Read first time 01/11/2006.   Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Rural Economic Development.

     AN ACT Relating to livestock inspection fees; amending RCW 16.57.220, 16.58.130, and 16.57.160; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 16.57.220 and 2003 c 326 s 24 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Except as provided for in RCW 16.65.090 and ((subsection (2), (3), or (4) of)) otherwise in this section, the fee for livestock inspection is ((eighty-five)) one dollar and sixty cents per head for cattle and three dollars and fifty cents for horses or ((fifteen dollars per hour and the current mileage rate set by the office of financial management)) the time and mileage fee, whichever is greater.
     (2) When cattle are identified with the owner's brand or other form of identification specified by the director by rule, the fee for livestock inspection is one dollar and ten cents per head or the time and mileage fee, whichever is greater. This fee does not apply for inspection of cattle when documenting a change of ownership with a self-inspection certificate.
     (3) No inspection fee is charged for a calf that is inspected before moving out-of-state under an official temporary grazing permit if the calf is part of a cow-calf unit and the calf is identified with the owner's Washington-recorded brand or other form of identification specified by the director by rule.
     (4) The fee for inspection of cattle at a processing plant with a daily capacity of no more than five hundred head of cattle where the United States department of agriculture maintains a meat inspection program is four dollars per head.
     (5) When a single inspection certificate issued for thirty or more horses belonging to one person, the fee for livestock inspection is two dollars per head or ((fifteen dollars per hour and the current mileage rate set by the office of financial management)) the time and mileage fee, whichever is greater.
     (((3))) (6) The fee for individual identification certificates is twenty dollars for an annual certificate and sixty dollars for a lifetime certificate or ((fifteen dollars per hour and the current mileage rate set by the office of financial management)) the time and mileage fee, whichever is greater. However, the fee for an annual certificate listing thirty or more animals belonging to one person is five dollars per head or ((fifteen dollars per hour and the current mileage rate set by the office of financial management)) the time and mileage fee, whichever is greater. A lifetime certificate shall not be issued until the fee has been paid to the director.
     (((4))) (7) The minimum fee for the issuance of an inspection certificate by the director is five dollars. The minimum fee does not apply to livestock consigned to a public livestock market or special sale or inspected at a cattle processing plant.
     (8) For purposes of this section, "the time and mileage fee" means seventeen dollars per hour and the current mileage rate set by the office of financial management.

Sec. 2   RCW 16.58.130 and 2003 c 326 s 56 are each amended to read as follows:
     Each licensee shall pay to the director a fee of ((seventeen)) twenty-five cents for each head of cattle handled through the licensee's feed lot. Payment of the fee shall be made by the licensee on a monthly basis. Failure to pay as required shall be grounds for suspension or revocation of a certified feed lot license. The director shall not renew a certified feed lot license if a licensee has failed to make prompt and timely payments.

Sec. 3   RCW 16.57.160 and 2003 c 326 s 18 are each amended to read as follows:
     The director may adopt rules:
     (1) Designating any point for mandatory inspection of cattle or horses or the furnishing of proof that cattle or horses passing or being transported through the point have been inspected or identified and are lawfully being transported;
     (2) Providing for self-inspection of ((fifteen)) twenty-five head or less of cattle;
     (3) Providing for issuance of individual horse and cattle identification certificates or other means of horse and cattle identification; and
     (4) Designating the documents that constitute other satisfactory proof of ownership for cattle and horses. A bill of sale may not be designated as documenting satisfactory proof of ownership for cattle.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   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 June 1, 2006.