AN ACT Relating to the management and regulation of infectious waste; amending RCW 43.21B.300, 43.21B.310, 70.105.010, and 82.18.020; adding a new chapter to Title 70 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 70.105 RCW; adding new sections to chapter 81.77 RCW; creating a new section; and prescribing penalties.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. LEGISLATIVE DECLARATION. The legislature finds and declares that:

(1) The state continues to generate infectious wastes that may pose a threat to human health above and beyond infection hazards associated with the general municipal solid waste stream.

(2) It is a matter of state-wide concern that infectious waste be managed in a manner that protects the health, safety, and welfare of the workers who handle the waste, the public, and the environment.

(3) The particular risks and special management requirements of infectious waste indicate that specific regulatory requirements are necessary for the protection of public health and the environment.

(4) Comprehensive public education is necessary so that people are informed of safe and responsible infectious waste management from residences throughout the state, and so that people are informed about actual, rather than perceived risks associated with infectious wastes.

(5) Comprehensive safety, personal hygiene, and education programs are necessary to minimize the risk of waste industry employees from occupational infectious disease transmission.

(6) Though it is recognized that certain disposable medical products protect the safety and health of health care providers and patients, the feasibility of waste reduction and recycling within the medical industry should be examined.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. DEFINITIONS. Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.

(1) "Department" means the department of ecology.

(2) "Director" means the director of the department of ecology or an authorized representative.

(3) "Disposal" means the final placement of treated infectious waste in a disposal site operating under a permit issued by a state or federal agency.

(4) "Enforcement agency" means the department, the department of health, the department of social and health services, or the jurisdictional health department as specified by section 6 of this act, administering rules established under section 5 of this act. (5) "Facility" means all contiguous land and structures, other appurtenances, and improvements on the land, used for treating, storing, or disposing of infectious waste. A facility may consist of several treatment, storage, or disposal operational units.

(6) "Infectious waste" includes:

(a) "Animal waste," which includes contaminated animal carcasses, body parts, and bedding of animals that were known to have been exposed to human pathogenic microorganisms during research, including research in veterinary hospitals.

(b) "Liquid human body fluids," which is liquid emanating or derived from humans including but not limited to human blood and blood products, serum and plasma, sputum, drainage secretions, cerebrospinal fluid, synovial fluid, pleural fluid, peritoneal fluid, pericardial fluid and amniotic fluid that exceeds fifty milliliters per container, storage vessel, or plastic bag.

(c) "Cultures and stocks," which includes etiologic agents, blood specimens, and laboratory wastes that are contaminated with these agents or specimens.

(d) "Biosafety level 4 disease waste," which includes wastes contaminated with blood, excretions, exudates, or secretions from humans who are isolated to protect others from highly communicable infectious diseases which are identified as viruses assigned to Biosafety Level 4 by the Centers for Disease Control, National Institute of Health, Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories, 2nd Edition, 1988. These viruses include Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic fever, tick-borne encephalitis virus complex, (Absettarov, Hanzalova, Hypr, Kumlinge, Kyasanur Forest disease, Omsk hemorrhagic fever, and Russian spring-summer encephalitis), Marburg, Ebola, Junin, Lassa, and Machupo.

(e) "Pathological waste," which includes biopsy materials, human tissues, and anatomical parts that emanate from surgery, obstetrical procedures, autopsy, and laboratory procedures. "Pathological waste" does not include teeth or formaldehyde or other preservative agents.

(f) "Sharps waste," which includes hypodermic needles, syringes, IV tubing with needles attached, scalpel blades, and lancets that have been used in animal or human patient care or treatment in medical research.

(7) "Infectious waste generator" means any person, by site, whose act or process produces infectious waste as defined in this chapter, or whose act first causes an infectious waste to become subject to regulation. In the case where more than one person, e.g., doctors with separate medical practices, are located in the same building, each individual business entity is a separate generator for the purposes of this chapter.

(8) "Infectious waste management plan" means a document which is completed by infectious waste generators who operate facilities, infectious waste offsite storage operators, and infectious waste offsite treatment operators pursuant to this chapter.

(9) "Infectious waste offsite storage operator" means a person who stores infectious waste as required by this chapter that has been generated off site in quantities exceeding fifty gallons per day.

(10) "Infectious waste offsite treatment operator" means a person who treats infectious waste as required by this chapter that has been generated off site in quantities exceeding fifty gallons per day.

(11) "Jurisdictional health department" means the city, county, city-county, or district public health department.

