S-1221               _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 5601

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1989 Regular Session

By Senators Talmadge and Kreidler

Read first time 1/30/89 and referred to Committee on   Environment & Natural Resources.

AN ACT Relating to public notice of significant releases of hazardous substances; and adding a new section to chapter 70.-- RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 70.-- RCW (chapter 2, Laws of 1989) to read as follows:

          (1) The owner of public or private nonresidential real property upon which a release of a significant quantity of a hazardous substance has been found by the department to have occurred shall place a notice in the records of real property kept by the auditor of the county in which the property is located.  The notice shall:  (a) Identify the property;  (b) identify the owner of the property and the person causing the notice to appear;  (c) state that a release of a hazardous substance  occurred on the property;  (d) state the date the release occurred; and (e) direct further inquiries to the department.  The department shall maintain records that identify the remedial action taken and the hazardous substance or substances released for each remedial action that has been conducted or approved by the department.  Any person with an interest in the property, injured by the failure of a property owner to comply with this section, may recover damages for that injury by filing an action in superior court for the county in which the release occurred.

          (2) Where the department has discovered the release of a significant quantity of a hazardous substance following an inspection of the facility, the department shall place a notice having the contents of the notice referred to in subsection (1) of this section in the records of real property kept by the auditor of the county in which the property is located.

          (3) Before selling any right, title, or interest in real property, whether public or private, the seller of the property shall provide a written statement to the purchaser describing any release of a significant quantity of a hazardous substance that the seller knows to have occurred during the prior twenty years on the property to be sold.  Unless otherwise expressly agreed by seller and purchaser, any purchaser injured by failure of a seller of real property to provide the statement as required in this subsection may recover damages for that injury by filing an action in superior court for the county in which the property is located.

          (4) The department shall determine by rule, consistent with the purposes of this chapter, which releases are subject to the reporting and notification requirements under subsections (1), (2), and (3) of this section.  This rule shall limit required reporting under this section to those releases that are of a magnitude that would cause a significant adverse impact to human health or the environment.