct such inspections without a license. The contents of the application form for the license are listed. Changes to the information provided on such a form must be reported to the WSDA within 30 days.
Required Evidence of Financial Responsibility The evidence of financial responsibility required for a structural pest inspector must be provided to the WSDA by the inspector or by the business employing the inspector. Greater detail is provided regarding the required evidence of financial responsibility. It is to be provided by: an errors and omissions insurance policy; a surety bond; a surety bond and an errors and omissions policy; or an assigned account. The errors and omissions insurance policy or surety bond must be for not less than $25,000 separately; if provided together, the insurance policy must be for not less than $25,000 and the bond must be for not less than $12,500. The assigned account must be held by the WSDA in an amount not less than $25,000 (and the WSDA is not liable for payments beyond this specified amount). The Director of the WSDA may identify other authorized evidence by rule that provides coverage equivalent to the types specified by statute.
Means of making claims against the various forms of financial responsibility are specified. They apply to such claims made within two years of the inspection. This time limitation applies to claims against these forms of financial responsibility; it does not affect any statute of limitations for claims a person may have against the inspector.
Other. The Director of the WSDA may require licensees to earn recertification credits in their licensing categories. Provisions of the Pesticide Control Act are removed that indicate that a pest control consultant supervises or aids the application of a pesticide by a user.
Votes on Final Passage:
House 94 0
Senate 44 1
Effective: July 1, 2003