AN ACT Relating to transporting cargoes; amending RCW 69.04.810; adding new sections to chapter 69.04 RCW; creating a new section; and prescribing penalties.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The definitions in this section apply throughout sections 1 through 5 of this act:

(1) "Food" means: (a) Any article used for food or drink for humans or used as a component of such an article; or (b) a food grade substance.

(2) "Food grade substance" means a substance which satisfies the requirements of the federal food, drug, and cosmetic act, meat inspection act, and poultry products act and rules promulgated thereunder as materials approved by the federal food and drug administration, United States department of agriculture, or United States environmental protection agency for use: (a) As an additive in food or drink for human consumption, (b) in sanitizing food or drink for human consumption, (c) in processing food or drink for human consumption, or (d) in maintaining equipment with food contact surfaces during which maintenance the substance is expected to come in contact with food or drink for human consumption.

(3) "In bulk form" means a food or substance which is not packaged or contained by anything other than the cargo carrying portion of the vehicle or vessel.

(4) "Vehicle or vessel" means a commercial vehicle or commercial vessel which has a gross weight of more than ten thousand pounds, is used to transport property, and is a motor vehicle, motor truck, trailer, railroad car, or vessel.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) Except as provided in section 4 of this act, no person may transport in intrastate commerce food in bulk form in the cargo carrying portion of a vehicle or vessel that has been used for transporting in bulk form a cargo other than food.

(2) Except as provided in section 4 of this act, no person may transport in intrastate commerce food in bulk form in the cargo carrying portion of a vehicle or vessel unless the vehicle or vessel bears the permanent and conspicuous marking "Food Only."

(3) No person may transport in intrastate commerce a substance other than food in the cargo carrying portion of a vehicle or vessel marked "Food Only." No person may transport in intrastate commerce a substance other than food or a substance on a list adopted under section 3 of this act in the cargo carrying portion of a vehicle or vessel marked "Food Compatible."

(4) The provisions of this section do not prohibit a vehicle or vessel once marked "Food Only" from being permanently and conspicuously marked "Food Compatible" or from becoming unmarked for the purposes of this section or section 4 of this act if it is never again marked "Food Only." The provisions of this section or section 4 of this act do not prohibit a vehicle or vessel once marked "Food Compatible" from becoming unmarked for the purposes of this section and section 4 of this act if it is never again marked "Food Compatible."

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) The director of agriculture and the secretary of health shall jointly adopt by rule:

(a) A list of substances other than food that may be transported in bulk form as cargo in a vehicle or vessel that is also used, on separate occasions, to transport food in bulk form as cargo. The list shall contain those substances that the director and the secretary determine will not pose a health hazard if food in bulk form were transported in the vehicle or vessel after it transported the substance. In making this determination, the director and the secretary shall assume that some residual portion of the substance will remain in the cargo carrying portion of the vehicle or vessel when the food is transported;

(b) The procedures to be used to clean the vehicle or vessel after transporting the substance and prior to transporting the food; and

(2) In developing and adopting rules under this section, the director and the secretary shall consult with the secretary of transportation, the chief of the state patrol, the chair of the utilities and transportation commission, and representatives of the vehicle and vessel transportation industries, food processors, and agricultural commodity organizations.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. Transporting food as cargo in bulk form in intrastate commerce in a vehicle or vessel that has previously been used to transport in bulk form a cargo other than food does not constitute a violation of section 2 of this act if:

(1) The cargo is a substance contained on the list adopted by the director and secretary under section 3 of this act;

(2) The vehicle or vessel has been cleaned as required by the rules adopted under section 3 of this act;

(3) The vehicle or vessel bears the permanent and conspicuous marking "Food Compatible"; and

(4) A certificate accompanies the vehicle or vessel when the food is transported which attests, under penalty of perjury, to the fact that the vehicle or vessel has been cleaned as required by those rules and is dated and signed by the party responsible for that cleaning. Such certificates shall be maintained by the owner of the vehicle or vessel for not less than three years and shall be available for inspection concerning compliance with sections 1 through 5 of this act. Forms for the certificates shall be provided by the department of agriculture.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. A person who knowingly transports a cargo in violation of section 2 of this act or who knowingly causes a cargo to be transported in violation of section 2 of this act is subject to a civil penalty, as determined by the director of agriculture, for each such violation as follows:

(1) For a person's first violation or first violation in a period of five years, not more than five thousand dollars;

(2) For a person's second or subsequent violation within five years of a previous violation, not more than ten thousand dollars.

The director shall impose the penalty by an order which is subject to the provisions of chapter 34.05 RCW.

The director shall, wherever practical, secure the assistance of other public agencies, including but not limited to the department of health, the utilities and transportation commission, and the state patrol, in identifying and investigating potential violations of section 2 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. The director of agriculture and the secretary of health shall examine the hazards to the public health that may be posed by transporting in intrastate commerce food in other than bulk form. The director and secretary shall report to the legislature by January 1, 1991, recommendations for regulating the transportation of food in such a form.

Sec. 7. Section 99, chapter 257, Laws of 1945 and RCW 69.04.810 are each amended to read as follows:

For the purpose of enforcing the provisions of this chapter, carriers engaged in intrastate commerce, and persons receiving food, drugs, devices, or cosmetics in intrastate commerce or holding such articles so received, shall, upon the request of the director, permit the director at reasonable times, to have access to and to copy all records showing the movement in intrastate commerce of any food, drug, device, or cosmetic, or the holding thereof during or after such movement, and the quantity, shipper, and consignee thereof; and it shall be unlawful for any such carrier or person to fail to permit such access to and the copying of any such records so requested when such request is accompanied by a statement in writing specifying the nature or kind of food, drug, device, or cosmetic to which such request relates: PROVIDED, That evidence obtained under this section shall not be used in a criminal prosecution of the person from whom obtained: PROVIDED FURTHER, That except for violations of section 2 of this act, penalties levied under section 5 of this act, and the requirements of this section, carriers shall not be subject to the other provisions of this chapter by reason of their receipt, carriage, holding, or delivery of food, drugs, devices, or cosmetics in the usual course of business as carriers.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. Sections 1 through 5 of this act are each added to chapter 69.04 RCW.