H-4531.1 _______________________________________________
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2055
_______________________________________________
State of Washington 52nd Legislature 1992 Regular Session
By House Committee on Health Care (originally sponsored by Representative Braddock)
Read first time 02/07/92.
AN ACT Relating to criminal history background checks; and amending RCW 43.43.842.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 43.43.842 and 1989 c 334 s 11 are each amended to read as follows:
The
secretary of social and health services and the secretary of health
shall adopt additional requirements for the licensure or relicensure of
agencies or facilities which provide care and treatment to vulnerable adults.
These additional requirements shall ensure that any person associated with a
licensed agency or facility having direct contact with a vulnerable adult shall
not have been: (1) Convicted of a crime against persons as defined in RCW
43.43.830, except as provided in this section; (2) convicted of crimes
relating to financial exploitation ((of a vulnerable adult)) as defined
in RCW 43.43.830, except as provided in this section; (3) found in any
disciplinary board final decision to have abused a vulnerable adult under RCW
43.43.830; or (4) the subject in a protective proceeding under chapter 74.34
RCW. The rules adopted under this section shall further provide that no
person shall be disqualified from employment in a licensed facility for a past
offense if:
(a) The offense was simple assault, assault in the fourth degree, or the same offense as it may be renamed, and three or more years have passed between the most recent conviction and the date of application for employment;
(b) The offense was assault in the third degree, or the same offense as it may be renamed, and five or more years have passed between the most recent conviction and the date of application for employment;
(c) The offense was prostitution, or the same offense as it may be renamed, and three or more years have passed between the most recent conviction and the date of application for employment;
(d) The offense was theft in the third degree, or the same offense as it may be renamed, and three or more years have passed between the most recent conviction and the date of application for employment;
(e) The offense was theft in the second degree, or the same offense as it may be renamed, and five or more years have passed between the most recent conviction and the date of application for employment;
(f) The offense was forgery, or the same offense as it may be renamed, and five or more years have passed between the most recent conviction and the date of application for employment.
If an employee is hired in compliance with the requirements of this section, the fact or content of that employee's criminal history is not admissible in evidence in any subsequent criminal or civil action to which the employing licensee is a party.
In
consultation with law enforcement personnel, the secretary of social and health
services and the secretary of health shall investigate the conviction
record and the protection proceeding record information under chapter 43.43 RCW
of each agency or facility and its staff under their respective
jurisdictions seeking licensure or relicensure. The ((secretary)) secretaries
shall use the information solely for the purpose of determining eligibility for
licensure or relicensure. Criminal justice agencies shall provide the ((secretary))
secretaries such information as they may have and that the ((secretary))
secretaries may require for such purpose.