AN ACT Relating to airport operators; 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 port district, city, town, county, or state agency which owns and/or operates an airport.

(4) "Owner" means every person, firm, partnership, corporation, association, 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.

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 port district, city, county, or town. 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, for more than sixty days after being notified that charges are owing, to pay the airport charges owed. Notification shall be by registered mail to the owner at his or her last known address. If no address was furnished by the owner, the port district, county, city, or town need not give such notice. At the time of securing the aircraft, an authorized airport employee shall attach to the aircraft two readily visible notification stickers. The stickers shall be of a reasonable size and shall contain the following information:

(a) The date and time the stickers were attached;

(b) The identity of the authorized employee;

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

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

If the aircraft is the subject of a delinquent rental account, and sixty days have expired since notification pursuant to this subsection, the airport operator shall review its records to ascertain the identity of the owner. The operator shall make a reasonable effort to contact the owner by registered or certified mail in order to give the owner the information on the notification stickers.

(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 their 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 emergency 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 port 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.

(4) If an aircraft parked or hangared at an airport is abandoned, the port district, county, city, or town may, by resolution of its legislative authority, 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 the sale in the manner set forth in subsection (1) of this section if the name and address of the owner is known. The notice shall contain the time and place of the sale, a reasonable description of the aircraft to be sold, and the amount of airport charges owed with respect to the aircraft. 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. Such notice shall include the name of the aircraft, if any, its aircraft identification number, the last known owner and address, and a reasonable description of the aircraft to be sold. 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 paid to the owner. If the owner cannot in the exercise of due diligence be located by the airport operator within one year of the date of the sale, the excess funds from the sale shall revert to the Washington state department of revenue pursuant to chapter 63.29 RCW. 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 the airport operator has had its tariff and/or regulations conspicuously posted at the airport manager's office.