AN ACT Relating to airport operators; amending RCW 14.08.010 and 14.08.200; and adding new sections to chapter 14.08 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 14.08 RCW to read as follows:

(1) "Airport charges" means charges of an airport operator for tie-downs, landing fees, the occupation of a hangar by an aircraft, and all other charges owing or to become owing under a contract between an aircraft owner and an airport operator or under an officially adopted regulation and/or tariff including, but not limited to, the cost of sale and related expenses.

(2) "Aircraft" means every species of aircraft or other mechanical device capable of being used for the purpose of aerial flight.

(3) "Airport operator" means any municipality as defined in RCW 14.08.010(2) or state agency which owns and/or operates an airport.

(4) "Owner" means (a) every natural person, firm, partnership, corporation, association, trust, estate, or organization, or agent thereof with actual or apparent authority, who expressly or impliedly contracts for use of airport property for landing, parking, or hangaring aircraft, and (b) includes the registered owner or owners and lienholders of record with the federal aviation administration.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 14.08 RCW to read as follows:

An airport operator may adopt all regulations necessary for rental and use of airport facilities and for the expeditious collection of airport charges. The regulations may also establish procedures for the enforcement of these regulations by the airport operator. The regulations shall include the following:

(1) Procedures authorizing airport personnel to take reasonable measures including, but not limited to, the use of chains, ropes, and locks to secure aircraft within the airport facility so that the aircraft are in the possession and control of the airport operator and cannot be removed from the airport. These procedures may be used if an owner hangaring or parking an aircraft at the airport fails to pay the airport charges owed and the account is at least sixty days delinquent. At the time of securing the aircraft, an authorized airport employee shall attach to the aircraft a readily visible notice and shall send a copy of the notice to the owner at his or her last known address by registered mail, return receipt requested, and a copy of the notice by first class mail. The notice shall be of a reasonable size and shall contain the following information:

(a) The date and time the notice was attached;

(b) A reasonable description of the aircraft;

(d) The amount of airport charges owing;

(e) A statement that if the account is not paid in full within one hundred eighty days from the time the notice was attached the aircraft may be sold at public auction to satisfy the airport charges;

(f) The time and place of sale;

(g) A statement of the owner's right to commence legal proceedings to contest the charges owing and to have the aircraft released upon posting of an adequate cash bond or other security; and

(h) The address and telephone number where additional information may be obtained concerning the release of the aircraft.

(2) Procedures authorizing airport personnel at their discretion to place aircraft in an area within the airport operator's control for storage with private persons under the airport operator's control as bailees of the airport facility. Reasonable cost of any such procedure shall be paid by the aircraft's owner.

(3) If an aircraft is moved under conditions authorized under this section the owner who is obligated for hangaring or parking or other airport charges may regain possession of the aircraft by:

(a) Making arrangements satisfactory with the airport operator for the immediate removal of the aircraft from the airport's hangar, or making arrangements for authorized parking; and

(b) By making payment to the operator of all airport charges or by posting with the operator a sufficient cash bond or other security acceptable to such operator, to be held in trust by the operator pending written agreement of the parties with respect to payment by the aircraft owner of the amount owing, or pending resolution of charges in a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction, the trust shall terminate and the airport operator shall receive so much of the bond or other security as is necessary to satisfy any judgment, costs, and interest as may be awarded to the airport operator. The balance shall be refunded immediately to the owner at the owner's last known address by registered mail, return receipt requested. The airport operator shall send to the owner by first class mail a notice that the balance of funds was forwarded to him or her by registered mail, return receipt requested.

(4) If an aircraft parked or hangared at an airport is abandoned, the airport operator may authorize the public sale of the aircraft by authorized personnel to the highest and best bidder for cash as follows:

(a) If an aircraft has been secured by the airport operator under subsection (1) of this section and is not released to the owner under the bonding provisions of this section within one hundred eighty days after notifying the owner under subsection (1) of this section, or in all other cases, for one hundred eighty days after the operator secures the aircraft, the aircraft shall be conclusively presumed to have been abandoned by the owner;

(b) Before the aircraft is sold, the owner of the aircraft shall be given at least twenty days' notice of sale by registered mail, return receipt requested and the notice of sale shall be published at least once, more than ten but less than twenty days before the sale, in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the airport is located. The notice shall include the name of the aircraft, if any, its aircraft identification number, the last known owner and address, the time and place of sale, the amount of airport charges that will be owing at the time of sale, a reasonable description of the aircraft to be sold and that the airport operator may bid all or part of its airport charges at the sale and may become a purchaser at the sale;

