BILL REQ. #:  H-0292.1 

Read first time 01/28/2005.   Referred to Committee on Housing.

     AN ACT Relating to standards for housing for persons who are temporarily homeless; amending RCW 70.114A.020 and 70.114A.085; creating a new section; and declaring an emergency.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that, due to lack of a permanent address or other contact information, lack of skills and training, lack of reliable personal transportation, frequent health challenges, or other circumstances, homeless persons are vulnerable to exploitation as low-wage laborers. In 1995, the legislature recognized that the circumstances of another group of exploited low-wage laborers, migrant agricultural workers, necessitated the creation of standards for temporary worker housing to prevent those workers from being forced to obtain housing that is unsafe and unsanitary; those standards are reflected in chapter 70.114A RCW. The legislature finds that, due to their poverty, extreme need, and dire circumstances, similar exploitation of the labor of homeless persons also exists, and that, due to an inadequate supply of affordable housing and of space in permanent shelters for the homeless, they are likewise being forced to seek shelter in unsafe and unsanitary conditions. If migrant farmworkers, who in many cases are not citizens of the United States and may not be in the United States legally, are worthy of the protection of the state to ensure that their housing is safe and sanitary, then our friends, neighbors, coworkers, and fellow citizens who find themselves temporarily homeless are even more worthy of that protection. Therefore, it is the intent of the legislature to encourage temporary housing for homeless persons to be safe and sanitary by establishing a clear and concise set of regulations for temporary housing and encampments for homeless persons, substantially equivalent to those provided for temporary worker housing.

Sec. 2   RCW 70.114A.020 and 1999 c 374 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:
     The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.
     (1) "Agricultural employee" means any person who renders personal services to, or under the direction of, an agricultural employer in connection with the employer's agricultural activity.
     (2) "Agricultural employer" means any person engaged in agricultural activity, including the growing, producing, or harvesting of farm or nursery products, or engaged in the forestation or reforestation of lands, which includes but is not limited to the planting, transplanting, tubing, precommercial thinning, and thinning of trees and seedlings, the clearing, piling, and disposal of brush and slash, the harvest of Christmas trees, and other related activities.
     (3) "Department" means the department of health.
     (4) "Dwelling unit" means a shelter, building, or portion of a building, that may include cooking and eating facilities, that is:
     (a) Provided and designated by the operator as either a sleeping area, living area, or both, for occupants; and
     (b) Physically separated from other sleeping and common-use areas.
     (5) "Enforcement" and "enforcement actions" include the authority to levy and collect fines.
     (6) "Facility" means a sleeping place, drinking water, toilet, sewage disposal, food handling installation, or other installations required for compliance with this chapter.
     (7) "Occupant" means a temporary worker or a person who resides with a temporary worker at the housing site.
     (8) "Operator" means a person holding legal title to the land on which temporary worker housing is located. However, if the legal title and the right to possession are in different persons, "operator" means a person having the lawful control or supervision over the temporary worker housing under a lease, temporary use permit, or other arrangement.
     (9) "Temporary worker" means an agricultural employee employed intermittently and not residing year-round at the same site, or a homeless person.
     (10) "Temporary worker housing" means a place, area, or piece of land where sleeping places or housing sites are provided by an agricultural employer for his or her agricultural employees or by another person, including a temporary worker housing operator, who is providing such accommodations for employees or for homeless persons, for temporary((, seasonal)) occupancy.

Sec. 3   RCW 70.114A.085 and 1999 c 374 s 11 are each amended to read as follows:
     The department shall prepare a report to the legislature on utilization of the temporary worker building code authorized by RCW 70.114A.081. The report shall include the number of housing units, number of families or individuals housed, number of growers or operators obtaining permits, the geographic distribution of the permits, and recommendations of changes in the temporary worker building code necessary to avoid health and safety problems for the occupants. The report shall be transmitted to the ((senate committee on commerce, trade, housing and financial institutions and the house of representatives committee on economic development, housing and trade by December 15, 2000, and an update shall be transmitted every two years thereafter)) legislature electronically by December 15th in each even-numbered year.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately.