This bill creates a new integrated pest management research program in the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) focused on controlling burrowing shrimp impacts on bottom culture shellfish farming. It adds new sections to chapter 15.85 RCW, establishes a governing board to review proposals and guide WSDA grant expenditures, and sets the new program and board to expire July 1, 2035. Program activities are subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this purpose. The bill is identified as Substitute Senate Bill 5322, 69th Legislature, 2025 Regular Session. The program is directed to solicit research proposals, identify and provide ground for controlled research, identify funding mechanisms for equipment needs, and provide permitting assistance to shellfish growers for identified control methods. Research expenditures are limited to projects that support control of burrowing shrimp in Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor, and methods previously demonstrated ineffective in past studies are not eligible for funding. The governing board must meet at least quarterly, use consensus decision-making with a simple majority fallback, implement meeting facilitation and discussion parameters focused on coastal estuary bottom culture shellfish farming, and its members are eligible for subsistence, lodging, and travel reimbursements under RCW 43.03.050. The governing board is to include representatives from the Departments of Ecology, Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife, Commerce, the State Conservation Commission, and WSDA; specified regional shellfish industry stakeholders (five shellfish growers, two processors, an oyster-grower association, and the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe); a nonprofit that develops and disseminates shellfish-related scientific and technical information; an ecosystem-based management collaborative (ex officio); collaborating legislators from ocean-bordering districts; and an objective facilitator (ex officio). The text does not specify appropriation amounts or funding sources, the appointment or term process for board members, the identity of the named association, the criteria for deeming previous methods “demonstrated as ineffective,” the exact meaning of “identify and provide ground for controlled research,” the process for selecting the facilitator, or the scope and limits of the permitting assistance.

If enacted, Washington would set up a WSDA-run program to coordinate and fund applied research and field trials aimed at controlling burrowing shrimp that damage bottom-culture shellfish in Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor. Shellfish growers and processors in those areas could gain access to coordinated research proposals, designated test ground, help finding equipment funding, and permitting assistance for approved control methods, while a new multi-agency and industry governing board would review proposals and guide how grant dollars are spent; projects using methods already shown ineffective would not be funded. The Washington State Department of Agriculture and the listed state agencies and industry representatives would take on new meeting and oversight responsibilities (with travel reimbursement allowed), and growers/processors may see lower practical barriers to trying new control methods—provided the legislature actually appropriates money. Key implementation details are missing or unclear here, including how much funding will be provided, how board members are selected and how long they serve, exactly what “providing ground” or permitting help will involve, and the criteria for deeming past methods ineffective; those gaps will strongly shape actual costs, timing, and benefits.