(c) The proceeds of a sale under this section shall first be applied to payment of airport charges owed. The balance, if any, shall be deposited with the department of revenue to be held in trust for the owner or owners and lienholders for a period of one year. If more than one owner appears on the aircraft title, and/or if any liens appear on the title, the department must, if a claim is made, interplead the balance into a court of competent jurisdiction for distribution. The department may release the balance to the legal owner provided that the claim is made within one year of sale and only one legal owner and no lienholders appear on the title. If no valid claim is made within one year of the date of sale, the excess funds from the sale shall be deposited in the aircraft search and rescue, safety, and education account created in RCW 47.68.236. If the sale is for a sum less than the applicable airport charges, the airport operator is entitled to assert a claim against the aircraft owner or owners for the deficiency.

(5) The regulations authorized under this section shall be enforceable only if:

(a) The airport operator has had its tariff and/or regulations, including any and all regulations authorizing the impoundment of an aircraft that is the subject of delinquent airport charges, conspicuously posted at the airport manager's office.

(b) All impounding remedies available to the airport operator are included in any written contract for airport charges between an airport operator and an aircraft owner; and

(6) All rules and regulations authorized under this section are adopted either pursuant to chapter 34.04 RCW, or by resolution of the appropriate legislative authority, as applicable.

Sec. 3. Section 1, chapter 182, Laws of 1945 and RCW 14.08.010 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) For the purpose of this chapter, unless herein specifically otherwise provided, the definitions of words, terms and phrases appearing in the state aeronautic department act of this state are hereby adopted.

(2) As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: "Municipality" means any county, city, town, airport district, or port district of this state; "airport purposes" means and includes airport, restricted landing area and other air navigation facility purposes.

Sec. 4. Section 11, chapter 182, Laws of 1945 as last amended by section 7, chapter 7, Laws of 1984 and RCW 14.08.200 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) All powers, rights, and authority granted to any municipality in this chapter may be exercised and enjoyed by two or more municipalities, or by this state and one or more municipalities therein, acting jointly, either within or outside the territorial limits of either or any of the municipalities and within or outside this state, or by this state or any municipality therein acting jointly with any other state or municipality therein, either within or outside this state if the laws of the other state permit such joint action.

(2) For the purposes of this section only, unless another intention clearly appears or the context requires otherwise, this state is included in the term "municipality," and all the powers conferred upon municipalities in this chapter, if not otherwise conferred by law, are conferred upon this state when acting jointly with any municipality or municipalities. Where reference is made to the "governing body" of a municipality, that term means, as to the state, its secretary of transportation.

(3) Any two or more municipalities may enter into agreements with each other, duly authorized by ordinances or resolution, as may be appropriate, for joint action under this section. Concurrent action by the governing bodies of the municipalities involved constitutes joint action.

(4) Each such agreement shall specify its terms; the proportionate interest which each municipality shall have in the property, facilities, and privileges involved, and the proportion of preliminary costs, cost of acquisition, establishment, construction, enlargement, improvement, and equipment, and of expenses of maintenance, operation, and regulation to be borne by each, and make such other provisions as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this section. It shall provide for amendments thereof and for conditions and methods of termination; for the disposition of all or any part of the property, facilities, and privileges jointly owned if the property, facilities, and privileges, or any part thereof, cease to be used for the purposes provided in this section or if the agreement is terminated, and for the distribution of the proceeds received upon any such disposition, and of any funds or other property jointly owned and undisposed of, and the assumption or payment of any indebtedness arising from the joint venture which remains unpaid, upon any such disposition or upon a termination of the agreement.

(5) Municipalities acting jointly as authorized in this section shall create a board from the inhabitants of the municipalities for the purpose of acquiring property for, establishing, constructing, enlarging, improving, maintaining, equipping, operating, and regulating the airports and other air navigation facilities and airport protection privileges to be jointly acquired, controlled, and operated. The board shall consist of members to be appointed by the governing body of each municipality involved, the number to be appointed by each to be provided for by the agreement for the joint venture. Each member shall serve for such time and upon such terms as to compensation, if any, as may be provided for in the agreement.

(6) Each such board shall organize, select officers for terms to be fixed by the agreement, and adopt and from time to time amend rules of procedure.

