Washington HB 2093: Creating a small business bill of rights.

Bill Text

H-0915.2

HOUSE BILL 2093

State of Washington

66th Legislature

2019 Regular Session

ByRepresentatives Barkis, Chapman, Chambers, Jinkins, McCaslin, Walsh, Van Werven, Shea, Smith, Caldier, Orcutt, Irwin, Kirby, Schmick, Stokesbary, Blake, Kraft, Hoff, Harris, Dye, Corry, Cody, Tarleton, Maycumber, Reeves, Dent, Gildon, Goehner, Griffey, MacEwen, Mosbrucker, Pellicciotti, Shewmake, Steele, Vick, Eslick, Sutherland, Frame, and Leavitt

Read first time 02/19/19.Referred to Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations.

AN ACT Relating to creating a small business bill of rights; adding new sections to chapter 34.05 RCW; and creating new sections.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature reaffirms its findings that the licensing and regulation of businesses and professions requires periodic inspections, audits, interviews, site visits, or other oversight measures to verify that licensing, permit, and other regulatory requirements are met, and that unnecessary costs and delays may occur when small business owners must seek outside counsel or other professional assistance to prepare for and participate in review and enforcement actions such as audits and inspections of their records, facilities, or job sites.

The legislature finds that some state agencies and programs already inform regulated entities of their rights and protections in conjunction with licensing, permitting, audits, inspections, and other regulatory and enforcement related interactions, but this is not consistent among agencies or programs, nor are these rights or protections easily identified by regulated entities, including small businesses. The legislature commends those agencies and programs that have taken a proactive approach to communicating the rights and protections available to the entities they regulate, including small businesses.

The legislature further finds that while there are well defined constitutional and statutory provisions limiting state action and protecting the rights of regulated entities, including small businesses, to challenge unlawful or unauthorized state action, these rights are not clearly defined or listed in statute or rule.

Therefore, the legislature intends to codify a partial list of rights and protections guaranteed to small business owners when interacting with state agencies, boards, commissions, or other entities with regulatory authority over small businesses. The legislature further intends that state regulators communicate these rights and protections to small business owners in advance or at the time of any audit, inspection, interview, site visit, or similar oversight or enforcement activity.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 34.05 RCW to read as follows:

(1) Each state agency, board, commission, or other entity that conducts audits, inspections, or other enforcement actions within its regulatory authority over small businesses must create and clearly post on its web site a small business bill of rights.

(a) The agency shall create the small business bill of rights utilizing the rights listed in subsection (2) of this section, as well as any other applicable agency-specific statutes and rules.

(b) Agencies may modify or omit rights listed in subsection (2) of this section that would create a conflict with federal or state law, such as prior notice for industrial health and safety inspections, unreasonably limit or prevent an agency from performing its statutorily authorized duties, or that do not apply to that agency's scope of work. In cases where such a conflict with other laws would occur, agencies should first attempt to modify the listed right to avoid the conflict, omitting a right only when modification to avoid the conflict is not possible.

(c) These rights may not apply in emergency situations where environmental quality, or worker or public safety and health are in imminent danger.

(d) These rights do not apply in any criminal investigations or proceedings, or to an agency's undercover, surveillance, or seizure activities.

(e) Any omitted rights from the list in subsection (2) of this section must be identified, along with a reference to the federal or state law creating the conflict or short statement that the right does not apply to the agency's scope of work, in a document maintained by the agency or entity's small business liaison, public records officer, director, or equivalent executive officer. The document must be made available for public review. Posting the document online or making a paper copy available during normal business hours satisfies this requirement.

(f) Agencies may create a small business bill of rights specific to certain divisions or programs within the agency, such as the department of labor and industries' division of occupational safety and health, that may differ from other divisions or programs within the same agency.

(g) The agency must include an electronic link