By Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources

Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1.  "A new section is added to chapter 39.26 RCW to read as follows:

(1) When purchasing seed in a lot or lots that exceed forty pounds, all agencies must require suppliers of seed to ensure the identity and purity of the seed through appropriate testing performed by the Washington state department of agriculture or by any other agency authorized under the laws of any state, territory, or possession that has standards and procedures approved by the United States secretary of agriculture to ensure the identity and purity of seed.

(2) All contracts for purchasing of seed by an agency must include the agency's expectations for the germination or viability of the seed as an essential element of the supplier's performance under the terms of the contract.

(3) For the purposes of this section, the following types of seed are excluded:

(a) Tree seed;

(b) Seed of woody species; and

(c) Seed of wildflowers that are native to Washington and that are harvested from naturally occurring stock.

(4) An agency may not structure what would naturally be one contract for the purchase of seed into multiple contracts for the purchase of seed for the purpose of avoiding the forty pound lot threshold in subsection (1) of this section."

Correct the title.

EFFECT: (1) Adds a forty pound lot threshold so that agencies must require suppliers of seed to ensure the identity and purity of seed through appropriate testing performed by the Washington state department of agriculture or a similar agency authorized under the laws of another state, territory, or possession only when purchasing seed in a lot or lots that exceed forty pounds;

(2) Adds the seed of wildflowers that are native to Washington and that are harvested from naturally occurring stock to the list of exempted seeds, which also includes tree seed and the seed of woody species; and

(3) Provides that an agency may not structure what would naturally be one contract for the purchase of seed into multiple contracts for the purchase of seed for the purpose of avoiding the forty pound lot threshold.