S-3715               _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 6125

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1988 Regular Session

By Senators Deccio, Sellar, Johnson, Smith, West and Barr

Prefiled with Secretary of the Senate 1/8/88.  Read first time 1/11/88 and referred to Committee on Health Care & Corrections.

AN ACT Relating to rural hospitals; and amending RCW 19.85.010 and 19.85.020.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 1, chapter 6, Laws of 1982 and RCW 19.85.010 are each amended to read as follows:

          The legislature finds that small businesses in the state of Washington have in the past been subjected to rules adopted by agencies, departments, and instrumentalities of the state government which have placed a proportionately higher burden on the small business community in Washington state.  The legislature also finds that such proportionately higher burdens placed on small businesses have reduced competition, reduced employment, reduced new employment opportunities, reduced innovation, and threatened the very existence of some small businesses.  The legislature further finds that rural providers of health care are small businesses that face particularly heavy regulatory burdens.  Regulatory standards are often developed for urban providers and facilities that may be inappropriate in rural settings and actually inhibit the availability and access to health care in rural areas of Washington.  Therefore, it is the intent of the legislature that rules affecting the business community shall not place proportionately higher burdens on small businesses.  The legislature therefore enacts this Regulatory Fairness Act to minimize such proportionately higher impacts of rules on small businesses in the future.

        Sec. 2.  Section 2, chapter 6, Laws of 1982 and RCW 19.85.020 are each amended to read as follows:

          Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the definitions in this section apply through this chapter.

          (1) "Small business" ((has the meaning given in RCW 43.31.920)) means a corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, or other legal entity formed for the purpose of making a profit, that is independently owned and operated from all other businesses, and that has fifty or fewer employees.  Small business also includes rural hospitals that are licensed pursuant to chapter 70.41 RCW and health care clinics having an internal revenue service sole nonprofit status.

          (2) "Small business economic impact statement" means a statement meeting the requirements of RCW 19.85.040 prepared by a state agency pursuant to RCW 19.85.030.

          (3) "Industry" means all of the businesses in this state in any one three-digit standard industrial classification as published by the United States department of commerce.

(4) "Rural hospital" means a hospital located:

(a) Outside an area within a twenty-mile radius of an urban area with a population of at least thirty thousand;

(b) Outside the city limits of Bellingham, Aberdeen-Hoquiam, Longview-Kelso, Wenatchee, Yakima, Sunnyside, Richland-Pasco-Kennewick, and Walla Walla; or

(c) That elects to be considered rural if (i) the hospital is located in a class one through nine county, (ii) the hospital is located in a city or town having fewer than twenty-five thousand people, (iii) the hospital has fewer than one hundred acute care beds, and (iv) the total annual hospital revenues are less than ten million dollars.