S-3450               _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 6471

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1988 Regular Session

By Senators Stratton, Deccio, Craswell, Kreidler and Smith

Read first time 1/21/88 and referred to Committee on Health Care & Corrections.

AN ACT Relating to respite care services; and adding a new section to chapter 74.41 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 74.41 RCW to read as follows:

          (1) The department of social and health services shall establish a program under which persons who are sixty years of age or older and others who have designated an elderly person as a beneficiary may volunteer their time and services to an in-home service or voluntary agency serving the elderly which is approved by the department and receive credit for providing volunteer respite care services, which credit may then be drawn upon by such persons or designated beneficiaries when they themselves or their families need such respite care services.  The department shall establish a registry of names of such volunteers and shall, monthly or as often as it deems necessary for efficient management of the program, credit each of the volunteers with the number of hours of service each has performed for agencies approved by the department.  No person serving as a volunteer pursuant to a program established under this section may be credited for more than ten hours of volunteer service per week.

          (2) At such time as a person who has done volunteer work under the program established under this section or the designated beneficiary needs assistance, he or she shall so notify the department and, if the department determines that the person is in fact in need of assistance, which need is not based on financial need but on the social and medical condition of the person in question, the person shall receive the assistance of a volunteer.  If no volunteer is available to assist the person and the unavailability has been verified by the department, the department may obtain paid assistance for the person.  The paid assistance shall be at a rate that is no higher than the prevailing reimbursable rate established by the state for a unit of in-home services.  The cost of the paid assistance shall be paid by the state if the person in question is not eligible for medicaid from in-home service funds appropriated to the department.