H-2001

AN ACT Relating to family violence; adding a new chapter to Title 70 RCW; creating new sections; making an appropriation; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature declares that incidents of family violence have reached epidemic proportions and must not be tolerated; that exposure to family violence at an early age appears to be a significant risk factor for subsequent violent behavior against the community at large; and that escalating health care, criminal justice, and human services costs of family violence compel it to explore new models of prevention and intervention.

The legislature further declares that family violence ruptures the basic unit upon which our culture is based, mocks our sense of individual dignity and justice, and denies our children the nurturing environment necessary for their physical, emotional, and intellectual development.

The legislature recognizes that alcohol and drug abuse are both contributing factors to, and important by-products of, family violence. Alcohol and drug abuse increases the likelihood and severity of violence in the perpetrator, increases the distress, vulnerability, and dysfunction of adult victims, and impairs the development of children exposed to violence.

The legislature acknowledges that criminal justice agencies, charged with the capture, adjudication, and postconviction management of offenders have little if any control over societal patterns and relationships that spawn family violence. Therefore, exclusive reliance on a criminal justice response to family violence cannot effectively prevent its occurrence or safeguard the community. Other successful approaches to prevention, intervention, and treatment, including those used by the health care and public health professions, must be explored.

The purpose of this act is to strengthen existing support systems that provide safety, security, advocacy, and health care to victims of family violence; to inventory the breadth of programs available to those experiencing family violence; and to investigate new long range models of prevention and early intervention that coordinate efforts by the criminal justice, health care, mental health, and social services delivery systems.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. As used in section 3 of this act, "family violence" means a typology of abuses against persons, including spouse or partner abuse, child abuse, child sexual abuse or incest, sibling abuse, and elder abuse in the form of physical violence, sexual violence, emotional or psychological violence, and environmental violence. Family violence includes but is not limited to child abuse or neglect, as defined in RCW 26.44.020, sexual offenses, as provided in chapter 9A.44 RCW, and domestic violence, as defined in RCW 10.99.020.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) The secretary of health shall develop public health surveillance systems for tracing morbidity associated with family violence, methodologies for precisely identifying groups at risk for family violence, research methods for exploring potentially modifiable risk factors for family violence, and a system for rigorously evaluating existing programs that are intended to prevent family violence or modify a suspected risk factor.

(2) The secretary of social and health services shall establish, through a competitive selection process, three new pilot programs in communities geographically balanced throughout the state that will assure a sustained commitment towards containing family violence. The goal of the pilot programs shall be to test a variety of prevention and early intervention strategies to successfully interrupt the escalating cycle of family violence in Washington communities.

(a) The department of social and health services and the department of health shall jointly develop criteria for the selection of pilot programs;

(b) Each pilot program shall provide for coordination between local law enforcement agencies and courts, local governments, domestic violence and sexual assault victims' support programs, regional support networks, public health agencies, health care providers, schools, other community organizations, and relevant programs within state agencies. Each pilot program shall designate a lead agency and develop written interagency agreements to provide a coordinated continuum of services. Pilot programs shall make every effort to preserve existing family violence intervention programs and coordinate available funding for services related to family violence prevention and services to victims of family violence;

(c) The pilot program shall provide at least the following services: Services to family members who are victims of violence; services to victims of violent crime; case management services; and specialized intervention programs for treatment of perpetrators of violence, such as anger management, parenting and caregiver training to families experiencing or at-risk of experiencing violence, and public education regarding community violence;

(d) A majority of the families served by each pilot program must have some involvement with drug or alcohol abuse; and

(e) Twenty-five percent of funding for the pilot program shall be provided in-kind or in cash by public or private entities in the community served by the program.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. The office of financial management shall inventory, catalogue, and assess all state-operated, state-funded, or privately operated programs serving violent families, including a description of how each program is administered, the types of services provided and the type and number of persons served through the program during calendar years 1989 and 1990. This information shall be provided in a report to the following committees of the legislature on or before October 1, 1991: The senate law and justice committee, the senate children and family services committee, the senate committee on health and long-term care, the house of representatives judiciary committee, the house of representatives human services committee, and the house of representatives health care committee. Upon receipt of the report, the chairpersons and appropriate members of such committees shall jointly develop legislative recommendations regarding the implementation of a coordinated, effective family violence prevention and intervention strategy for Washington state.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. One million five hundred thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated to the department of social and health services from the drug enforcement and education account for the biennium ending June 30, 1993, for three new pilot programs established pursuant to section 3 of this act. Grants to each pilot program shall not exceed two hundred fifty thousand dollars per year.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. Sections 2 and 3 of this act shall constitute a new chapter in Title 70 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. Sections 2, 3, and 4 of this act are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect immediately.