Current through Register Vol. 24-06, March 15, 2024
(1)
The department shall prepare an economic impact analysis on all draft general
permits which are intended to directly cover small business. The economic
impact analysis shall be prepared on the draft general permit for which public
notice is being provided pursuant to WAC
173-226-130(3).
(2) The purpose of the economic impact
analysis is to reduce the economic impact of the general permit on small
business by doing one or more of the following when it is legal and feasible in
meeting the stated objectives of the FWPCA and
chapter
90.48 RCW:
(a) Establishing differing compliance or
reporting requirements or timetables for small businesses;
(b) Clarifying, consolidating, or simplifying
the compliance and reporting requirements under the general permit for small
businesses;
(c) Establishing
performance rather than design standards;
(d) Exempting small businesses from parts of
the general permit.
(3)
The contents of an economic impact analysis of a proposed general permit shall
include, at a minimum, the following:
(a) A
brief description of the compliance requirements of the general permit,
including:
(i) The minimum technology based
treatment requirements identified as necessary under WAC
173-226-070;
(ii) The monitoring requirements contained in
the general permit;
(iii) The
reporting and recordkeeping requirements; and
(iv) Any plan submittal
requirements;
(b) The
estimated costs of compliance, based upon existing data for facilities intended
to be covered under the general permit. Costs shall include, consistent with
subsection (2) of this section the following:
(i) The costs associated with (a) of this
subsection; and
(ii) The costs of
equipment, supplies, labor, and any increased administrative costs;
(c) A comparison, to the greatest
extent possible, of the cost of compliance for small businesses with the cost
of compliance for the largest ten percent of the facilities intended to be
covered under the general permit. The economic impact analysis shall use one or
more of the following as a basis for comparing costs:
(i) Cost per employee;
(ii) Cost per hour of labor;
(iii) Cost per one hundred dollars of
sales.
(4)
The following compliance costs associated with a general permit shall not be
included in the economic impact analysis:
(a)
The costs necessary to comply with chapters173-200, 173-201, 173-204, and
173-224 WAC; and
(b) The costs
associated with requirements of the general permit which result from conformity
or compliance, or both, with federal law or regulations.
Statutory Authority:
Chapter
90.48 RCW. 93-10-099
(Order 92-55), § 173-226-120, filed 5/5/93, effective
5/19/93.
