Washington State
House of Representatives
Office of Program Research
BILL
ANALYSIS
Children, Youth & Families Committee
HB 2068
Brief Description: Creating the imagination library of Washington program.
Sponsors: Representatives Stonier, Abbarno, Bronoske, Dolan, Ryu, Santos, Sells, Wylie, Orwall, Rule, Harris-Talley, Wicks, Gilday, Valdez, Bateman, Taylor and Kloba.
Brief Summary of Bill
  • Requires the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to select a qualified nonprofit organization physically located in Washington State to create and operate the Imagination Library of Washington Program that would contract with a national nonprofit foundation that exists for the purpose of working with local entities to identify eligible children and mail age-appropriate, high quality books each month to those children at no cost to families.
Hearing Date: 1/31/22
Staff: Luke Wickham (786-7146).
Background:

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.

The Dollywood Foundation, a nonprofit organization located in Tennessee, established Dolly Parton's Imagination Library (Imagination Library) in 1995 for the purpose of sending books to children from birth to age 5 and their families at no cost to the family.  The Imagination Library partners with local affiliates.  For example, the United Way of Lewis County and the Lewis County Rotary Foundation sponsor the Imagination Library program in Lewis County, Washington.  The local affiliate programs enroll children in their area while the Imagination Library negotiates wholesale pricing for the books.  The local affiliate programs pay the cost that is negotiated for those books and the shipping fees.  
Summary of Bill:

The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) must select a qualified nonprofit organization physically located in Washington State to create and operate the Imagination Library of Washington Program (ILWP).  This nonprofit organization must:

  • manage the daily operations of the ILWP;
  • establish affiliate ILWPs in all Washington counties and cities;
  • advance and strengthen the affiliate ILWPs with the goal of increasing enrollment in those ILWPs;
  • develop, promote, and coordinate a public awareness campaign to make donors aware of the opportunity to register children from birth through age 5 in the ILWP and make the public aware of the opportunity for these children to receive books through the program; and
  • contract with a national nonprofit foundation that exists for the purpose of working with local entities to identify eligible children and mail age-appropriate, high quality books each month to those children at no cost to families.

 

The Washington State nonprofit organization selected to operate the ILWP must provide payment to the national nonprofit foundation that equals 50 percent of the cost to provide books to eligible children enrolled in the program.  Each affiliate program must provide payment to the ILWP that equals the remaining cost to provide books to eligible children.  

 

The OSPI must may seek and accept gifts, grants, or endowments from public or private sources for the ILWP and may spend any gifts, grants, or endowments or income from public or private sources on the ILWP according to their terms.  

 

The nonprofit organization operating the ILWP must submit a report to the Legislature and the Governor by November 1, 2022, and annually thereafter describing:

  • the number of affiliate programs established by the ILWP;
  • the number of children enrolled in each affiliate ILWP; and
  • the number of children statewide enrolled in the ILWP.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Requested on January 27, 2022.
Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of the session in which the bill is passed.