Subject of Possible Rule Making: Amending chapter 365-220 WAC, relating to the development[al] disabilities endowment trust fund program, to align rules with program governing documents.

Reasons Why Rules on this Subject may be Needed and What They Might Accomplish: The department of commerce on behalf of the developmental disabilities endowment trust fund governing board proposes amending chapter 365-220 WAC to better conform such chapter to: (1) Master trust agreement and joinder agreement revisions and (2) current program practices regarding reversion of state match and its earnings upon closing an account.

Three WAC cover the reversion of the state match contributions and earnings back to the program upon death, transfer or ineligibility of the beneficiary but the wording is not consistent between them. The program's recordkeeping software individual trust account reporting system (ITARS) was not originally built with the logic to account for the reversions of funds in all cases because the developer at that time reported the WAC did not specify it. The WAC use different words although arguably the intent of those words was intended to be the same.

The governing board at the June 6, 2019, meeting confirmed the intent was that all unexpended state match and earnings would revert to the program when an individual account closed. In order to make the intent obvious, the special assistant attorney general (AAG) strengthened the language in Article 5 in the master trust agreements and cited it throughout the document. To make the WAC obvious, word changes are required. The special AAG provided draft rules to make the WAC consistent. AAG Adix approved those changes.

Commerce information technology staff will need to correct the ITARS logic after/parallel to the rule-making effort.

The amended master trust agreements were approved June 6, 2019. They are being mailed out to current trust account holders. The WAC and amended master trust agreements wording difference puts the program at risk for potential litigation should an account close before the WAC are updated regarding who receives the unused state match contributions and earnings.

Other Federal and State Agencies that Regulate this Subject and the Process Coordinating the Rule with These Agencies: None.

Interested parties can participate in the decision to adopt the new rule and formulation of the proposed rule before publication by contacting Peter Tassoni, P.O. Box 42525, Olympia, WA 98504-2525, phone 360-725-3125, fax 360-586-8440, email peter.tassoni@commerce.wa.gov.

Additional comments: Interested parties can participate in the decision to adopt the new rule and formulation of the proposed rule before publication. Written comments or inquiries may be directed to Leslie Wolff, Rules Coordinator, P.O. Box 42525, Olympia, WA 98504-2525, 360-725-2817, email Leslie.Wolff@commerce.wa.gov.