HOUSE BILL REPORT
HB 1090
BYRepresentatives Prentice, Patrick, Vekich, Braddock, Wang, Cantwell, Anderson, Cole, Leonard, Jones, Nelson, P. King,R. King and Rust
Requiring pesticide recordkeeping and pesticide-related employee protection.
House Committe on Commerce & Labor
Majority Report: The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass. (6)
Signed by Representatives Vekich, Chair; Cole, Vice Chair; Jones, R. King, Leonard, and Prentice.
Minority Report: Do not pass. (4)
Signed by Representatives Patrick, Ranking Republican Member; Smith, Walker and Wolfe.
House Staff:Chris Cordes (786-7117)
AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE & LABOR JANUARY 24, 1989
BACKGROUND:
Washington's Worker and Community Right-to-Know Law (Hazard Communication Law) requires employers to provide information and training to employees on the hazardous materials present in the workplace. The law does not specifically require the employer to keep records of pesticides used on a farm or to post fields that have been treated with pesticides.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency has proposed standards for posting treated fields and for permissible reentry into the field. Under the proposed standards, posting of fields would be required for any field treated with a pesticide having a reentry interval of 48 hours or more. Several states, including California and Texas, have adopted reentry standards more stringent than the federal proposal. Washington has not proposed or adopted state reentry standards.
SUMMARY:
SUBSTITUTE BILL: Agricultural employers are required to keep workplace pesticide lists by crop for each pesticide that is used on a crop or stored in a work area. The list must be available to employees, medical personnel, and the Department of Labor and Industries on request. The lists must be updated within two days of using or storing a pesticide, and must be maintained by the employer until filed annually with the department. Failure to comply with the workplace pesticide list requirements subjects the employer to penalties under the Washington Industrial Safety and Health Act.
If a pesticide is applied to a work area that has a reentry interval of 24 hours or more, the work area must be posted with pesticide warning signs at all usual points of entry.
Except for emergencies, employees may not be permitted to enter any work area treated with a pesticide until the expiration of the reentry interval. The Department of Labor and Industries is responsible for establishing state reentry intervals for pesticides, considering the best scientific information available regarding pesticide toxicity and potential exposure hazard.
An employee may not be required to work with hazardous materials from an unlabeled container except for a portable container intended for the immediate use of the employee who performed the transfer of hazardous material. Employers are required to provide agricultural employees with any protective clothing recommended by a chemical material safety data sheet or under department rule.
Waiver of employee rights under the hazard communication law is void as against public policy.
Language is deleted from the hazard communication law that has been superceded by federal law.
SUBSTITUTE BILL COMPARED TO ORIGINAL: The requirements for updating the workplace pesticide list are changed to specify updating within two days after a pesticide is used or stored in a work area, rather than at least annually. The definition of "reentry interval" is changed to provide that the reentry interval ends when employees may be permitted to enter the field to work. Members of the community are deleted from the list of persons who must be shown the workplace pesticide list upon request.
The requirements for signs used for posting a pesticide-treated field are changed to require the signs to contain a skull and crossbones symbol with wording in both English and Spanish, or other language as specified by the department.
The emergency reentry permit provisions are changed to authorize emergency permits on a case-by-case basis for only a single instance. Telephone permits are authorized, but a written permit must be issued within 24 hours.
An appropriation of $250,000 is made from the accident and medical aid funds to the Department of Labor and Industries. Other technical changes are made.
Appropriation: $250,000 from the accident and medical aid funds to the Department of Labor and Industries.
Fiscal Note: Available.
House Committee ‑ Testified For: Michelle Besso, Evergreen Legal Services; Arcelia Garcia; Elizabeth Tabbutt, Washington Environmental Council; Cha Smith, Washington Toxics Coalition; Alice Larson, Work Group on Pesticide Health and Safety; Larry Eason, WASHPIRG; Tomas Villanueva, United Farmworkers of Washington; George Finch, United Farmworkers of Washington; Tom Lamar, Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides; Adrian Brown, Black Hills Audubon Society; and Margaret Hue, Tri-Act.
House Committee - Testified Against: Frank DeLong, Washington State Horticultural Association; Errett Deck, Washington Agribusiness Coalition; and Randy Ray, Washington Association of Wheat Growers.
House Committee - Testimony For: Pesticide recordkeeping is needed to make pesticide exposure information available for treating patients and for pesticide policy planning. Because only applicators are required to keep records, it is difficult to determine what pesticide has been applied in a given instance. Without centralized data on pesticide applications, there can be no meaningful policy planning for environmental impacts. The proposed federal Environmental Protection Agency regulations do not provide sufficient worker protection.
House Committee - Testimony Against: Under the present law, the Department of Agriculture has authority to require employers to keep pesticide records. The proposed federal Environmental Protection Agency regulations, to be enforced by the Department of Agriculture, will provide employee protections.