2009 House Bill 1537 (on notification of property owners of emergency actions by state and local agencies)

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Introduced by Rep. Sherry Appleton, (D-Poulsbo) (D) on January 23, 2009, requires that property owners be notified of actions being taken by any state, county or municipal agency, including State Patrol and first responders, on their property.
- Referred to the House Local Government & Housing Committee on January 23, 2009.

Most Recent Comments

1) Re: 2009 House Bill 1537 (on notification of property owners of emergency actions by state and local agencies) [by glhadley on January 25, 2009]

Does this address all utilities (particularly sewer and water districts?) I could envision a case where a sewer district or water district makes an emergency response to a rental house, fixed the problem, and neglected to inform the municipal agency in which the property was located. Since they are pretty autonomous and have their own elected officials, could we please include them as having notification responsibilities?

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2) Re: 2009 House Bill 1537 (on notification of property owners of emergency actions by state and local agencies) [by glhadley on January 25, 2009]

What constitutes notification? Normally sending a registered letter to the property owner would suffice, I believe; but the Post Office may not make the delivery within 24 hours. Sometimes, notification can be done by publication in a newspaper but again 24 hour response may not be feasible.

What does a entity do if the property owner is on vacation and unreachable. How can one comply with a 24 hour requirement?

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3) Re: 2009 House Bill 1537 (on notification of property owners of emergency actions by state and local agencies) [by glhadley on January 25, 2009]

Since the state patrol clause (section 4) and fire district clause (section 5) do not include the limitation that a utility emergency response needs to belong to or be contracted to the agency, is it fair to assume that if either of those organizations call for an electrical emergency response (downed power lines, for example) from a private utility, they must notify the property owner but a city or county need not do so? This seems a little strange.

Does the granting of a utility franchise to private utility constitute "contracting" with that utility?

I presume that if Seattle City Light provided an emergency response within one of the neighboring cities where it provides service that Seattle would undertake to notify the property owner under this legislation. That would include the neighboring city if the response were on the neighboring city's right of way, I assume. If the neighboring city were to have a franchise agreement with Seattle City Light and that contitutes "contracting", would both have to search out the property owner and notify him or her or them.

If the property in question were held in common (e. g. a condominium) do all of the property owners need to be notified?

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