Washington HB 1670: Concerning the appointment process for the chairperson and vice chairperson of the joint administrative rules review committee.

Bill Text

CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1670
Chapter 315, Laws of 2025
69th Legislature
2025 Regular Session
SEWAGE SPILLS—PUBLIC NOTICE
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 27, 2025
Passed by the House April 22, 2025
Yeas 97 Nays 0
LAURIE JINKINS
Speaker of the House of
Representatives
Passed by the Senate April 16, 2025
Yeas 49 Nays 0
DENNY HECK
President of the Senate
CERTIFICATE
I, Bernard Dean, Chief Clerk of the
House of Representatives of the
State of Washington, do hereby
certify that the attached is
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1670 as
passed by the House of
Representatives and the Senate on
the dates hereon set forth.
BERNARD DEAN
Chief Clerk
Approved May 17, 2025 1:48 PM FILED
May 19, 2025
BOB FERGUSON
Governor of the State of Washington
Secretary of State
State of Washington

AN ACT Relating to increasing transparency regarding sewage-1
containing spills; adding new sections to chapter 90.48 RCW; and 2
creating a new section.3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that municipal 5
wastewater treatment plant owners/operators and wastewater collectors 6
with national pollutant discharge elimination system permits are 7
required by their water quality permits to disclose unauthorized 8
spills or discharges containing untreated or undertreated sewage to 9
the department of ecology, but that such notices of sewage spills are 10
not expeditiously or easily made publicly available. Those who count 11
on clean water quality for their jobs in fishing or aquaculture, to 12
enjoy their recreational interests, or to pursue their cultural 13
traditions are likely to be especially impacted by sewage spills, and 14
would particularly benefit from a system of timely public notice in 15
the event of a spill. A number of other states have established 16
systems in which public notification of a spill is available in 17
nearly real time posted by a water quality regulator, and in which 18
alerts can be issued to those interested in the event of a spill in a 19
particular geographic area. Therefore, it is the intent of the 20
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1670
AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE
Passed Legislature - 2025 Regular Session
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By House Environment & Energy (originally sponsored by
Representatives Hunt, Griffey, Doglio, Bernbaum, Zahn, Salahuddin,
Berry, Abbarno, Duerr, Hill, Obras, Lekanoff, Stearns, Parshley,
Kloba, Reed, Ramel, Ormsby, Gregerson, and Nance)
READ FIRST TIME 02/17/25.
p. 1 SHB 1670.SL

legislature to improve the public's ability to know about sewage 1
spills that may impact them by establishing such a system. 2
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 90.48 3
RCW to read as follows:4
The definitions in this section apply to section 3 of this act 5
unless the context clearly requires otherwise.6
(1) "Combined sewer" means a sewer that has been designed to 7
serve as a sanitary sewer and a storm sewer, and into which inflow is 8
allowed by local ordinance.9
(2) "Sewage spill" means the intentional or accidental discharge 10
of untreated or undertreated wastewater that does not meet permit 11
requirements, from any portion of a sewage treatment plant or 12
collection system, including a combined sewer, in this state.13
(3) "Sewage treatment plant or collection system" means any 14
sewage treatment plant, water pollution control facility, related 15
pumping system, collection system, or other public sewage works.16
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 90.48 17
RCW to read as follows:18
(1) By July 1, 2026, the department must develop and publish a 19
public-facing website that includes, but is not limited to, notices 20
of the locations where sewage spills occur that are reported to the 21
department under individual water quality permits for discharges that 22
contain sewage. The department must post on the website notice of the 23
reported sewage spill. The notice on the department's website must 24
include the following information, as reported to the department:25
(a) The estimated volume or rate of discharge and, once known, 26
the final volume discharged;27
(b) The level of treatment of the discharge;28
(c) The date and time the incident initiated;29
(d) The location of the discharge;30
(e) Once known, the estimated or actual time the discharge 31
ceased;32
(f) The geographic area potentially impacted by the discharge; 33
and34
(g) Once known, the steps taken to contain the discharge.35
(2) Within a reasonable amount of time following the conclusion 36
of a reported sewage spill under this section, the department must 37
update the website to reflect the total estimated volume of 38
p. 2 SHB 1670.SL

discharges, dates, times, and duration of the spill, waters impacted 1
by the spill, and other final spill information reported to the 2
department.3
(3) The department must design the website in a way that 4
effectively communicates with people who have limited Engli