173-905 WAC Battery Stewardship Program Rulemaking

We invite you to comment on draft language for two key concepts for Chapter 173-905 WAC Battery Stewardship rulemaking: Annual reports and quarterly updates.

• Draft language

We are also soliciting feedback on two topics without draft language: marking requirements for batteries and demonstrable costs of local governments, both of which will also be covered in the October 21, 2024 meeting.

Background

This rulemaking would adopt a new Chapter WAC 173-905 – Battery Stewardship Program.

We are writing rules to clarify definitions, plan requirements, and annual reporting requirements; set the agency fee to cover oversight costs of the program; and establish battery management standards. We are also considering rules that include, but are not limited to, setting performance targets and goals, determining local government handling costs, and battery labeling requirements.

We write rules to implement and enforce state and federal environmental laws and rules. We follow a 3-phase process for rulemaking:

• Announcement and development
• Proposal
• Adoption

For each phase of the process, we update the rulemaking web page and notify interested parties. We also file notice in the Washington State Register.

More information

To learn more about our process, read the Rulemaking Frequently Asked Questions.

To learn more about stewardship, see our Battery Stewardship web page.