S-1793               _______________________________________________

                                         SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL NO. 5326

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1987 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Commerce & Labor (originally sponsored by  Senators Garrett, Johnson, Peterson, Lee, Tanner, Warnke, Williams, Kiskaddon and Bauer; by request of Joint Select Committee on Disability Employment and Economic Participation)

Read first time 2/19/87.

AN ACT Relating to employment and training of persons of disability; adding new sections to chapter 50.12 RCW; creating new sections; providing an expiration date; and making an appropriation.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     The legislature finds that improving the economic status of persons of disability, the state's largest social minority with over four hundred thousand people, will require active state involvement.  Persons of disability suffer unemployment at almost twice the rate and experience poverty at more than twice the rate of the general population.  Employers have experienced confusion about the variety of employment services available to them.  Optimum service from, and access to, the state's training and placement programs for persons of disability requires coordination and a clear focus on the stated needs of persons of disability and their prospective employers. It is the purpose of this chapter to guarantee that representatives of the disability community, labor, and the private sector have an institutionalized means of meeting their respective needs in the training, employment, and economic participation of persons of disability.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 50.12 RCW to read as follows:

          The employment security department shall establish an information clearinghouse for use by persons of disability and governmental and private employers.  The services of the clearinghouse shall include:

          (1) Provision of information on private and state services available to assist persons of disability in their training and employment needs;

          (2) Provision of information on private, state, and federal incentive programs and services available to employers of persons of disability; and

          (3) Publication of a comprehensive list of programs and services in subsections (1) and (2) of this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.  A new section is added to chapter 50.12 RCW to read as follows:

          In establishing the information clearinghouse, the employment security department shall consult with organizations of private sector employers and persons of disability.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.     There is created the interagency task force on disability training and placement consisting of the commissioner of the employment security department or a designee, the director of the department of social and health services division of vocational rehabilitation, the director of the department of social and health services division of developmental disabilities, the director of the department of personnel or a designee, the director of the developmental disabilities planning council or a designee, the director of the department of services for the blind or a designee, and the executive director of the governor's committee on employment of the handicapped.

          The commissioner of the employment security department may designate an employee of the department to chair the task force.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5.     The interagency task force on disability training and placement shall develop and implement recommendations to promote greater use of persons of disability in the work force, greater interagency program coordination, and improved services to the disability community and prospective and current employers of persons of disability.  The task force shall seek the advice and support of organizations of private sector employers and persons of disability in carrying out its responsibilities.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6.     The interagency task force on disability training and placement shall make a report on its activities to the governor and the senate and house of representatives commerce and labor committees by December 1st of each year.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7.     (1) The interagency task force on disability training and placement and its powers and duties shall terminate June 30, 1989.

          (2) Sections 4 through 6 of this act shall expire June 30, 1989.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8.     The sum of forty-nine thousand five hundred dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1989, from the general fund to the employment security department for the purposes of this act.