S-4382.1  _______________________________________________

 

                    SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6300

          _______________________________________________

 

State of Washington      56th Legislature     2000 Regular Session

 

By Senate Committee on Human Services & Corrections (originally sponsored by Senators Kohl‑Welles, Long, Hargrove, Horn, Costa, Brown and Franklin)

 

Read first time 02/03/2000.

Requiring annual reports of, and recommendations for improvements in, equal access to delivery of human services by state agencies.


    AN ACT Relating to annual reports of, and recommendations for improvements in, equal access to delivery of human services by state agencies; and adding a new chapter to Title 43 RCW.

 

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

 

    NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1.  (1) The legislature intends, through its adoption of policies and appropriations, that no minors, on the basis of ethnicity or gender, be denied access to services which are intended to improve their lives.

    (2) The legislature intends to determine whether budgetary and administrative policies implemented at various agencies in the executive branch have operated in a manner designed to assure equal access by minors to certain services without regard to arbitrary distinctions.

 

    NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2.  The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

    (1) "Equal access to services" means services are provided to recipients regardless of ethnicity or gender.

    (2) "Human services" means those programs and services operated or funded by a participating state agency that are designed to address one or more of the at-risk factors set forth in RCW 70.190.130(1)(h).

    (3) "Participating state agency" has the same meaning as in chapter 70.190 RCW.

    (4) "Person" means an individual under the age of eighteen.

 

    NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3.  (1) Each participating state agency shall, by June 30, 2001, and annually thereafter, prepare and present to the legislature and governor a report of equal access to its human services, delivered directly or by contract.  For each human service delivered by a participating state agency the report shall identify the following for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2001, and annually thereafter:  (a) The type of human service provided; (b) whether the service was provided by the participating agency or delivered by contract with a vendor; (c) the number of persons who received human services who were female and the number who were male; and (d) the number of persons who received services, by ethnicity.  The report shall be presented to the legislature and the governor.

    (2) The report shall be sufficiently detailed to permit the recipients to examine the programs and contractors within each human service to determine the numbers of persons receiving services by gender and ethnicity.  Each participating state agency shall, when the data within the report indicate that equal access is not available, provide the legislature and governor an explanation of the reasons for the lack of equal access, and a plan for attaining equal access and the cost of doing so.  The submission of a plan under this section shall not create an entitlement to service for any person.

    (3) For purposes of this report, the delivery of basic education shall be considered a human service only when the basic education is provided at a facility owned or operated by a participating state agency.

 

    NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4.  The office of financial management shall adopt rules to establish the format and data required by this chapter.  The rules shall reflect the legislative intent that data be collected and reported on a uniform basis and that delivery of human services data be reported on a pro rata basis by population of persons eligible to receive the services, on an agency-by-agency basis.

 

    NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5.  Sections 1 through 4 of this act constitute a new chapter in Title 43 RCW.

 


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