(1) All commercial egg layer operations required under RCW 69.25.065 to meet the American humane association facility system plan, or an equivalent to the plan, must also ensure that all hens in the operation are provided with:

(a) No less than one hundred sixteen and three-tenths square inches of space per hen; and

(b) Access to areas for nesting, scratching, and perching.

(2) All commercial egg layer operations required under RCW 69.25.065 to house egg-laying hens with at a minimum the amount of usable floor space per hen required by the 2017 edition of the united egg producers' Animal Husbandry Guidelines for United States Egg-Laying Flocks: Guidelines for Cage-Free Housing, or a subsequent version of the plan recognized by the department in rule as providing equal or more useable floor space per egg-laying hen, must ensure that the hens are housed in a cage-free housing system.

(3) Subsection (2) of this section does not apply:

(a) During medical research;

(b) During examination, testing, individual treatment, or operation for veterinary purposes;

(c) During transportation, or depopulation operations for periods of no more than seven days in any eighteen-month period;

(d) During rodeo exhibitions, state or county fair exhibitions, 4-H programs, and similar exhibitions;

(e) During the slaughter of an egg-laying hen in accordance with applicable laws and regulations; or

(f) During temporary periods for animal husbandry purposes of no more than six hours in any twenty-four hour period, and no more than twenty-four hours in any thirty-day period.

(4) The requirements of this section apply for any commercial egg layer operation on the same dates that RCW 69.25.065 requires compliance with the American humane association facility system plan or an equivalent to the plan, or requires housing egg-laying hens with at a minimum the amount of usable floor space per hen required by the united egg producers' Animal Husbandry Guidelines for United States Egg-Laying Flocks: Guidelines for Cage-Free Housing or an equivalent to the guidelines.

Finding—Purpose—2019 c 276: See note following RCW 69.25.010.

Construction—2019 c 276: See note following RCW 69.25.065.

Effective date—2011 c 306: See note following RCW 69.25.020.