S-1272.2 _______________________________________________
SENATE BILL 5701
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State of Washington 55th Legislature 1997 Regular Session
By Senators Morton, Rasmussen and Swecker
Read first time 02/07/97. Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Environment.
AN ACT Relating to commercial soil amendments; amending RCW 15.54.270 and 70.95.240; and adding a new section to chapter 15.54 RCW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 15.54.270 and 1993 c 183 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
Terms used in this chapter have the meaning given to them in this chapter unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1) "Brand" means a term, design, or trademark used in connection with the distribution and sale of one or more grades of commercial fertilizers.
(2) "Bulk fertilizer" means commercial fertilizer distributed in a nonpackage form such as, but not limited to, tote bags, tote tanks, bins, tanks, trailers, spreader trucks, and railcars.
(3) "Calcium carbonate equivalent" means the acid-neutralizing capacity of an agricultural liming material expressed as a weight percentage of calcium carbonate.
(4) "Commercial fertilizer" means a substance containing one or more recognized plant nutrients and that is used for its plant nutrient content or that is designated for use or claimed to have value in promoting plant growth, and shall include limes, gypsum, and manipulated animal and vegetable manures. It does not include unmanipulated animal and vegetable manures and other products exempted by the department by rule.
(5) "Commercial soil amendment" means any substance that is generated as a by-product from the manufacturing of wood products and that is intended to improve the physical characteristics of the soil. It does not include wood by-products that have been treated with a chlorine bleaching product, or other substances exempted by the department by rule.
(6) "Customer-formula fertilizer" means a mixture of commercial fertilizer or materials of which each batch is mixed according to the specifications of the final purchaser.
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(7) "Department" means the department of agriculture of the
state of Washington or its duly authorized representative.
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(8) "Director" means the director of the department of
agriculture.
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(9) "Distribute" means to import, consign, manufacture,
produce, compound, mix, or blend commercial fertilizer, or to offer for sale,
sell, barter, exchange, or otherwise supply commercial fertilizer in this
state.
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(10) "Distributor" means a person who distributes.
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(11) "Grade" means the percentage of total nitrogen, available
phosphoric acid, and soluble potash stated in whole numbers in the same terms,
order, and percentages as in the "guaranteed analysis," unless
otherwise allowed by a rule adopted by the department. Specialty fertilizers
may be guaranteed in fractional units of less than one percent of total
nitrogen, available phosphorus or phosphoric acid, and soluble potassium or
potash. Fertilizer materials, bone meal, manures, and similar materials may be
guaranteed in fractional units.
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(12) "Guaranteed analysis."
(a) Until the director prescribes an alternative form of "guaranteed analysis" by rule the term "guaranteed analysis" shall mean the minimum percentage of plant nutrients claimed in the following order and form:
Total nitrogen (N) ......... percent
Available phosphoric acid (P205) percent
Soluble potash (K20) .... percent
The percentage shall be stated in whole numbers unless otherwise allowed by the department by rule.
The "guaranteed analysis" may also include elemental guarantees for phosphorus (P) and potassium (K).
(b) For unacidulated mineral phosphatic material and basic slag, bone, tankage, and other organic phosphatic materials, the total phosphoric acid or degree of fineness may also be guaranteed.
(c) Guarantees for plant nutrients other than nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium shall be as allowed or required by rule of the department. The guarantees for such other nutrients shall be expressed in the form of the element.
(d) The guaranteed analysis for limes shall include the percentage of calcium or magnesium expressed as their carbonate; the calcium carbonate equivalent as determined by methods prescribed by the association of official analytical chemists; and the minimum percentage of material that will pass respectively a one hundred mesh, sixty mesh, and ten mesh sieve. The mesh size declaration may also include the percentage of material that will pass additional mesh sizes.
(e) In commercial fertilizer, the principal constituent of which is calcium sulfate (gypsum), the percentage of calcium sulfate (CaS04.2H20) shall be given along with the percentage of total sulfur.