(12) "Person" means any individual, firm, corporation, association, partnership, consortium, joint venture, commercial entity, state government agency, unit of local government, federal government agency, or Indian tribe.

(13) "Storage" means the temporary containment of infectious waste in a manner that does not constitute treatment or disposal of such waste.

(14) "Transportation" means the movement of infectious waste from the point of generation over a highway to any intermediate point or to the point of final treatment.

(15) "Treatment" means incineration, steam sterilization, or other method approved by the department that changes the character or composition of any infectious waste so as to render the waste noninfectious.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. INFECTIOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN. Each infectious waste offsite storage operator, infectious waste offsite treatment operator, and infectious waste generator except households and residences, must prepare an infectious waste management plan. The plan must be consistent with the standards of this chapter and rules adopted by the department. The plan must be developed within six months of adoption of rules pursuant to section 5 of this act. The plan must be internally reviewed annually and must be followed by the facility. The plan shall be retained on site and made available for review by the enforcement agency.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. PERMIT REQUIREMENTS. (1) Each infectious waste offsite storage operator and infectious waste offsite treatment operator must submit a permit application to the department no later than four months following adoption of rules pursuant to this chapter. If approved, the permit shall be given for a term not less than five years, and shall be conditioned upon compliance with the requirements of this chapter and department rules adopted under this chapter.

(2) A permit may be modified during its term if there is a material change in the quantity or nature of the waste, or waste treatment system, or to require compliance with rules implementing this chapter that are adopted by the department after issuance of the permit.

(3) A jurisdictional health department may petition the department to include local requirements as part of a state infectious waste permit.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. STANDARDS FOR INFECTIOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT. (1) The department shall adopt rules to implement this chapter. The rules shall include, but are not limited to, the following provisions:

(a) Designation of waste as infectious waste, that includes infectious waste categories specified in section 2 of this act. Any exemptions and exclusions shall be specified in the rule.

(b) Standards for issuance of permits under section 4 of this act.

(c) Standards for the containment, storage, transportation, treatment, and disposal of infectious waste. These standards shall include, but are not limited to, recordkeeping, labeling, segregation and packaging requirements, handling, treatment and disposal requirements, and transport requirements to minimize the risk of transmission of an infectious disease. Standards applicable to infectious waste transportation shall apply only to those activities not currently regulated under chapter 81.77 RCW.

(d) The department is authorized to adopt a fee schedule for the issuance of infectious waste permits for infectious waste offsite treatment operators and infectious waste offsite storage operators. Fees for infectious waste permits shall not exceed the costs to cover all departmental costs for administration, surveillance, and enforcement activities for such permitted facilities.

(e) All rules, criteria, and fee schedules adopted by the department to implement the provisions of this chapter shall be developed in consultation with local health jurisdictions, the medical industry including but not limited to hospital, medical, dental, nurses, funeral directors, veterinary medical, health care, home care, and laboratory associations, the waste disposal industry, the department of labor and industries, the department of health, the department of social and health services, the utilities and transportation commission, the solid waste advisory committee, and other federal, state, local, and public entities, for the purpose of recommending revisions, additions, or modifications as provided for the development and review of infectious waste rules and standards pursuant to this chapter.

(2) These rules shall be adopted no later than January 1, 1992.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. ENFORCEMENT AGENCY AUTHORITY. (1) The department shall be the enforcement agency pursuant to section 5 of this act, except as described in subsections (2), (3), and (4) of this section. Infectious waste offsite treatment facilities and infectious waste offsite storage facilities shall at all times remain under the purview of the department and subject to permit requirements as established by section 4 of this act.

(2) The department of health shall be the enforcement agency for facilities subject to hospital licensure requirements established by chapter 70.41 RCW and medical test site licensure requirements established by chapter 70.42 RCW.

(3) The department of social and health services shall be the enforcement agency for facilities subject to nursing home licensure requirements established by chapter 18.51 RCW.

(4) A county, city, or jurisdictional board of health may elect to designate a jurisdictional health department as the enforcement agency by adopting a local ordinance in accordance with this chapter, providing that the ordinance is not inconsistent with and is equivalent to or exceeds the standards of this chapter and rules adopted by the department, and has been approved by the director. Said program would be subject to continuing oversight by the department.

(a) A jurisdictional health department implementing an infectious waste program is the enforcement agency with regard to the jurisdiction as established by the local ordinance, except as provided under subsections (2) and (3) of this section.

