S-0258.1/91       _______________________________________________

 

                                 SENATE BILL 5035

                  _______________________________________________

 

State of Washington              52nd Legislature             1991 Regular Session

 

By Senators Rasmussen, Madsen and Nelson.

 

Read first time January 16, 1991.  Referred to Committee on Health & Long‑Term Care.Providing for a skilled nursing care center for veterans in eastern Washington.


     AN ACT Relating to a skilled nursing care center for veterans; adding a new section to chapter 43.60A RCW; and creating a new section.

 

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

 

     NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1.      The legislature finds that there is a dramatic increase in the number of senior veterans among the total Washington population, and that eastern Washington veterans are underserved because there is no state long-term care facility available.

 

     NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 43.60A RCW to read as follows:

     The department of veterans affairs shall complete planning and design work for a skilled nursing care center for veterans in time for the project to be submitted for federal veterans affairs matching funds in August 1992.  The facility shall be constructed at a site in eastern Washington and shall contain between one hundred twenty and one hundred eighty skilled nursing care beds.  The department of veterans affairs shall operate the facility providing a service level no less than that provided at the state veterans' home and the state soldiers' home.