BP BHEAD INT S

AN ACT Relating to the development of integrated pesticide management programs; amending RCW 70.104.010, 70.104.020, 70.104.030, 70.104.060, and 70.104.090; and adding new sections to chapter 70.104 RCW.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 70.104.010 and 1991 c 3 s 356 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The department of health has responsibility to protect and enhance the public health and welfare. As a consequence, it must be concerned with both natural and artificial environmental factors which may adversely affect the public health and welfare. Dangers to the public health and welfare related to the use of pesticides require specific legislative recognition of departmental authority and responsibility in this area.

(2) To protect children and adults from excessive pesticide exposure in areas of high public use, the department of health has a responsibility to provide guidance and technical assistance in developing programs for integrated pest management in such areas.

Sec. 2. RCW 70.104.020 and 1971 ex.s. c 41 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

((~~For the purposes of this chapter pesticide means, but is not limited to:~~

~~(1)~~)) 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 health.

(2) "Integrated pest management" means the selection and implementation of the pest control strategy least hazardous to human health and the environment, that consists of:

(a) Prevention of pest problems;

(b) Monitoring and evaluation of pests, damage, and results of treatment;

(c) Acknowledgement of population levels of pests that can be tolerated based on legal, economic, health, or aesthetic thresholds;

(d) Use of natural control agents in an ecosystem;

(e) Reliance to the maximum extent possible on nonhazardous biological, mechanical, and cultural treatment of pests;

(f) Application of pesticides in a manner that minimizes damage to the ecosystem's natural controls and integrity;

(g) Use of least toxic pesticides only after other methods have been evaluated; and

(h) Selection of treatment methods that are most cost-effective in the short and long-term.

(3) "Pesticide" includes:

(a) Any substance or mixture of substances intended to prevent, destroy, control, repel, or mitigate any insect, rodent, nematode, snail, slug, fungus, weed and any other form of plant or animal life or virus, except virus on or in living man or other animal, which is normally considered to be a pest or which the director of agriculture may declare to be a pest; or

((~~(2)~~)) (b) Any substance or mixture of substances intended to be used as a plant regulator, defoliant or desiccant; or

((~~(3)~~)) (c) Any spray adjuvant, such as a wetting agent, spreading agent, deposit builder, adhesive, emulsifying agent, deflocculating agent, water modifier, or similar agent with or without toxic properties of its own intended to be used with any other pesticide as an aid to the application or effect thereof, and sold in a package or container separate from that of the pesticide with which it is to be used; or

((~~(4)~~)) (d) Any fungicide, rodenticide, herbicide, insecticide, and nematocide.

(4) "Public agency" means city, town, county, school district, library, or state agency, board, or commission. State agency, for the purposes of this chapter, does not mean the department of natural resources.

Sec. 3. RCW 70.104.030 and 1991 c 3 s 357 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The department of health shall investigate all suspected human cases of pesticide poisoning and such cases of suspected pesticide poisoning of animals that may relate to human illness. The department shall establish time periods by rule to determine investigation response time. Time periods shall range from immediate to forty-eight hours to initiate an investigation, depending on the severity of the case or suspected case of pesticide poisoning.

In order to adequately investigate such cases, the department shall have the power to:

(a) Take all necessary samples and human or animal tissue specimens for diagnostic purposes: PROVIDED, That tissue, if taken from a living human, shall be taken from a living human only with the consent of a person legally qualified to give such consent;

(b) Secure any and all such information as may be necessary to adequately determine the nature and causes of any case of pesticide poisoning.

(2) The department shall, by rule adopted pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, chapter 34.05 RCW, with due notice and a hearing for the adoption of permanent rules, establish procedures for the prevention of any recurrence of poisoning and the department shall immediately notify the department of agriculture, the department of labor and industries, and other appropriate agencies of the results of its investigation for such action as the other departments or agencies deem appropriate. The notification of such investigations and their results may include recommendations for further action by the appropriate department or agency.

