BILL REQ. #:  S-1740.2 

READ FIRST TIME 02/21/11.   

     AN ACT Relating to addressing water quality issues associated with livestock operations; amending RCW 90.48.144; creating a new section; and providing an expiration date.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) The conservation commission shall coordinate a process to examine the issue of achieving the state's water quality objectives relating to livestock operations. The directors of the department of agriculture, the department of ecology, and the conservation commission shall determine what personnel are assigned to this activity and may provide oversight to the process. In implementing this process, the commission shall involve representatives of involved agencies, stakeholders, and tribes. The topics to be considered include:
     (a) The appropriate background and training for personnel that conduct inspections of and provide technical assistance to livestock operators and whether personnel need to be specifically trained and assigned to serve this function;
     (b) The roles and relationships between technical assistance, inspection, and enforcement, and the concept of customer service;
     (c) The use, availability, and limitations of DNA testing as a water quality diagnosis tool;
     (d) The availability and constraints of state and federal programs for planning, installation, maintenance of conservation and pollution control practices, and review of alternative practices;
     (e) The extent of known water quality problems relating to livestock operations;
     (f) Best methods to achieve state water quality objectives in the context of a system that includes both regulatory and incentive-based approaches;
     (g) A review of considerations used to determine water quality standards including those applicable to the shellfish industry; and
     (h) The availability of state and federal funding and whether it is being appropriately allocated.
     (2) The conservation commission shall develop recommendations for the administration and improvement of the program. The commission shall provide a written summary of its activities and recommendations to the legislature and the governor by December 1, 2011.
     (3) The activities under this section shall be completed to the extent feasible from within existing fiscal resources available to the involved state agencies.     
     (4) This section expires December 31, 2011.

Sec. 2   RCW 90.48.144 and 1995 c 403 s 636 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Except as provided in RCW 43.05.060 through 43.05.080 and 43.05.150, every person who:
     (((1))) (a) Violates the terms or conditions of a waste discharge permit issued pursuant to RCW 90.48.180 or 90.48.260 through 90.48.262, or
     (((2))) (b) Conducts a commercial or industrial operation or other point source discharge operation without a waste discharge permit as required by RCW 90.48.160 or 90.48.260 through 90.48.262, or
     (((3))) (c) Violates the provisions of RCW 90.48.080, or other sections of this chapter or chapter 90.56 RCW or rules or orders adopted or issued pursuant to either of those chapters, shall incur, in addition to any other penalty as provided by law, a penalty in an amount of up to ten thousand dollars a day for every such violation. Each and every such violation shall be a separate and distinct offense, and in case of a continuing violation, every day's continuance shall be and be deemed to be a separate and distinct violation. Every act of commission or omission which procures, aids or abets in the violation shall be considered a violation under the provisions of this section and subject to the penalty herein provided for. The penalty amount shall be set in consideration of the previous history of the violator and the severity of the violation's impact on public health and/or the environment in addition to other relevant factors. The penalty herein provided for shall be imposed pursuant to the procedures set forth in RCW 43.21B.300.
     (2) The department may not impose a civil penalty under this chapter to a livestock operation as a nonpoint source until it has received testing results for: (a) A sample taken from above and from below the livestock operation for determination of the total level of fecal coliform in each sample; and (b) a sample from the stream segment that flows adjacent to the livestock operation for DNA testing using the best currently available technology.