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(13) "Label" means the display of all written, printed, or
graphic matter, upon the immediate container, or a statement accompanying a
fertilizer.
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(14) "Labeling" includes all written, printed, or graphic
matter, upon or accompanying a commercial fertilizer, or advertisement,
brochures, posters, television, and radio announcements used in promoting the
sale of such fertilizer.
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(15) "Licensee" means the person who receives a license to
distribute a fertilizer or commercial soil amendment under the
provisions of this chapter.
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(16) "Lime" means a substance or a mixture of substances, the
principal constituent of which is calcium or magnesium carbonate, hydroxide, or
oxide, singly or combined.
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(17) "Manipulation" means processed or treated in any manner,
including drying to a moisture content less than thirty percent.
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(18) "Manufacture" means to compound, produce, granulate, mix,
blend, repackage, or otherwise alter the composition of fertilizer materials.
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(19) "Official sample" means a sample of commercial fertilizer
taken by the department and designated as "official" by the
department.
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(20) "Packaged fertilizer" means commercial fertilizers,
either agricultural or specialty, distributed in nonbulk form.
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(21) "Person" means an individual, firm, brokerage,
partnership, corporation, company, society, or association.
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(22) "Percent" or "percentage" means the percentage
by weight.
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(23) "Registrant" means the person who registers commercial
fertilizer under the provisions of this chapter.
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(24) "Specialty fertilizer" means a commercial fertilizer
distributed primarily for nonfarm use, such as, but not limited to, use on home
gardens, lawns, shrubbery, flowers, golf courses, municipal parks, cemeteries,
greenhouses, and nurseries.
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(25) "Ton" means the net weight of two thousand pounds
avoirdupois.
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(26) "Total nutrients" means the sum of the percentages of
total nitrogen, available phosphoric acid, and soluble potash as guaranteed and
as determined by analysis.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 15.54 RCW to read as follows:
(1) No person may produce a commercial soil amendment for distribution in this state until an annual license has been obtained by that person. An application shall be filed on forms provided by the department and shall be accompanied by an annual fee of twenty-five dollars. All licenses shall expire on June 30th of each year.
(2) An application for license shall include the following:
(a) The name and address of the licensee; and
(b) Any other information required by the department by rule.
(3) If an application for license renewal provided for in this section is not filed before the license expiration date, a delinquency fee of twenty-five dollars shall be assessed and added to the original fee and shall be paid by the applicant before the renewal license shall be issued. The assessment of this delinquency fee does not prevent the department from taking any other action as provided for in this chapter. The penalty does not apply if the applicant furnishes an affidavit that he or she has not distributed this commercial soil amendment subsequent to the expiration of his or her prior license.
Sec. 3. RCW 70.95.240 and 1993 c 292 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) After the adoption of regulations or ordinances by any county, city, or jurisdictional board of health providing for the issuance of permits as provided in RCW 70.95.160, it shall be unlawful for any person to dump or deposit or permit the dumping or depositing of any solid waste onto or under the surface of the ground or into the waters of this state except at a solid waste disposal site for which there is a valid permit. This section shall not:
(a) Prohibit a person from dumping or depositing solid waste resulting from his own activities onto or under the surface of ground owned or leased by him when such action does not violate statutes or ordinances, or create a nuisance; or
(b) Apply to any person using solid wastes on the land as a fertilizer or commercial soil amendment under the licensing requirements of chapter 15.54 RCW.
(2)(a) It is a class 3 civil infraction as defined in RCW 7.80.120 for a person to litter in an amount less than or equal to one cubic foot.
(b) It is a class 1 civil infraction as defined in RCW 7.80.120 for a person to litter in an amount greater than one cubic foot. Unless suspended or modified by a court, the person shall also pay a litter cleanup fee of twenty-five dollars per cubic foot of litter. The court may, in addition to or in lieu of part or all of the cleanup fee, order the person to pick up and remove litter from the property, with prior permission of the legal owner or, in the case of public property, of the agency managing the property.
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