Illegal drug laboratories.

WORKING DRAFT
2005
STATE OF WYOMING
05LSO-0517

HOUSE BILL
NO.
HB0224

Illegal drug laboratories.

Sponsored by:
Representative(s) Harvey, Berger, Hastert, Hinckley and Iekel and Senator(s) Barrasso, Coe and Decaria

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to illegal drug laboratories; providing for the creation of an environmental health program within the department of health; providing for identification of contaminated property; providing for testing and property closure by the department of health as specified; providing for remediation of contaminated property by the property owner or department of health; providing for recovery of remediation costs; providing for notice to affected persons; providing for a registry of contaminated property; granting rulemaking authority; providing criminal penalties; authorizing positions; providing an appropriation; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1.
W.S. 35
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29
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101 through 35
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29
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106 are created to read:

CHAPTER 29
ILLEGAL DRUG LABORATORIES

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29
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101.

Definitions.

(a)

For purposes of this chapter:

(i)

"Contaminated" means the presence of hazardous chemicals, hazardous chemical byproducts, hazardous chemical waste or hazardous chemical residue at levels that create a hazard to the health of humans or animals;

(ii)

"Drug" means as defined in W.S. 35
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7
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110(a)(x);

(iii)

"Hazardous chemicals" means those substances identified by the department of health in its rules and regulations for purposes of this chapter;

(iv)

"Illegal drug laboratory" means any facility used for the purpose of manufacturing drugs without approval of the Wyoming board of pharmacy pursuant to W.S. 33
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24
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139;

(v)

"Program" means the environmental public health program of the department of health;

(vi)

"Property" means any real property, fixture, structure or part of a structure, manufactured housing, motor vehicle, recreational vehicle, trailer or other personal property which is contaminated by the unauthorized manufacture or storage of hazardous chemicals or the operation of an illegal drug manufacturing laboratory.

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102.

Identification of illegal drug laboratory; closure of property; report to department of health.

In the event any law enforcement agency has reason to believe that any property has been used as an illegal drug laboratory, the agency shall immediately order the property closed, shall escort all occupants out of the property, shall post the property closed until further notice and shall notify the department of health in the manner prescribed by department rule and regulation.

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103.

Environmental health program; duties; notices.

(a)

The environmental health program within the department of health shall have the following duties regarding illegal drug laboratories:

(i)

The program, with the assistance of local law enforcement personnel, shall enter and conduct a preliminary investigation of any reported illegal drug laboratory site within forty-eight (48) hours after receiving the report and shall evaluate the site for contamination;

(ii)

The department may order and, with the assistance of local law enforcement personnel, shall supervise evacuation and relocation of residents, securing of the site or other appropriate acute steps to minimize exposure to identified or suspected contamination at the site;

(iii)

If it identifies the existence of continuing contamination at the former laboratory site, the department shall order the property closed and shall place appropriate signage on any affected property and at the minimal safe distance from the property to caution that the site is contaminated and warn that unauthorized entry onto or use of the property is prohibited;

(iv)

If the contamination is limited to an enclosed portion of a hotel, motel, mobile home park or apartment building, the closure order shall be limited to that portion of the property necessary to protect other residents and the public from the contamination;

(v)

The department shall deliver a copy of a property closure order to any of the following persons who are present on site or, if the person is not present, the department shall mail a copy by certified mail to the person before the end of the next business day:

(A)

The owner, at the address on file with the county assessor;

(B)

The manager or landlord if not the owner;

(C)

The tenant;

(D)

All adult occupants of the property.

(vi)

As soon as practicable after identification of contamination, the department shall arrange for removal by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration or other appropriate federal authority of chemicals and apparatus used for illegal drug manufacturing;

(vii)

In addition to the acute actions required under paragraph (vi) of this subsection, the department shall provide appropriate guidance to the affected property owner and to any remediation contractors hired by the owner in those additional remediation actions required to render the former laboratory site safe for reentry, habitation or use;

(viii)

The department shall monitor and supervise the owner's or contractor's performance of remediation actions, shall test the affected property following completion of remediation and shall issue a remediation certificate if the property tests free of contamination;

(ix)

Within twenty-four (24) hours after issuing a remediation certificate, the department shall remove all property closure signage from the property and shall mail a copy of the remediation certificate to all persons who received the property closure order.

