_______________________________________________
ENGROSSED
HOUSE BILL 2773
_______________________________________________
AS
AMENDED BY THE SENATE
Passed
Legislature - 2002 Regular Session
State
of Washington 57th Legislature 2002 Regular Session
By
Read
first time 01/28/2002. Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Ecology.
Revising standards for apple grades and requiring reports
on the consignment sales of apples under the new standards.
AN
ACT Relating to sales of fruit; adding a new section to chapter 42.17 RCW;
creating new sections; and providing an expiration date.
BE IT
ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 1. To
provide uniformity in the marketplace and to protect consignors of apples, the
existing state standards for grades and packs of apples shall be evaluated.
Revision of the standards for grades and packs of apples that will clarify the
standards in such a way that they will be applied consistently among warehouses
and commission merchants shall be evaluated. The evaluation must consider the
appropriate level of uniformity that will ensure that the apples of a
particular variety, grade, and pack sold from one warehouse will be equivalent
to the apples of the same variety, grade, and pack sold from other warehouses.
For
this purpose, the director shall convene an apple grades and packs committee
that is widely recognized within the horticultural industry as representing the
interests of the industry to recommend by consensus revisions to the standards
that it believes will provide the desired level of uniformity that best serves
the interest of apple producers, packers, and consumers.
If
the industry committee recommends such revisions by consensus by December 15,
2003, the director shall give great weight to the recommendations in proposing
the adoption of rules that reflect the consensus recommendations.
If
the apple grades and packs committee does not make recommendations by consensus
by December 15, 2003, the committee shall report its findings and conclusions
to the department of agriculture, and to appropriate legislative committees
that have jurisdiction over agricultural issues at meetings scheduled during
the next ensuing regular session of the legislature. The appropriate
legislative committees may monitor the activities of the apple grades and packs
committee and may schedule interim committee meetings to obtain progress
reports by the apple grades and packs committee.
This
section expires April 30, 2004.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 2. The
legislature finds that consignors of fruit, whether the sale is conducted as
individual sales or in a pooling arrangement, need timely and more complete
marketing information regarding terms of sale for various varieties of fruit so
that producers can make informed business decisions. The legislature finds
that the affected industry needs to review the type of information that is
currently available, the type of information that would be useful, and how best
to make available the additional information.
The
legislature requests that the Washington state horticultural association, the
Wenatchee valley traffic association, the Yakima valley growers and shippers
association, and the Washington growers clearinghouse association meet with
each other to conduct a thorough analysis of the marketing information needs of
the industry and provide recommendations to the legislature on how the market information
needs can best be addressed. The legislature requests that these groups develop
a joint report containing those items to improve the availability of market
information for which agreement has been attained. On issues for which
consensus has not been reached, each organization is requested to provide a
brief statement containing the perspective of that industry segment. The
legislature requests that these reports shall be completed by December 15,
2003, with a copy to be delivered to the director of the department of
agriculture and to the appropriate standing committees of the senate and the
house of representatives with jurisdiction over agricultural issues. These
legislative committees may schedule interim committee meetings to obtain progress
reports for activities being conducted under this section.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 3. (1)
Each commission merchant that received apples imported into the United States
between January 1, 2002, and November 30, 2002, shall report to the department
of agriculture by December 15, 2002. The report shall include the volume of
each variety of imported apples that was received by and packed and sold by the
commission merchant.
(2)
The department of agriculture shall compile the information, in the aggregate,
and provide a report to the secretary of the senate and the chief clerk of the
house of representatives by December 31, 2002.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 4. A
new section is added to chapter 42.17 RCW to read as follows:
The
disclosure requirements of this chapter do not apply to information that can be
identified to a particular business and that is collected under section 3(1),
chapter . . ., Laws of 2002 (section 3(1) of this act).
Passed the House March 11, 2002.
Passed the Senate March 7, 2002.
Approved by the Governor
March 28, 2002.
Filed
in Office of Secretary of State March 28, 2002.
