S-1987.1  _______________________________________________

                    SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5537

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1997 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Human Services & Corrections (originally sponsored by Senators Stevens, Rasmussen, Zarelli, Brown, Morton and Oke)

Read first time 02/26/97.

Providing transitional employment services for ex-offenders. 

    AN ACT Relating to an ex-offender transitional work program; adding a new section to chapter 50.62 RCW; creating a new section; and making appropriations.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  The legislature finds that ex-offenders who obtain and retain employment upon release from incarceration are less likely to reoffend and return to prison.  Furthermore, ex-offenders face unique and often overwhelming obstacles in finding and retaining employment as a result of their criminal histories and skill deficits.  The legislature further finds that, based on the more than twenty-year history of the employment security department's ex-offender work orientation program, providing job development, job referral, and direct job placement services to ex-offenders can be a cost-effective use of taxpayer resources to assist ex-offenders in overcoming the obstacles to their employment.

    The legislature intends, therefore, to expand transitional employment services for ex-offenders through community-based organizations.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 50.62 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) The employment security department shall provide, subject to available funds, transitional employment services to eligible offenders.  Transitional employment services may include:  (a) Skill identification; (b) job finding techniques; (c) supportive services necessary for offenders to obtain or retain jobs; (d) job referrals and direct placement; and (e) facilitating employment upgrades after initial placements.

    (2) Offenders are eligible for transitional employment services if they:  (a) Are in a work release program; (b) are under community supervision or community placement; or (c) have been released from a correctional facility within the previous two years.

    (3) The employment security department shall develop and implement a method for evaluating the outcomes of the services provided, including the extent to which the transitional employment services affect the recidivism rates of participating offenders in comparison with the recidivism rates of nonparticipating offenders.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.  (1) The sum of eight hundred thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1999, from the administrative contingency fund to the employment security department for the purposes of providing transitional employment services to ex-offenders through the ex-offender work orientation program.

    (2) The sum of five hundred thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1999, from the general fund to the employment security department for the purposes of providing transitional employment services to additional offenders in geographic areas of the state not currently served by the program.

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