(b)

The department shall maintain a registry of real property subject to active closure orders. The registry shall be available for public inspection and the department shall disclose information from the registry upon request of any person. No later than the next business day following issuance of the certification described in paragraph (a)(vi) of this section, the subject property shall be removed from the department's registry of active closure orders. If a property owner conveys any interest in real property while the property is subject to an active closure order, the owner or the owner's agent shall disclose the order to the transferee in writing before the conveyance of any deed, contract for deed, mortgage or other instrument.

(c)

The department shall maintain for each reported illegal drug laboratory site permanent detailed records of all contamination tests, remediation activities conducted at the site and costs expended for testing and remediation.

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104.

Contaminated property; costs of testing and remediation; liens; owner's cause of action.

(a)

The owner of contaminated property shall be liable for the actual costs of remediation from the time the property closure order is issued until the certificate of remediation is issued.

(b)

The department and the owner of contaminated property who is not also a person listed in paragraphs (i) through (iv) of this subsection shall have a cause of action to recover their respective costs of testing and remediation resulting from the operation of an illegal drug laboratory on the owner's property, plus reasonable consequential damages, attorney fees and costs of litigation against the following persons, whose liability shall be joint and several:

(i)

All persons participating in the operation of the illegal drug laboratory;

(ii)

Any tenant in control of the premises who knowingly authorized the operation of the illegal drug laboratory;

(iii)

Any person who supplied chemicals or equipment knowing that they would be used to manufacture illegal drugs;

(iv)

Any person who distributed or purchased illegal drugs manufactured on the owner's contaminated property.

(c)

If the owner of contaminated property does not commence remediation within twenty-one (21) days of the department's property closure order, the department of health in its discretion may:

(i)

Enter into a contract with a remediation contractor for the remediation of the contamination;

(ii)

Following notice and opportunity for a hearing, seize any contaminated personal property for appropriate disposal;

(iii)

File a notice of lien with the appropriate filing office identified in W.S. 34.1
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9
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501 for recording without charge a statement of lien for the estimated costs of testing and remediation of the contaminated property. The department shall file an amended lien statement when actual costs are determined and shall promptly file a satisfaction of lien upon receipt of payment of the lien amount. Lien amounts which remain unpaid sixty (60) days after recording the remediation certificate shall draw interest at the rate of eighteen percent (18%) per annum until paid. The attorney general on behalf of the department of health may initiate proceedings for foreclosure of the lien in district court within ten (10) years from the date of filing. After the date of filing, no person shall remove from the state any property subject to a lien under this section.

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105.

Departmental cooperation; rules and regulations.

The department of health, following consultation with the department of environmental quality and division of criminal investigation of the office of the attorney general, shall promulgate rules and regulations for the identification, testing and remediation of property contaminated by illegal drug laboratories, including public or private property adjacent to contaminated property and including public or private sewerage systems that may damage public facilities or contaminate ground or surface water.

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106.

Criminal penalties.

(a)

Any person who knowingly enters upon real property or uses personal property in violation of a property closure order is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished for each offense by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), imprisonment for not more than six (6) months, or both.

(b)

A person who removes, defaces or obscures a property closure order properly posted on real property is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00).

(c)

A property owner who knowingly permits or encourages occupancy of his property in violation of a property closure order is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), imprisonment for not more than one (1) year, or both.

Section 2.
W.S. 9
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2
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102(a)(intro) and by creating a new paragraph (v) is amended to read:

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102.

Department of health; duties and responsibilities; state grants.

(a)

The department of health is the state mental health authority, the developmental disabilities authority
, the environmental public health authority
and the substance abuse authority. The department through its divisions has the following duties and responsibilities to:

(v)

Provide a
statewide program for environmental public health that includes:

(A)

Sufficient offices, staffed by trained environmental public health technicians, to provide adequate statewide services;

(B)

Environmental public health education and awareness training;

(C)

Capability to respond promptly to reports of illegal drug laboratory sites and to evaluate reported sites for environmental public health hazards as provided in W.S. 35
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101 through 35
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106.

Section 3.

(a)

There is appropriated eight hundred fifty-four thousand dollars ($854,000.00) from the general fund to the department of health for the period beginning April 1, 2005 and ending June 30, 2006 to implement the purposes of this act.

(b)

The department of health is authorized five (5) full-time positions to implement the purposes of this act.

Section 4.

This act is effective immediately upon co
m
pletion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming Constit
u
tion.

(END)

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HB0224