(7) Such board may exercise, on behalf of the municipalities acting jointly by which it is appointed, all the powers of each of the municipalities granted by this chapter, except as provided in this section. Real property, airports, restricted landing areas, air protection privileges, or personal property costing in excess of a sum to be fixed by the joint agreement, may be acquired, and condemnation proceedings may be instituted, only by approval of the governing bodies of each of the municipalities involved. Upon the approval of the governing body, or if no approval is necessary then upon the board's own determination, such property may be acquired by private negotiation under such terms and conditions as seem just and proper to the board. The total amount of expenditures to be made by the board for any purpose in any calendar year shall be determined by the municipalities involved by the approval by each on or before the preceding December 1st, of a budget for the ensuing calendar year, which budget may be amended or supplemented by joint resolution of the municipalities involved during the calendar year for which the original budget was approved. Rules and regulations provided for by RCW 14.08.120(2) become effective only upon approval of each of the appointing governing bodies. No real property and no airport, other navigation facility, or air protection privilege, owned jointly, may be disposed of by the board by sale except by authority of all the appointing governing bodies, but the board may lease space, land area, or improvements and grant concessions on airports for aeronautical purposes, or other purposes which will not interfere with the aeronautical purposes of such airport, air navigation facility, or air protection privilege by private negotiation under such terms and conditions as seem just and proper to the board, subject to the provisions of RCW 14.08.120(4). Subject to the provisions of the agreement for the joint venture, and when it appears to the board to be in the best interests of the municipalities involved, the board may sell any personal property by private negotiations under such terms and conditions as seem just and proper to the board.

(8) Each municipality, acting jointly with another pursuant to the provisions of this section, is authorized and empowered to enact, concurrently with the other municipalities involved, such ordinances as are provided for by RCW 14.08.120(2), and to fix by such ordinances penalties for the violation thereof. When so adopted, the ordinances have the same force and effect within the municipalities and on any property jointly controlled by them or adjacent thereto, whether within or outside the territorial limits of either or any of them, as ordinances of each municipality involved, and may be enforced in any one of the municipalities in the same manner as are its individual ordinances. The consent of the state secretary of transportation to any such ordinance, where the state is a party to the joint venture, is equivalent to the enactment of the ordinance by a municipality. The publication provided for in RCW 14.08.120(2) shall be made in each municipality involved in the manner provided by law or charter for publication of its individual ordinances.

(9) Condemnation proceedings shall be instituted, in the names of the municipalities jointly, and the property acquired shall be held by the municipalities as tenants in common. The provisions of RCW 14.08.030(2) apply to such proceedings.

(10) For the purpose of providing funds for necessary expenditures in carrying out the provisions of this section, a joint fund shall be created and maintained, into which each of the municipalities involved shall deposit its proportionate share as provided by the joint agreement. Such funds shall be provided for by bond issues, tax levies, and appropriations made by each municipality in the same manner as though it were acting separately under the authority of this chapter. The revenues obtained from the ownership, control, and operation of the airports and other air navigation facilities jointly controlled shall be paid into the fund, to be expended as provided in this chapter. Revenues in excess of cost of maintenance and operating expenses of the joint properties shall be divided or allowed to accumulate for future anticipated expenditures as may be provided in the original agreement, or amendments thereto, for the joint venture. The action of municipalities involved in heretofore permitting such revenues to so accumulate is declared to be legal and valid.

(11) The governing body may by joint directive designate some person having experience in financial or fiscal matters as treasurer of the joint operating agency. Such a treasurer shall possess all the powers, responsibilities, and duties that the county treasurer and auditor possess for a joint operating agency related to creating and maintaining funds, issuing warrants, and investing surplus funds. The governing body may, and if the treasurer is not the county treasurer it shall, require a bond, with a surety company authorized to do business in the state of Washington, in an amount and under the terms and conditions which the governing body finds will protect the joint operating agency. The premium on such bond shall be paid by the joint operating agency. All disbursements from the joint fund shall be made by order of the board in accordance with such rules and regulations and for such purposes as the appointing governing bodies, acting jointly, shall prescribe. If no such joint directive is made by the governing appointing bodies to designate a treasurer, then the provisions of RCW 43.09.285 apply to such joint fund.

(12) Specific performance of the provisions of any joint agreement entered into as provided for in this section may be enforced as against any party thereto by the other party or parties thereto.