(b) A jurisdictional health department may seek financial assistance for delegated programs from the infectious waste account created by this chapter. There shall be a local match requirement for funds distributed from the infectious waste account to jurisdictional health departments.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. VIOLATION‑-CIVIL PENALTIES. (1) Any infectious waste offsite treatment operator and infectious waste offsite storage operator who fails to comply with any provision of this chapter or the rules adopted under this chapter, or with an order imposed under this chapter, or with the terms of a permit issued under this chapter, shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount of not more than ten thousand dollars per day for every such violation. Any infectious waste generator who fails to comply with any provision of this chapter or the rules adopted under this chapter, or with an order imposed under this chapter, shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount of not more than five hundred dollars per day for each such violation. Each and every such violation shall be a separate and distinct offense, and in case of continuing violation, every day's continuance shall be a separate and distinct violation. Every person who, through an act of commission or omission, procures, aids, or abets in the violation shall be considered to have violated the provisions of this section and shall be subject to the penalty provided in this section.

(2) The penalty provided for in this section shall be imposed pursuant to RCW 43.21B.300.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. VIOLATIONS‑-ORDERS‑-PENALTY FOR NONCOMPLIANCE‑-APPEAL. (1) Whenever the enforcement agency determines, on the basis of any information, that a person has violated or is about to violate any provision of this chapter, the enforcement agency may issue an order requiring compliance either immediately or within a specified period of time. The order shall be delivered by registered mail or personally to the person against whom the order is directed.

(2) Any order may be appealed pursuant to RCW 43.21B.310.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE DEPARTMENT. The department, in performing its duties under this chapter, may:

(1) Conduct studies and coordinate research programs pertaining to infectious waste management.

(2) Render technical assistance to generators of infectious waste and to state and local agencies in the planning and operation of infectious waste programs.

(3) Provide for appropriate surveillance and monitoring of infectious waste management practices in the state.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. The enforcement agency, in performing its duties under this chapter, may:

(1) Inspect any facility, at any reasonable time, for the purpose of evaluating the written infectious waste management plan and to determine if the infectious waste is being handled, stored, treated, and disposed in accordance with this chapter.

(2) Enforce the provisions set forth by this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 11. SPECIFIC DUTIES OF THE DEPARTMENT. The department in performing its duties under this chapter shall perform the following:

(1) Develop and implement a public awareness and education program regarding safe handling and disposal of potentially infectious wastes generated from residential sources with emphasis on proper hypodermic needle disposal. This program shall be conducted with assistance from jurisdictional health departments. This program shall be implemented by July 1, 1992.

(2) Conduct an examination of the feasibility of waste reduction and recycling within the medical industry, in consultation with the medical industry. The study shall be conducted recognizing that certain disposable medical products protect the safety and health of medical care providers and their patients. A report containing study findings and recommendations shall be transmitted to the legislature by July 1, 1991.

(3) Conduct an examination of ash produced in the course of infectious waste incineration to determine the chemical composition of ash to determine its applicability to management requirements set forth by chapter 70.105 RCW. A report containing study findings and recommendations must be transmitted to the legislature by July 1, 1991.

(4) Coordinate, with the department of labor and industries and the waste industry, the development of techniques, practices, and programs for the purpose of reducing waste industry workers occupational risk of infection due to exposure to infectious agents in the waste stream. Recommendations shall be transmitted to the department of labor and industries for implementation by January 1, 1992.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 12. INFECTIOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT ACCOUNT. The infectious waste management account is created in the state treasury. Money in the account may only be spent, subject to legislative appropriation, for activities established under this chapter and section 22 of this act. The account shall contain:

(1) All fees collected under section 5 of this act;

(2) All fines or penalties collected under section 7 of this act;

(3) Revenue from the additional tax on solid waste services under RCW 82.18.020(2);

(4) Any interest earned on the account, subject to RCW 43.84.090.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 13. Captions as used in this act do not constitute any part of the law.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 14. Sections 1 through 13 of this act shall constitute a new chapter in Title 70 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 15. A new section is added to chapter 81.77 RCW to read as follows:

AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITY OF UTILITIES AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION NOT CHANGED. Nothing in sections 1 through 12 of this act shall be deemed to change the authority or responsibility of the Washington utilities and transportation commission to regulate intrastate carriers.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 16. A new section is added to chapter 81.77 RCW to read as follows:

TRANSPORTATION OF INFECTIOUS WASTE. Any rule relating to transportation of infectious waste established pursuant to chapter 81.77 RCW must be consistent with rules established pursuant to this chapter.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 17. A new section is added to chapter 70.105 RCW to read as follows:

APPLICATION TO INFECTIOUS WASTE. This chapter shall not apply to an infectious waste as defined under section 2 of this act, provided that the only characteristic listed in RCW 70.105.010(5) exhibited by the waste is that it may contain infectious agents. Infectious waste designated as dangerous waste shall be managed as dangerous waste.

