FINAL BILL REPORT

                  ESSB 5866

                          C 382 L 99

                      Synopsis as Enacted

\Brief Description:  Eliminating component registration of fertilizer products.

Sponsors:  Senate Committee on Environmental Quality & Water Resources (originally sponsored by Senators Fraser, Prentice, Kline and Kohl‑Welles; by request of Department of Agriculture).

Senate Committee on Environmental Quality & Water Resources

House Committee on Agriculture & Ecology

Background:  Commercial fertilizers distributed in the state must be registered with the state Department of Agriculture.  The application for registration must identify the fertilizer components and verify that the components have been registered.  If a component has not been registered, then the application must include the concentration of each metal, for which state standards have been established, in the fertilizer component.

Bulk fertilizers do not have to be registered if all of the fertilizer products in them are registered.

Summary:  When registering a fertilizer, the applicant must report the concentration of specified metals contained in the product.  The requirement that concentrations of metals be identified does not apply to:  (1) anhydrous ammonia, a solution derived solely from dissolving ammonia in water, if it is not from a Awaste-derived fertilizer;@ (2) a customer-formula fertilizer containing only registered commercial fertilizers; or (3) a packaged commercial fertilizer, the plant nutrient content of which is present in the form of a single chemical compound that is registered as a fertilizer.

Component registration of fertilizers is eliminated.

Votes on Final Passage:

Senate 44 2

House     75 22 (House amended)

Senate    46 0 (Senate concurred)

Effective:  July 1, 1999