BILL REQ. #:  H-1183.1 

Read first time 02/03/11.   Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources.

     AN ACT Relating to establishing a certification program for commercial egg laying chicken operations; amending RCW 69.25.150; adding new sections to chapter 69.25 RCW; prescribing penalties; and providing an effective date.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 69.25 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The purpose of this section is to establish enforceable minimum standards under this chapter to protect the health and well-being of egg laying hens in commercial egg laying operations. In establishing a certification program, it is a further goal to promote consistency in procedures and standards applicable in this state with the procedures and standards commonly used elsewhere in the nation.
     (2) Beginning the effective date of this section, to be sold or offered for sale in Washington, an egg or egg product must be produced in a manner that meets or exceeds the certification requirements in this section.
     (3)(a) Beginning the effective date of this section through July 8, 2012, all commercial egg laying chicken operations with fifty thousand or more laying hens are subject to the certification requirements of this section.
     (b) Beginning July 9, 2012, all commercial egg laying chicken operations with three thousand or more laying hens are subject to the certification requirements of this section.
     (4) Each year, all commercial egg laying chicken operations subject to subsection (2) of this section must pass certification requirements established in the 2010 edition of the united egg producers animal husbandry guidelines for United States egg laying flocks, including use of the appropriate 2010 audit checklists for conventional cage systems or cage-free systems. As an alternative, the director may allow a commercial egg laying chicken operation to certify under another substantially equivalent program, as determined by the director.
     (5) All commercial egg laying chicken operations shall be audited each calendar year for compliance with certification requirements. The audit may be conducted by the United States department of agriculture, the department, or a third-party certification organization that has been approved by the director. Documentation of compliance with the certification requirements must be submitted annually by each commercial egg laying operation to the department and retained for a minimum of three years.
     (6) Beginning the effective date of this section through July 1, 2018, any new cage system installed in a commercial egg laying chicken operation must have achieved American humane association facility system plan approval as an enriched colony housing system under the approval guidelines in existence on January 1, 2011, or be capable of being modified so as to achieve such approval. If the standards established in this subsection conflict with standards established under subsection (4) of this section, the standards in this subsection apply.
     (7) The director may adopt rules to establish standards for new cage systems for laying hens that are different than those contained in the standards in subsections (4) and (6) of this section if the changes can be scientifically demonstrated to be at least equally protective of the health and well-being of laying hens, protective of consumers from food borne pathogens, protective of an affordable supply of eggs for consumers, and economically feasible for commercial egg laying operations. If the standards adopted by rule in accordance with this subsection conflict with the standards established under subsections (4) and (6) of this section, the standards in this subsection apply.
     (8) As used in this section, "laying hens" means a female domesticated chicken, at least twenty weeks of age, used for the purposes of egg production.

Sec. 2   RCW 69.25.150 and 2003 c 53 s 317 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1)(a) Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, any person violating any provision of this chapter or any rule adopted under this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor.
     (b) A second or subsequent violation is a gross misdemeanor. Any offense committed more than five years after a previous conviction shall be considered a first offense.
     (2)(a) Whenever the director finds that a person has committed a violation of any of the provisions of this chapter, and that violation has not been punished pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, the director may impose upon and collect from the violator a civil penalty not exceeding one thousand dollars per violation per day. Each violation shall be a separate and distinct offense.
     (b) The department shall establish by rule a penalty matrix for violations of section 1 of this act that contains a warning for a first violation and an increasing fine for subsequent violations based upon the number and seriousness of the violation. The department may also establish by rule a penalty matrix for other violations of this chapter.
     (3) When construing or enforcing the provisions of RCW 69.25.110, the act, omission, or failure of any person acting for or employed by any individual, partnership, corporation, or association within the scope of the person's employment or office shall in every case be deemed the act, omission, or failure of such individual, partnership, corporation, or association, as well as of such person.
     (4) No carrier or warehouseman shall be subject to the penalties of this chapter, other than the penalties for violation of RCW 69.25.140, or 69.25.155, by reason of his or her receipt, carriage, holding, or delivery, in the usual course of business, as a carrier or warehouseman of eggs or egg products owned by another person unless the carrier or warehouseman has knowledge, or is in possession of facts which would cause a reasonable person to believe that such eggs or egg products were not eligible for transportation under, or were otherwise in violation of, this chapter, or unless the carrier or warehouseman refuses to furnish on request of a representative of the director the name and address of the person from whom he or she received such eggs or egg products and copies of all documents, if there be any, pertaining to the delivery of the eggs or egg products to, or by, such carrier or warehouseman.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 69.25 RCW to read as follows:
     Rules adopted by the department under this chapter must be in accordance with chapter 34.05 RCW, the administrative procedure act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   This act takes effect January 1, 2012.