Sec. 18. Section 5, chapter 109, Laws of 1987 and RCW 43.21B.300 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Any civil penalty provided in RCW 70.94.431, section 7 of this act, 70.105.080, 70.107.050, 90.03.600, 90.48.144, and 90.48.350 shall be imposed by a notice in writing, either by certified mail with return receipt requested or by personal service, to the person incurring the penalty from the department or the local air authority, describing the violation with reasonable particularity. Within fifteen days after the notice is received, the person incurring the penalty may apply in writing to the department or the authority for the remission or mitigation of the penalty. Upon receipt of the application, the department or authority may remit or mitigate the penalty upon whatever terms the department or the authority in its discretion deems proper. The department or the authority may ascertain the facts regarding all such applications in such reasonable manner and under such rules as it may deem proper and shall remit or mitigate the penalty only upon a demonstration of extraordinary circumstances such as the presence of information or factors not considered in setting the original penalty.

(2) Any penalty imposed under this section may be appealed to the pollution control hearings board in accordance with this chapter if the appeal is filed with the hearings board and served on the department or authority thirty days after receipt by the person penalized of the notice imposing the penalty or thirty days after receipt of the notice of disposition of the application for relief from penalty.

(3) A penalty shall become due and payable on the later of:

(a) Thirty days after receipt of the notice imposing the penalty;

(b) Thirty days after receipt of the notice of disposition on application for relief from penalty, if such an application is made; or

(4) If the amount of any penalty is not paid to the department within thirty days after it becomes due and payable, the attorney general, upon request of the department, shall bring an action in the name of the state of Washington in the superior court of Thurston county, or of any county in which the violator does business, to recover the penalty. If the amount of the penalty is not paid to the authority within thirty days after it becomes due and payable, the authority may bring an action to recover the penalty in the superior court of the county of the authority's main office or of any county in which the violator does business. In these actions, the procedures and rules of evidence shall be the same as in an ordinary civil action.

(5) All penalties recovered shall be paid into the state treasury and credited to the general fund except those penalties imposed pursuant to RCW 70.94.431, the disposition of which shall be governed by that provision, RCW 70.105.080, which shall be credited to the hazardous waste control and elimination account, created by RCW 70.105.180, and RCW 90.48.350, which shall be credited to the coastal protection fund created by RCW 90.48.390; also except as provided in section 12 of this act.

Sec. 19. Section 6, chapter 109, Laws of 1987 as amended by section 14, chapter 2, Laws of 1989 (Initiative Measure No. 97) and RCW 43.21B.310 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Any order issued by the department or authority pursuant to RCW 70.94.211, 70.94.332, section 9 of this act, 70.105.095, 43.27A.190, 86.16.020, or 90.48.120(2) or any provision enacted after July 26, 1987, or any permit, certificate, or license issued by the department may be appealed to the pollution control hearings board if the appeal is filed with the board and served on the department or authority within thirty days after receipt of the order. Except as provided under chapter 70.105D RCW, this is the exclusive means of appeal of such an order.

(2) The department or the authority in its discretion may stay the effectiveness of an order during the pendency of such an appeal.

(3) At any time during the pendency of an appeal of such an order to the board, the appellant may apply pursuant to RCW 43.21B.320 to the hearings board for a stay of the order or for the removal thereof.

(4) Any appeal must contain the following in accordance with the rules of the hearings board:

(a) The appellant's name and address;

(b) The date and docket number of the order, permit, or license appealed;

(d) A clear, separate, and concise statement of every error alleged to have been committed;

(e) A clear and concise statement of facts upon which the requester relies to sustain his or her statements of error; and

(f) A statement setting forth the relief sought.

(5) Upon failure to comply with any final order of the department, the attorney general, on request of the department, may bring an action in the superior court of the county where the violation occurred or the potential violation is about to occur to obtain such relief as necessary, including injunctive relief, to insure compliance with the order. The air authorities may bring similar actions to enforce their orders.

(6) An appealable decision or order shall be identified as such and shall contain a conspicuous notice to the recipient that it may be appealed only by filing an appeal with the hearings board and serving it on the department within thirty days of receipt.

