WSR 14-04-008
EMERGENCY RULES
DEPARTMENT OF
SOCIAL AND HEALTH SERVICES
(Aging and Long-Term Support Administration)
[Filed January 23, 2014, 10:00 a.m., effective January 26, 2014]
Effective Date of Rule: January 26, 2014.
Purpose: The department is amending and clarifying rules to revise the assessment process for allocating personal care hours as a result of the Washington state supreme court decision in Samantha A. v. Department of Social and Health Services.
The following changes are being made to WAC 388-106-0130:
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To make changes to how personal care services are calculated for children and to clarify the role that responsible adults are expected to play in the lives of children with disabilities.
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To replace irrefutable presumptions regarding age and informal supports with individual determinations of those facts guided by rebuttable presumptions.
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To incorporate changes in what the department considers to be age appropriate functioning for normally developing children, and to clarify language around those developmental milestones.
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To provide better notice to the public regarding the definition of informal supports by separately addressing the situation where the benefit of a personal care task is shared among members of a household, which is not a change in practice but previously had been subsumed within the broader concept of informal supports.
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To make changes to how living environment factors are considered in determining personal care services.
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To update outdated WAC references.
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To otherwise update and clarify elements of the CARE tool.
Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 388-106-0010 and 388-106-0130.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 74.08.090, 74.09.520.
Under RCW 34.05.350 the agency for good cause finds that immediate adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule is necessary for the preservation of the public health, safety, or general welfare, and that observing the time requirements of notice and opportunity to comment upon adoption of a permanent rule would be contrary to the public interest; and that state or federal law or federal rule or a federal deadline for state receipt of federal funds requires immediate adoption of a rule.
Reasons for this Finding: The department is filing another emergency rule filing to enable adoption of the permanent rule without a lapse. A public hearing was held on September 24, 2013. This emergency is being requested so that the rule implementation coincides with the necessary enhancements to the department's assessment instrument (CARE) effective September 30, 2013. The department is in the process of considering and responding to public comments received, and expects to file the permanent CR-103 by the end of February 2014. This CR-103E supersedes the CR-103E filed as WSR 13-20-076 on September 27, 2013.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 2, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 2, Repealed 0.
Date Adopted: January 21, 2014.
Katherine I. Vasquez
Rules Coordinator
Reviser's note: The material contained in this filing exceeded the page-count limitations of WAC 1-21-040 for appearance in this issue of the Register. It will appear in the 14-05 issue of the Register.