HOUSE BILL REPORT

ESSB 6344

As Amended by the House

BYSenate Committee on Agriculture (originally sponsored Senators Barr, Hansen, Bailey and Anderson; by request of Department of Agriculture)

Revising provisions relating to agriculture.

House Committe on Agriculture & Rural Development

Majority Report:  Do pass with amendments.  (13)

      Signed by Representatives Rayburn, Chair; Kremen, Vice Chair; Baugher, Bristow, Brooks, Chandler, Grant, Holm, R. King, McLean, Moyer, Nealey and Rasmussen.

House Staff:Kenneth Hirst (786-7105)

Rereferred House Committee on Ways & Means

Majority Report:  Do pass with amendments by Committee on Agriculture & Rural Development.  (31)

      Signed by Representatives Grimm, Chair; Bristow Vice Chair; Appelwick, Basich, Belcher, Braddock, Brekke, Brough, Butterfield, Dellwo, Ebersole, Fuhrman, Grant, Hine, Holland, Locke, McLean, Nealey, Peery, Rust, Sayan, Schoon, Silver, H. Sommers, Spanel, Sprenkle, Taylor, Valle, Wang, B. Williams and Winsley.

House Staff:      Nancy Stevenson (786-7136)

AS PASSED HOUSE MARCH 6, 1988

BACKGROUND:

The commission merchant statutes are administered by the Department of Agriculture.  A person who receives an agricultural product on consignment for sale on commission or processing and sale or who accepts a farm product from a consignor for the purpose of resale must be licensed as a commission merchant.

Various budget documents refer to an agricultural local fund of the Department of Agriculture.  However, the fund has not been created by statute.

The Department of Agriculture administers the Washington Food Processing Act and a variety of agricultural statutes.

With certain exceptions, boilers and unfired pressure vessels must be inspected by personnel of the Department of Labor and Industries.  Rules regarding such inspections are established by the Board of Boiler Rules.

SUMMARY:

Commission Merchants.  The commission merchant statutes are amended.  Each person licensed as a commission merchant must distribute to each consignor, with each contract entered into with the consignor, an itemized list of the licensee's charges for the services to be rendered. The failure of a commission merchant to do so is a civil infraction under the commission merchant statutes (for which a fine of up to $1,000 may be levied).  The licensee must also keep, for a period of one year:  a record of the charges in effect on the date the terms of a sale were agreed upon; the quality and quantity of products sold; and proof of payments received on behalf of consignors.

An exemption for retail merchants from the licensing and bonding requirements of the commission merchant statutes is altered.  These merchants are exempted only for the retail business they conduct at their places of business.  Commodities governed by the agricultural warehouse statutes are not governed by the commission merchant statutes.

Agricultural Local Fund.  The Agricultural Local Fund is expressly established.  The fund is in the custody of the State Treasurer but is not subject to legislative appropriation.  The Department may make disbursements from the Fund.  The Fund contains moneys directed to be deposited in it by law and other funds of the Department of Agriculture which are not subject to appropriation and are authorized by the Department to be so deposited.  The Seed Fund, the Fertilizer and Agricultural Mineral & Lime Fund, the Feed and Fertilizer Account, and the Commercial Feed Fund become accounts within the Agricultural Local Fund and the moneys currently in those funds and accounts are transferred to the accounts within the Agricultural Local Fund.

Frozen Meat.  Meat, fish, and shellfish sold at retail which have been frozen at any time must be so labeled (rather than, under current law, being so labeled if they have been frozen subsequent to being offered for sale or distribution to the consumer).

Unfired Pressure Vessels - Inspection Exemption.  Unfired pressure vessels that are part of fertilizer rigs used exclusively for agricultural operations are exempted from the inspection requirements of state law.

Other.  The Washington Food Processing Act is amended to permit the Department to issue sanitary certificates for food processors.  The fee for such a service is set at $20 and receipts from these fees are to be deposited in the Agricultural Local Fund.

The annual licensing fee for operating a controlled atmosphere storage warehouse is to be set by the Director by rule (rather than being set at $5 by statute).

The Director of Agriculture is designated as an ex officio, nonvoting member of the Washington Wine Commission.

The member of each local Horticultural Pest and Disease Board representing the Department is a person appointed by the Director.

Fiscal Note:      Requested February 15, 1988.

Effective Date:The bill contains an emergency clause and takes effect immediately.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    (Agriculture & Rural Development)  Mike Schwisow, Department of Agriculture; Robert Siebold, Association of Apple Growers; Dick Gormley, Far West Fertilizer Association; and Errett Deck, Western Agricultural Chemicals and Far West Fertilizer Association.

(Ways & Means)  None Presented.

House Committee - Testified Against:      (Agriculture & Rural Development)  None Presented.

(Ways & Means)  None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:    (Agriculture & Rural Development)  (1) The Agriculture Local Fund was created administratively as an accounting entity in 1962; it should be created statutorily and should contain the accounts for all of the Department of Agriculture's fee-for-service programs.  (2) The bill permits the Department to provide a new service to food processors:  sanitation certificates for products shipped out-of-state.  (3) The change in the labelling of "previously frozen" products is a clarification of a current consumer protection law.  (4) Fertilizer rigs are too expensive to be used on only one farm and must be stored and maintained centrally, off the farm.  The current exemption for unfired vessels should be altered to reflect this aspect of the agriculture industry.

(Ways & Means)  None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      (Agriculture & Rural Development)  None Presented.

(Ways & Means)  None Presented.