S-3598               _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 6346

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1988 Regular Session

By Senators West, Anderson and Saling

Read first time 1/19/88 and referred to Committee on Economic Development & Labor.

AN ACT Relating to the department of labor and industries; amending RCW 43.22.270; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     The legislature finds that contracting the services of the industrial statistician will result in a wider and more accurate information base.  The legislature also finds that the precision and credibility of this information will be enhanced by requiring multiple contractors to obtain the necessary data.

        Sec. 2.  Section 43.22.270, chapter 8, Laws of 1965 as last amended by section 48, chapter 75, Laws of 1977 and RCW 43.22.270 are each amended to read as follows:

          The director of labor and industries shall have the power, and it shall be his duty, through and by means of the division of industrial relations:

          (1) To study and keep in touch with problems of industrial relations and, from time to time, make public reports and recommendations to the legislature;

          (2) ((To, with the assistance of the industrial statistician, exercise all the powers and perform all the duties in relation to collecting, assorting, and systematizing statistical details relating to labor within the state and systematizing such statistical information to, as far as possible, conform to the plans and reports of the United States department of labor;

          (3) To, with the assistance of the industrial statistician, make such special investigations and collect such special statistical information as may be needed for use by the department or division of the state government having need of industrial statistics;

          (4))) To contract with entities for the purposes of:  Collecting, sorting, and systematizing statistical details relating to labor within the state and systematizing such statistical information to conform, as much as possible, to the plans and reports of the United States department of labor; and make special investigations and collect such special statistical information as may be needed for use by the department or any state agency having need of industrial statistics.  In contracting under this subsection, emphasis shall be placed on obtaining more than one contractor so as to provide thorough and verifiable data;

(3) To, with the assistance of the supervisor of employment standards, supervise the administration and enforcement of all laws respecting the employment and relating to the health, sanitary conditions, surroundings, hours of labor, and wages of employees employed in business and industry in accordance with the provisions of chapter 49.12 RCW;

          (((5))) (4) To exercise all the powers and perform all the duties, not specifically assigned to any other division of the department of labor and industries, now vested in, and required to be performed by, the commissioner of labor;

          (((6))) (5) To exercise such other powers and perform such other duties as may be provided by law.