Senate panel hears bill to establish felony tiers for environmental crimes

Senator Yasmeen Trudeau, prime sponsor of Senate Bill 5360, told the Senate Environment, Energy & Technology Committee that the bill would “hold those who poison our water and air adequately responsible.” The bill would create first-, second- and third-degree criminal violations in Washington’s Water Pollution Control Act, Clean Air Act and Hazardous Waste Management Act, with penalties that range from gross misdemeanor for negligent conduct up to class B felonies for knowing conduct that places people or natural resources in imminent danger.

The bill’s substitute language, introduced by staff, mirrors the mental-state structure used elsewhere in criminal law and adds explicit entity liability: an entity may be guilty if an agent commits the offense within the scope of duties on behalf of the entity, and each day of ongoing conduct can be treated as a separate violation. The Attorney General’s Office called…