H-0469.1                  _______________________________________________

                                                      HOUSE BILL 1574

                              _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              53rd Legislature                             1993 Regular Session

By Representatives Leonard, Brown, King, Wineberry, Flemming, Wood, Romero, G. Cole, Riley, Locke, Anderson, Appelwick, Rust, Orr, Karahalios, Quall, Jacobsen, Thibaudeau, Johanson and J. Kohl

Read first time 02/01/93.  Referred to Committee on Human Services.

Changing vendor rates for children's services providers.

          AN ACT Relating to vendor rates for service providers who care for children; adding a new section to chapter 74.32 RCW; adding new sections to Title 74 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  The legislature finds that individuals and organizations serving children out of the child's home are an important part of a continuum of care for children who are removed from abusive and dysfunctional homes.  The legislature further finds that a significant reduction in the number of service providers and high provider turnover has occurred in  the past ten years.  Since 1980, the number of group home beds has declined from one thousand seven hundred to fewer than four hundred in 1992.  Out-of-home care service providers currently receive state reimbursement of between twenty and sixty-five percent of the cost of caring for dependent children.  If reimbursement rates to these service providers are not increased to the full cost of providing care, further reductions in children's service providers will occur, exacerbating an already unacceptable situation.  The governor's advisory committee on vendor rates is required to analyze vendor rates for human services providers and recommend adequate vendor rates to the governor and the legislature.  The governor's advisory committee has not met for several years.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 74.32 RCW to read as follows:

          The governor's committee on vendor rates, established by RCW 74.32.100,  shall analyze vendor rates for nonprofit, licensed, group care providers, foster parents, crisis residential centers, private adoption agencies and foster care agencies providing case management, recruitment, training, and support services and determine the actual cost of providing these services.  The information shall be published annually, sixty days prior to the convening of the regularly scheduled legislative session.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.  A new section is added to Title 74 RCW to read as follows:

          The information published under section 2 of this act shall be used to determine vendor rate payments to nonprofit, licensed, group care providers, treatment foster parents, foster parents, and crisis residential centers serving children out of the child's home.  Children's service providers shall receive a vendor rate payment of eighty percent of their cost of operation by June 30, 1995, plus a four percent cost of living adjustment.  Children's service providers shall receive eighty five percent of their cost of operation by June 30, 1997, plus a four percent cost of living adjustment.  Children's service providers shall receive ninety percent of their cost of operation by June 30, 1999, plus a four percent cost of living adjustment.  Children's service providers shall receive one hundred percent of their cost of operation by June 30, 2001, plus a four percent cost of living adjustment.  After June 30, 2001, the department of social and health services shall provide children's service providers with a vendor rate payment equal to one hundred percent of the cost of their operation, plus a four percent cost of living adjustment.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.  A new section is added to Title 74 RCW to read as follows:

          The information published under section 2 of this act shall be used to determine vendor rate payments to private adoption and foster care agencies for their case management, recruitment, training, and support services.  Service providers under this section shall receive a vendor rate of sixty percent of their cost by June 30, 1995, plus a four percent cost of living adjustment.  Service providers under this section shall receive a vendor rate of seventy percent of their cost by June 30, 1997, plus a four percent cost of living adjustment.  Service providers shall receive a vendor rate of seventy-five percent of their cost by June 30, 1999, plus a four percent cost of living adjustment.  Service providers under this section shall receive one hundred percent of their cost by June 30, 2001, plus a four percent cost of living adjustment.  After June 30, 2001, the department of social and health services shall provide service providers under this section with a vendor rate payment equal to one hundred percent of the cost of their operation, plus a four percent cost of living adjustment.

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