[atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to a blended funding demonstration project to provide services to disturbed youth; adding a new chapter to Title 74 RCW; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature finds that new approaches are needed to serve youth with either serious emotional disturbances or serious behavioral disturbances or both.

(2) The legislature finds that an organization with a long history of serving youth has secured private foundation funding that can be combined with existing state appropriated funding to establish a blended funding demonstration project to test a new partnership approach for serving youth with either serious emotional disturbances or serious behavioral disturbances or both.

(3) The legislature declares its support for the creative application of statutory authority by the department to implement this blended funding demonstration project.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) The secretary and the superintendent of public instruction shall enter into a joint agreement with an organization with a long history of serving youth that has secured private foundation funding to be combined with existing state appropriated funding to establish a blended funding demonstration project to test a new partnership approach for serving youth with either serious emotional disturbances or serious behavioral disturbances or both. The secretary of the department shall have primary responsibility for negotiating and executing the joint agreement.

(2) The secretary and the superintendent of public instruction shall transfer to the organization described in this section appropriations made in the biennial operating budget. These funds represent a reallocation of existing resources used to serve youth with either serious emotional disturbances or serious behavioral disturbances or both. The secretary shall transfer the funds described in this section notwithstanding RCW 71.24.035(15)(c).

(3) If any federal restrictions exist that create barriers to the transfer of funds appropriated to the department or the superintendent of public instruction, or if other federal requirements exist that hamper the implementation of the blended funding demonstration project described in this section, the secretary and the superintendent of public instruction shall assist the governor in immediately applying to the federal government for waivers of the federal restrictions or requirements.

(4) The secretary and the superintendent of public instruction shall exercise existing statutory authority to the extent necessary to facilitate the immediate and complete implementation of this blended funding demonstration project.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The blended funding demonstration project to test a new partnership approach for serving youth with either serious emotional disturbances or serious behavioral disturbances or both shall:

(1) Serve at least twenty-seven youth in the least restrictive setting at a lower cost than traditional approaches;

(2) Provide a comprehensive assessment, family advocacy, care monitoring, and evaluation;

(3) Provide individual and family therapy, therapeutic child care, crisis intervention, residential care, and access to other services through community-based partner agencies;

(4) Create and maintain a data tracking system; and

(5) Evaluate the individual outcomes of the youth served by reviewing academic performance, placements in psychiatric hospitalization or residential care, involvement with the juvenile justice system, out-of-home placement, and quality and amount of community involvement. The evaluation shall compare the results of children receiving the services described above with the results of a similar cohort of children receiving traditional services in a residential setting.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. Sections 1 through 3 of this act constitute a new chapter in Title 74 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect July 1, 2001.