Washington State House of Representatives Office of Program Research	BILL ANALYSIS
Children & Family Services Committee

HB 2762

Brief Description:  Requiring department of social and health services to work with community‑based and faith‑based social services organizations.

Sponsors:  Representatives Boldt, Nixon, Schmidt, Mielke and Casada.

Brief Summary of Bill

$Requires the secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) to designate a person within each administrative region to be a liaison with community-based and faith-based social services organizations.

Hearing Date:  2/6/02

Staff:  Deborah Frazier (786‑7152).

Background:

The recently created federal Office of Faith‑Based and Community Initiatives has the lead responsibility to strengthen and expand the role of community and faith‑based services.  The Office works with federal agencies, Congress, and state and local governments to promote policy,  legal, and regulatory changes to enable greater participation by faith-based and community organizations.  The Office also works with private philanthropies, the nonprofit sector, businesses, faith communities, and neighborhood groups to promote involvement in community service.

Five cabinet agencies have established Centers for Faith‑Based and Community Initiatives to promote faith‑based and community-based services. These Centers are responsible for evaluating policies, funding programs, communications and technical assistance to ensure that the agencies emphasize effectiveness and hospitality to faith‑based and community‑based organizations.  The five centers are located within the following federal agencies:

Health and Human Services Housing and Urban Development Justice Education Labor

Summary of Bill:

Within existing resources, the secretary of the DSHS is required to designate a person within each administrative region to be a liaison with community-based and faith-based social services organizations.

The liaison is responsible for:

providing information to these organizations about opportunities to work with the department;identifying unmet need which may be addressed by these organizations; andcoordinating efforts to promote involvement of community-based and faith-based social services organizations to provide community services.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Requested on 1/29/02.

Effective Date:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.