Title: An act relating to the elimination of reports to the legislature required of the department of social and health services.

Brief Description: Eliminating certain department of social and health services' reporting requirements.

Sponsors: Representatives Orcutt, Kagi, Pettigrew and Boldt; by request of Department of Social and Health Services.

Brief Summary of Bill

• Eliminates certain Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) reporting requirements.

Majority Report: Do pass. Signed by 9 members: Representatives Kagi, Chair; Darneille, Vice Chair; Boldt, Ranking Minority Member; Roach, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Bailey, Dickerson, Miloscia, Pettigrew and Shabro.

The DSHS is required to provide 34 reports on a quarterly, semi-annual, or annual basis, in addition to other one-time reporting requirements. Those reports include the following:

• Annual report to the Legislature on the amount of debt due the DSHS and the amount of debt that the DSHS has written off as no longer cost-effective to pursue;

• Quarterly report to the appropriate local government entities and annual report to the Legislature concerning the implementation of the Family Reconciliation Act and the Juvenile Court Act in Cases Relating to Dependency of a Child and the Termination of a Parent and Child Relationship;

• Annual report to the Legislature regarding any transfers of funds appropriated for foster care services to purchase preservation services or other preventive services for children at imminent risk of out-of-home placement or who face a substantial likelihood of out-of-home placement;

• Annual report to the Legislature on the effectiveness of the risk assessment process, which the DSHS must use when investigating alleged child abuse and neglect referrals;

• Annual report to the Governor and the Legislature on the number of women reported to the DSHS as the parent of a drug-affected or alcohol-affected infant and the provision of pharmaceutical birth control and tubal ligation services to those women;

• Annual report to the Legislature on the economic, gender, geographic, or racial disproportionality in the rates of arrest, detention, trial, treatment, and disposition in the state's juvenile justice system, and the causes of that disproportionality; and

• Annual report to the Legislature on its efforts to reduce violence in state hospitals.

• Annually report to the Legislature on the amount of debt due the DSHS and the amount of debt that the DSHS has written off as no longer cost-effective to pursue;

• Quarterly report to the appropriate local government entities concerning the implementation of the Family Reconciliation Act and the Juvenile Court Act in Cases Relating to Dependency of a Child and the Termination of a Parent and Child Relationship;

• Annually report to the Legislature on the effectiveness of the risk assessment process, which the DSHS must use when investigating alleged child abuse and neglect referrals;

• Annually report to the Governor and the Legislature on the number of women reported to the DSHS as the parent of a drug-affected or alcohol-affected infant and the provision of pharmaceutical birth control and tubal ligation services to those women;

• Annually report to the Legislature on the economic, gender, geographic, or racial disproportionality in the rates of arrest, detention, trial, treatment, and disposition in the state's juvenile justice system, and the causes of that disproportionality; and

• Annually report to the Legislature on its efforts to reduce violence in state hospitals.

The DSHS is required to provide an annual report to the Legislature concerning the implementation of the Family Reconciliation Act and the Juvenile Court Act in Cases Relating to Dependency of a Child and the Termination of a Parent and Child Relationship in only those years in which it has declined to accept custody of a child from a law enforcement agency or it has received a report of a child being released without placement.

The DSHS is required to provide an annual report to the Legislature regarding any transfers of funds appropriated for foster care services to purchase preservation services or other preventive services for children at imminent risk of out-of-home placement or who face a substantial likelihood of out-of-home placement, only if transfers occur.

Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For: This elimination of reports is based upon a review of current reporting requirements by the DSHS, and includes cleanup of the statutes, the elimination of certain duplicative reports, and the condition that certain reports are required only when necessary. This elimination will start to reduce the paperwork of the DSHS. The DSHS produced 67 reports in the last fiscal year, many of which are offered online.

Testified: Representative Orcutt, prime sponsor; and Sherry McNamara, Department of Social and Health Services.