(3) The department shall adopt rules on or before June 30, 1995, requiring each public agency to adopt an integrated pest management program to protect children and adults from excessive pesticide exposure on grounds or in facilities maintained by public agencies. The rules shall include a model integrated pest management program that could be adopted in whole or in part by all public agencies. The department shall consult with the center for sustaining agriculture and natural resources of the Washington State University, the Washington State University cooperative extension service, the office of the superintendent of public instruction, the pesticide incident review panel, the department of agriculture, and other agencies with expertise and interested members of the public in the development of the rules. The rules shall provide a period for phasing compliance with the rule requirements over no less than three years from the effective date of the rules.

(4) The department shall coordinate with the Washington State University cooperative extension service to provide technical assistance to all public agencies in the adoption of integrated pest management programs. The department and the Washington State University cooperative extension service shall also provide technical assistance to other public or private entities operating facilities for public use, in the development of integrated pest management programs.

Sec. 4. RCW 70.104.060 and 1991 c 3 s 362 are each amended to read as follows:

In order effectively to prevent human illness due to pesticides and to carry out the requirements of this chapter, the department of health is authorized to provide technical assistance and consultation regarding health effects of pesticides to physicians and ((~~other~~)) public agencies, and is authorized to operate an analytical chemical laboratory and may provide analytical and laboratory services to physicians and other agencies to determine pesticide levels in human and other tissues, and appropriate environmental samples.

Sec. 5. RCW 70.104.090 and 1991 c 3 s 364 are each amended to read as follows:

The responsibilities of the review panel shall include, but not be limited to:

(1) Establishing guidelines for centralizing the receipt of information relating to actual or alleged health and environmental incidents involving pesticides;

(2) Reviewing and making recommendations for procedures for investigation of pesticide incidents, which shall be implemented by the appropriate agency unless a written statement providing the reasons for not adopting the recommendations is provided to the review panel;

(3) Monitoring the time periods required for response to reports of pesticide incidents by the departments of agriculture, health, and labor and industries;

(4) At the request of the chair or any panel member, reviewing pesticide incidents of unusual complexity or those that cannot be resolved;

(5) Identifying inadequacies in state and/or federal law that result in insufficient protection of public health and safety, with specific attention to advising the appropriate agencies on the adequacy of pesticide reentry intervals established by the federal environmental protection agency and registered pesticide labels to protect the health and safety of farmworkers. The panel shall establish a priority list for reviewing reentry intervals, which considers the following criteria:

(a) Whether the pesticide is being widely used in labor-intensive agriculture in Washington;

(b) Whether another state has established a reentry interval for the pesticide that is longer than the existing federal reentry interval;

(d) Whether the pesticide has been identified by a federal or state agency or through a scientific review as presenting a risk of cancer, birth defects, genetic damage, neurological effects, blood disorders, sterility, menstrual dysfunction, organ damage, or other chronic or subchronic effects; and

(e) Whether reports or complaints of ill effects from the pesticide have been filed following worker entry into fields to which the pesticide has been applied; and

(6) Reviewing and approving an annual report prepared by the department of health to the governor, agency heads, and members of the legislature, with the same available to the public. The report shall include, at a minimum:

(a) A summary of the year's activities;

(b) A synopsis of the cases reviewed;

(c) A separate descriptive listing of each case in which adverse health or environmental effects due to pesticides were found to occur;

(d) A tabulation of the data from each case;

(e) An assessment of the effects of pesticide exposure in the workplace;

(f) The identification of trends, issues, and needs; and

(g) Any recommendations for improved pesticide use practices.

(7) Reviewing and making recommendations on rules by the department for the development of integrated pest management programs.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. A new section is added to chapter 70.104 RCW to read as follows:

Within one year of the effective date of the department of health rules on integrated pest management programs required by RCW 70.104.030(3), each public agency shall adopt an integrated pest management program to protect children and adults from excessive pesticide exposure. The board may form an advisory committee to assist in developing the integrated pest management program, and shall hold a public hearing on the draft program.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. A new section is added to chapter 70.104 RCW to read as follows:

The department shall award grants, to the extent funds are available, to public agencies for the development of integrated pest management plans under this chapter. The department shall by rule establish grant award and allocation criteria.