SENATE BILL REPORT

SB 5427

BYSenators Kreidler and Bluechel; by request of Attorney General

Adopting an ecology procedures simplification act.

Senate Committee on Parks & Ecology

Senate Hearing Date(s):February 11, 1987; February 12, 1987

Majority Report:  Do pass.

      Signed by Senators Kreidler, Chairman; Rinehart, Vice Chairman; Bluechel, Hansen, Kiskaddon.

Senate Staff:Gary Wilburn (786-7453)

                  March 30, 1987

AS PASSED SENATE, FEBRUARY 23, 1987

BACKGROUND:

The legislation creating the Department of Ecology and the Pollution Control Hearings Board in 1970 did not correct agency references in several procedural and appeal statutes which related to the Department's predecessor agencies, such as the Department of Water Resources and the Water Pollution Control Commission.  Additionally, the Department of Ecology's procedures regarding the enforcement of water resources, air pollution, hazardous waste, noise pollution, general water pollution, and water pollution by oil differ in several respects.  These include the Department's authority for mitigation of penalties, procedures for issuance of some regulatory orders, permits and licenses, and procedures for appeals to the Pollution Control Hearings Board.  The authority for the issuance of stays of departmental orders, as well as the procedures for obtaining such stays, differ among the programs administered by the Department.  The jurisdiction of the Pollution Control Hearings Board over various decisions of the Department is ambiguous under current law.

SUMMARY:

The Ecology Procedures Simplification Act of 1987 standardizes procedures for Department of Ecology enforcement and review under its various programs.  The procedures of the Air Pollution Control Authorities are conformed to the procedures of the Department of Ecology.  Uniform procedures for mitigation of civil penalties are included.  The Pollution Control Hearings Board has exclusive jurisdiction over appeals of departmental decisions as to some regulatory orders, permits and licenses.  A uniform standard for the issuance of stays of decisions by Ecology or an air pollution control authority is adopted.  Under the standard, the burden is upon the applicant to demonstrate either a likelihood of success on the merits or irreparable harm.  If the applicant makes such demonstration, the burden shifts to the Department or an air pollution control authority to show either a substantial probability of success on the merits, or both a likelihood of success on the merits and an overriding public interest which justifies denial of the stay.

The Pollution Control Hearings Board is vested with jurisdiction over appeals from certain decisions of the Department.  References to a variety of authorities for issuance of orders, civil penalties, permits, and licenses in the water pollution, hazardous waste, water resources, air pollution, oil pollution, solid waste, noise pollution, and flood control programs are eliminated and standardized in the penalty procedures and appeals sections of the act.

Fiscal Note:      requested

Senate Committee - Testified: Jeff Goltz, Attorney General's office

HOUSE AMENDMENTS:

Erroneous cross-reference citations are corrected.  Sections which substitute the Department of Ecology for the Department of Conservation in statutes relating to development of electric power resources and the Columbia Basin Commission are deleted.