Select a different bill



HB 0802 - Waste management; methamphetamine clean up; provisions

Tracking Level: Monitor
Sponsor: Coan,Mike 101st
Last Action: 4/11/2007 - House Second Readers
House Committee: NR&E

Staff Analysis of the Legislation

Amend Chapter 8 of Title 12.  Relating to waste management so as to provide for quarantining and certified clean up of sites where methamphetamine was unlawfully manufactured.  Any property where the manufacture of meth occurs or has occurred may be quarantined by the local law enforcement agency having jurisdiction where the property is located.  Any person who has an interest in property quarantined may file a petition in the superior court of the county in which the property is located to request that the court order the quarantine of such property be lifted for one of the following reasons: the property was wrongfully quarantined or the property has been properly cleaned and all hazardous materials removed.  The court shall take such proof as it deems necessary to rule upon a petition and, after hearing such proof, may grant the petition and life th quarantine or deny the petition and maintain the quarantine.  Any person, who knowingly and willfully inhabits quarantined property, offers such property to the public for temporary or indefinite habitation, or removes any signs or notices of quarantine shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.  

The Director of the Environmental Protection Division shall compile and maintain a list of persons who are certified industrial hygienists.  Such persons shall be authorized to test meth properties to determine if a property is safe for human use.  The Director shall also compile and maintain a list of persons authorized to perform clean up of property where such process has occurred.   Once a property has been quarantined, any party having a right, title, or interest in the quarantined property may contact a certified industrial hygienist qualified by the director to perform appropriate testing on such property to determine whether hazardous waste is present or a contractor from the list maintained by the director for clean up and removal of all hazardous waste from such property. The property shall remain quarantined until a certified industrial hygienist named on the director�s list certifies to the quarantining law enforcement agency that the property is safe for human use.

Whenever any is quarantined by a local law enforcement agency due to the manufacture of meth, an officer of the local law enforcement agency quarantining the property shall file a signed and notarized notice of meth lab quarantine with the clerk of superior court in the county in which the property lies. The clerk of court shall record such notice in the record series containing the title deeds and shall index the notice with the owner or owners of the property as the grantor and with the local law enforcement agency giving the notice as the grantee. No fee shall be collected for this filing.  A sample �Notice of Methamphetamine Lab Quarantine� is provided in the bill.

Whenever a certified industrial hygienist named on the director�s list determines that the property quarantined is safe for human use, such person or entity shall issue a signed and notarized certificate of fitness.  The owner or any person having any right, title, or interest in the real property may file the certificate of fitness with the clerk of superior court in the county in which the property lies. The clerk of court shall record such certificate in the record series containing the title deeds and shall index the certificate with the owner or owners of the real property as the grantee and the local law enforcement agency that issued the quarantine as grantor. The fee for such filing shall be as for notices and certificates pertaining to real estate in accordance Code Section 15-6-77.  The bill provides an sample �Certificate of Fitness�.

Within seven days of issuing an order of quarantine, the local law enforcement agency that issued the order shall transmit to the director at least the following information regarding the site: the date of the quarantine order; the county in which the site is located; the address of the site; the name of the owner of the site; and a brief description of the site, such as single family home, apartment, motel, wooded area, or other type of structure or use.  The director shall maintain a registry of all properties reported by a local law enforcement agency that have been under order of quarantine for at least 60 days. The registry shall be available for public inspection at the division and shall be posted on the department�s website. Listed properties shall be removed from the registry when a local law enforcement agency reports that the quarantine has been lifted in accordance with this article.


Bill Summary from the State Site - Click for the State Summary Page / Click for Current Full Text