H-2055.1                  _______________________________________________

                                             SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1914

                              _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              53rd Legislature                             1993 Regular Session

By House Committee on Human Services (originally sponsored by Representatives Brown, Long, Johanson, L. Johnson, Edmondson, Cothern, Scott, Wood, Leonard, Brough, Kremen, Dyer, Brumsickle, Jones, King, Carlson, Karahalios, Schoesler, Hansen, Lemmon, Springer, Rayburn, Patterson, J. Kohl and Cooke)

Read first time 03/03/93.

Allowing volunteers to assist agencies with at-risk youth.

          AN ACT Relating to volunteers serving the needs of at-risk children; and adding a new section to chapter 43.150 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 43.150 RCW to read as follows:

          Any volunteer, including a volunteer organization, may assist a public agency, with the agency's approval, in a collaborative program for serving the needs of at-risk youth as defined by RCW 13.32A.030(5).  Such programs shall be established in accordance with guidelines issued by the center for volunteerism and citizen service defining reasonable safety standards to protect the safety of program participants and volunteers.  In carrying out the volunteer activity, the volunteer shall not be considered an employee or agent of the public agency administering the collaborative program.  A volunteer who has complied with these reasonable safety standards shall be presumed to be acting in good faith.  To recover damages, a claimant must establish by a preponderance of the evidence that a public agency or other sponsor of a program under this section failed to comply with the reasonable safety standards of the guidelines.

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