Sec. 20. Section 1, chapter 101, Laws of 1975-'76 2nd ex. sess. as last amended by section 1, chapter 376, Laws of 1989 and RCW 70.105.010 are each amended to read as follows:

The words and phrases defined in this section shall have the meanings indicated when used in this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(1) "Department" means the department of ecology.

(2) "Director" means the director of the department of ecology or the director's designee.

(3) "Disposal site" means a geographical site in or upon which hazardous wastes are disposed of in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

(4) "Dispose or disposal" means the discarding or abandoning of hazardous wastes or the treatment, decontamination, or recycling of such wastes once they have been discarded or abandoned.

(5) "Dangerous wastes" means any discarded, useless, unwanted, or abandoned substances, including but not limited to certain pesticides, or any residues or containers of such substances which are disposed of in such quantity or concentration as to pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health, wildlife, or the environment because such wastes or constituents or combinations of such wastes:

(a) Have short-lived, toxic properties that may cause death, injury, or illness or have mutagenic, teratogenic, or carcinogenic properties; or

(b) Are corrosive, explosive, flammable, or may generate pressure through decomposition or other means.

"Dangerous waste" does not include waste as described in section 17 of this act that only includes infectious agents.

(6) "Extremely hazardous waste" means any dangerous waste which

(a) will persist in a hazardous form for several years or more at a disposal site and which in its persistent form

(i) presents a significant environmental hazard and may be concentrated by living organisms through a food chain or may affect the genetic make-up of man or wildlife, and

(ii) is highly toxic to man or wildlife

(b) if disposed of at a disposal site in such quantities as would present an extreme hazard to man or the environment.

(7) "Person" means any person, firm, association, county, public or municipal or private corporation, agency, or other entity whatsoever.

(8) "Pesticide" shall have the meaning of the term as defined in RCW 15.58.030 as now or hereafter amended.

(9) "Solid waste advisory committee" means the same advisory committee as per RCW 70.95.040 through 70.95.070.

(10) "Designated zone facility" means any facility that requires an interim or final status permit under rules adopted under this chapter and that is not a preempted facility as defined in this section.

(11) "Facility" means all contiguous land and structures, other appurtenances, and improvements on the land used for recycling, storing, treating, incinerating, or disposing of hazardous waste.

(12) "Preempted facility" means any facility that includes as a significant part of its activities any of the following operations: (a) Landfill, (b) incineration, (c) land treatment, (d) surface impoundment to be closed as a landfill, or (e) waste pile to be closed as a landfill.

(13) "Hazardous household substances" means those substances identified by the department as hazardous household substances in the guidelines developed under RCW 70.105.220.

(14) "Hazardous substances" means any liquid, solid, gas, or sludge, including any material, substance, product, commodity, or waste, regardless of quantity, that exhibits any of the characteristics or criteria of hazardous waste as described in rules adopted under this chapter.

(15) "Hazardous waste" means and includes all dangerous and extremely hazardous waste, including substances composed of both radioactive and hazardous components.

(16) "Local government" means a city, town, or county.

(17) "Moderate-risk waste" means (a) any waste that exhibits any of the properties of hazardous waste but is exempt from regulation under this chapter solely because the waste is generated in quantities below the threshold for regulation, and (b) any household wastes which are generated from the disposal of substances identified by the department as hazardous household substances.

(18) "Service charge" means an assessment imposed under RCW 70.105.280 against those facilities that store, treat, incinerate, or dispose of dangerous or extremely hazardous waste that contains both a nonradioactive hazardous component and a radioactive component. Service charges shall also apply to facilities undergoing closure under this chapter in those instances where closure entails the physical characterization of remaining wastes which contain both a nonradioactive hazardous component and a radioactive component or the management of such wastes through treatment or removal, except any commercial low-level radioactive waste facility.

Sec. 21. Section 7, chapter 282, Laws of 1986 as amended by section 79, chapter 431, Laws of 1989 and RCW 82.18.020 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) There is imposed on each person using the solid waste services of a solid waste collection business a solid waste collection tax equal to three and six-tenths percent of the consideration charged for the services.

(2) Effective October 1, 1990, there is imposed an additional tax of .1425 of one percent upon each person upon whom the tax imposed in subsection (1) of this section is levied for calendar years ending December 31, 1990, and December 31, 1991, and for each calendar year thereafter the additional tax shall be .22 of one percent.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 22. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 23. This act shall become effective July 1, 1990.