S-4470.2  _______________________________________________

                    SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6524

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      56th Legislature     2000 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Environmental Quality & Water Resources (originally sponsored by Senators Hale, Patterson and Honeyford)

Read first time 02/04/2000.

Authorizing the department of ecology to waive the requirement for a reserve account for governments maintaining landfills.

    AN ACT Relating to financial assurance requirements for landfill disposal facilities maintained by a government; and amending RCW 70.95.215.

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

    Sec. 1.  RCW 70.95.215 and 1985 c 436 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

    (1) By July 1, 1987, each holder or applicant of a permit for a landfill disposal facility issued under this chapter shall establish a reserve account or other approved form of financial assurance to cover the costs of closing the facility in accordance with state and federal regulations.  The account shall be designed to ensure that there will be adequate revenue or an alternative funding mechanism available by the projected date of closure.  A landfill disposal ((facilities)) facility maintained on private property for the sole use of the entity owning the site and a landfill disposal facility maintained by a government shall not be required to establish a reserve account if, to the satisfaction of the department, ((they)) the entity or government provides another form of financial assurance adequate to comply with the requirements of this section.

    (2) By July 1, 1986, the department shall adopt rules under chapter 34.05 RCW to implement subsection (1) of this section.  The department is not required to adopt rules pertaining to other approved forms of financial assurance to cover the costs of closing a landfill disposal facility.  The rules shall include but not be limited to:

    (a) Methods to estimate closure costs, including postclosure monitoring, pollution prevention measures, and any other procedures required under state and federal regulations;

    (b) Methods to ensure that reserve accounts receive adequate funds, including:

    (i) Requirements that the reserve account be generated by user fees.  However, the department may waive this requirement for existing landfills if user fees would be prohibitively high;

    (ii) Requirements that moneys be placed in the reserve account on a regular basis and that the reserve account be kept separate from all other accounts; and

    (iii) Procedures for the department to verify that adequate sums are deposited in the reserve account; and

    (c) Methods to ensure that other types of financial assurance provided in accordance with subsection (1) of this section are adequate to cover the costs of closing the facility.

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