AN ACT Relating to occupational safety and health impacts grants; adding new sections to chapter 49.17 RCW; and making an appropriation.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The director, in consultation with the WISHA advisory committee established by RCW 49.17.055, shall establish a program to provide safety and health impact grants to prevent injuries and illnesses, save lives, and educate Washington employees and employers about workplace hazards and safe workplace practices. The intent of this act is to benefit, in the broadest sense possible, Washington workers and employers, especially those who are in small business and may lack the injury and illness prevention resources that larger companies may possess. The department may use industrial insurance funds provided in a proviso in an omnibus appropriations act, or in an appropriation clause in a bill, that specifically references funding to accomplish the purposes of this act. Funding for this program will be taken from the medical aid fund reserves which are in excess of actuarial needs.

(2) Using a competitive application process, the department shall award safety and health impact grants to trade associations, business associations, employers, employee organizations, labor unions, and groups of employees. Educational institutions and self-insured employers shall not directly receive grants but may participate in partnership with other eligible grantees if the product of the grant will significantly benefit employees and employers who belong to the state industrial insurance fund. Grants may include:

(a) Education and training grants to implement safety and health and to provide practical information, curricula, materials, and methods intended for use by employers and employees in reducing workplace hazards;

(b) Technical innovation grants to develop engineering and other technical solutions to injury and illness problems; or

(3) The department shall make significant efforts to ensure that not less than twenty percent of available grant funds are used for grants whose activities or products are intended to assist and benefit employers and employees in small businesses that employ fewer than fifty employees.

(4) Any materials, designs, or equipment developed under these grants will be in the public domain and may not be copyrighted or patented. Any materials or designs developed under these grants must be provided to the department at no charge as a condition of grant receipt.

(5) Grant funds may not be used to support or develop specific legislative or regulatory initiatives.

(6) The department shall not use information in a grant application or developed as a result of grant activities:

(a) To initiate developing a new rule or revising an existing rule. This grant program does not change any of the rule-making requirements of the administrative procedure act;

(b) To initiate department activity at a grantee's worksite other than monitoring or evaluation visits intended to review the grant itself. To the extent a worksite is directly affected by a grant, the worksite must be treated the same as a worksite having a consultation visit under this chapter; or

(7) Information contained in a grant application or developed as a result of grant activities is inadmissible in any civil action proceedings in a court of general or limited jurisdiction, or in any administrative proceedings, in this state, except in proceedings:

(a) Under section 3(3) of this act; or

(b) Related to fraud perpetrated in the grant process.

(8) To ensure accountability, each grant must include methods by which to measure progress toward completion of the grant and at least one appropriate measurable outcome related to injury and illness reduction, hazard reduction, or safety and health awareness that will be the result of the grant award. The evaluation shall address both positive and negative impacts and costs. The department may assist grant recipients by providing available data needed to measure accountability.

(9) No grant application may be approved that proposes work that cannot be completed during the current application year or biennium. Grant recipients may apply for funding for continuation of grant work in subsequent years only if they have successfully completed the work for which they were previously funded as determined by the department.

(10) During the biennium ending June 30, 2003, no grant may be awarded that exceeds two hundred fifty thousand dollars per fiscal year. The WISHA advisory committee and the safety and health impact grant review committee may recommend future increases or decreases to the funding level.

(11) No grant may be used to fund a grantee's on-going business operations including routine expenses of a grantee.

(12) No grant recipient may charge more than ten percent of the total grant award for administrative expenses or indirect costs.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) The director shall appoint a safety and health impact grant review committee that will be a subcommittee of the WISHA advisory committee. The review committee is composed of nine members: Four members representing employees, each appointed from a list of at least three names per position, submitted by recognized statewide organizations of employees; four members representing employers, including at least one representing small employers that employ fewer than fifty employees, each appointed from a list of at least three names per position, submitted by recognized statewide organizations of employers; and one ex officio member, without a vote, who shall represent the department. The committee chair shall be chosen by the review committee and shall alternate between employer and employee representatives. The committee members shall serve three-year renewable terms.

(2) Employer and employee members of the safety and health impact grant review committee are entitled to expenses as provided under RCW 43.03.050 and 43.03.060.

(3)(a) The safety and health impact grant review committee with assistance from department staff shall:

(i) Prepare requests for proposals;

(ii) Receive, review, and process grant applications;

(iii) Identify, by two-thirds majority vote, grant applications that merit funding and forward those applications to the director; and

(iv) Identify, by two-thirds majority vote, funded grants that meet criteria for suspension or revocation and forward those recommendations to the director.

(b) The director shall ensure that the safety and health impact grant review committee receives appropriate administrative support. Department staff shall provide support in an objective, impartial manner.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) The safety and health impact grant review committee, in cooperation with the director, shall develop grant application procedures and approval criteria. The director shall ensure the proper administrative support to successfully monitor grant recipients for compliance with grant criteria and all other procedures and requirements of the grant program. The director in cooperation with the safety and health impact grant review committee shall implement procedures and criteria for grant approval, including procedures for suspension or revocation of grants to recipients failing to comply with grant criteria established under the authority of this section or other legal requirements.

(2) The director shall approve only those grant applications and their recommended acceptance conditions as forwarded by the safety and health impact grant review committee, unless the director has a compelling and substantive reason to reject an application, whereupon the director shall provide written explanation for the denial to the review committee. The safety and health impact grant review committee shall review any grant applications rejected by the director and may advise the director to reconsider. The director shall consider the advice, if given, and shall approve the grant application with any conditions presented by the safety and health impact grant review committee. The director may reject that advice only for a compelling and substantive reason. If the director rejects that advice, the safety and health impact grant review committee may refer the application to the WISHA advisory committee. The WISHA advisory committee shall review the application and may advise the director to reconsider.

(3) The director may revoke or suspend an issued grant if advised by the safety and health impact grant review committee that the recipient is not in compliance with grant criteria or procedures. The director may suspend an issued grant without the advice of the safety and health impact grant review committee only for a compelling and substantive reason and the suspension recommendation shall be presented to the safety and health impact grant review committee for its consideration.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. The department and the safety and health impact grant review committee will present an annual review regarding the activities of the safety and health impact grant program to the WISHA advisory committee and the workers' compensation advisory committee, and make it available to the appropriate standing committees of the legislature. Based on a recommendation of the WISHA advisory committee, the workers' compensation advisory committee shall make a biennial recommendation to the director concerning an appropriate budget for the program.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. The director and representatives from the WISHA advisory committee shall perform a comprehensive review of the grant program that shall include, but not be limited to, measurable outcomes related to injury and illness reduction, hazard reduction, and safety and health awareness and shall issue a report to the appropriate legislative committees by December 31, 2007.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. The following acts or parts of acts, as now existing or hereafter amended, are each repealed, effective July 1, 2008:

(1) Section 1 of this act;

(2) Section 2 of this act;

(3) Section 3 of this act;

(4) Section 4 of this act; and

(5) Section 5 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. Sections 1 through 6 of this act are each added to chapter 49.17 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. The sum of five million dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 2003, from the medical aid account‑-state appropriation to the department of labor and industries to carry out the purposes of this act. Only medical aid account funds in excess of actuarial needs may be appropriated.