BILL REQ. #:  S-0714.3 

Read first time 02/10/11.   Referred to Committee on Transportation.

     AN ACT Relating to the clarifying regulations that impact freight rail operations necessary to improve Washington state's trade competitiveness, economic viability, and multimodal transportation infrastructure; amending RCW 49.17.400 and 49.17.410; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) The legislature finds that railroads operating within the state of Washington are critical to the state's competiveness in moving freight and trade-related cargo.
     (2) The legislature also finds that maintenance and upgrading of rail infrastructure is a necessary and desirable function to preserve interstate transportation opportunities that are important to the state's ports and major manufacturing industries.
     (3) The legislature recognizes that many aspects of maintenance of rail right-of-way and railway operation fall under the auspices of the federal government, including the general outlines of safe and efficient maintenance of our rail corridors. The legislature also recognizes that railroad operations and governance generally fall to the federal government and that congress has generally assumed responsibility of such in order to streamline governance and to discourage state-based regulation that invites different state-by-state operating and maintenance requirements on railroads important to interstate commerce.
     (4) In recognition of the necessity to maintain efficient, uninterrupted rail service and maintenance functions, the legislature advances the changes in this act to ensure efficient regulation and to prevent duplication of regulatory activity.

Sec. 2   RCW 49.17.400 and 2007 c 27 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     The definitions in this section apply throughout RCW 49.17.400 through 49.17.430 unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Apprentice operator or trainee" means a crane operator who has not met requirements established by the department under RCW 49.17.430.
     (2) "Attachments" includes, but is not limited to, crane-attached or suspended hooks, magnets, grapples, clamshell buckets, orange peel buckets, concrete buckets, drag lines, personnel platforms, augers, or drills and pile-driving equipment.
     (3) "Certified crane inspector" means a crane inspector who has been certified by the department.
     (4) "Construction" means all or any part of excavation, construction, erection, alteration, repair, demolition, and dismantling of buildings and other structures and all related operations; the excavation, construction, alteration, and repair of sewers, trenches, caissons, conduits, pipelines, roads, and all related operations; the moving of buildings and other structures, and the construction, alteration, repair, or removal of wharfs, docks, bridges, culverts, trestles, piers, abutments, or any other related construction, alteration, repair, or removal work. "Construction" does not include manufacturing facilities or powerhouses.
     (5) "Crane" means power-operated equipment used in construction that can hoist, lower, and horizontally move a suspended load. "Crane" includes, but is not limited to: Articulating cranes, such as knuckle-boom cranes; crawler cranes; floating cranes; cranes on barges; ((locomotive cranes;)) mobile cranes, such as wheel-mounted, rough-terrain, all-terrain, commercial truck mounted, and boom truck cranes; multipurpose machines when configured to hoist and lower by means of a winch or hook and horizontally move a suspended load; industrial cranes, such as carry-deck cranes; dedicated pile drivers; service/mechanic trucks with a hoisting device; a crane on a monorail; tower cranes, such as fixed jib, hammerhead boom, luffing boom, and self-erecting; pedestal cranes; portal cranes; overhead and gantry cranes; straddle cranes; side-boom tractors; derricks; and variations of such equipment.
     (6) "Crane operator" means an individual engaged in the operation of a crane.
     (7) "Professional engineer" means a professional engineer as defined in RCW 18.43.020.
     (8) "Qualified crane operator" means a crane operator who meets the requirements established by the department under RCW 49.17.430.
     (9) "Safety or health standard" means a standard adopted under this chapter.

Sec. 3   RCW 49.17.410 and 2007 c 27 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) RCW 49.17.400 through 49.17.430 apply to cranes used with or without attachments.
     (2) RCW 49.17.400 through 49.17.430 do not apply to:
     (a) A crane while it has been converted or adapted for a nonhoisting or nonlifting use including, but not limited to, power shovels, excavators, and concrete pumps;
     (b) Power shovels, excavators, wheel loaders, backhoes, loader backhoes, and track loaders when used with or without chains, slings, or other rigging to lift suspended loads;
     (c) Automotive wreckers and tow trucks when used to clear wrecks and haul vehicles;
     (d) Service trucks with mobile lifting devices designed specifically for use in the power line and electric service industries, such as digger derricks (radial boom derricks), when used in the power line and electric service industries for auguring holes to set power and utility poles, or handling associated materials to be installed or removed from utility poles;
     (e) Equipment originally designed as vehicle-mounted aerial devices (for lifting personnel) and self-propelled elevating work platforms;
     (f) Hydraulic jacking systems, including telescopic/hydraulic gantries;
     (g) Stacker cranes;
     (h) Powered industrial trucks (forklifts);
     (i) Mechanic's truck with a hoisting device when used in activities related to equipment maintenance and repair;
     (j) Equipment that hoists by using a come-along or chainfall;
     (k) Dedicated drilling rigs;
     (l) Gin poles used for the erection of communication towers;
     (m) Tree trimming and tree removal work;
     (n) Anchor handling with a vessel or barge using an affixed A-frame;
     (o) Roustabouts;
     (p) Cranes used on-site in manufacturing facilities or powerhouses for occasional or routine maintenance and repair work; ((and))
     (q) Crane operators operating cranes on-site in manufacturing facilities or powerhouses for occasional or routine maintenance and repair work; and
     (r) Cranes used for railroad operations and maintenance functions on railroad property and crane operators operating cranes for railroad operations and maintenance functions. Federal railroad administration regulations for railroad crane equipment certification fulfill requirements of this section. Existing railroad training programs and certification procedures for railroad crane operators shall fulfill the requirements of this section.