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ENGROSSED SENATE BILL 5971
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State of Washington58th Legislature2003 Regular Session

By Senators Fairley, Zarelli, Poulsen, Rossi, Hargrove, Deccio, Rasmussen and Winsley

Read first time 02/26/2003.   Referred to Committee on Ways & Means.



     AN ACT Relating to residential habilitation centers; amending RCW 28A.190.020, 28C.04.390, 50.62.020, 50.62.030, 50.04.075, 71A.20.020, 71A.20.050, 71A.20.080, and 72.05.010; reenacting and amending RCW 43.84.092; adding a new section to chapter 43.79 RCW; creating a new section; and repealing RCW 71A.20.030.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) The legislature finds that throughout the entire history of the state of Washington, the staff and volunteers at residential habilitation centers and their predecessor institutions have provided compassionate care to persons with developmental disabilities. This dedication and care has continued even while changing social attitudes and family preferences have shifted the demand for services from state institutions to community living. Today, most individuals with developmental disabilities and their families expect to live, learn, and work within their communities. The Americans with disabilities act of 1990 bolstered those expectations. Because of these changing expectations, the number of persons served in residential habilitation centers continues to decline. This decline results in increased costs to serve the remaining residents due to significant fixed costs at the institutions. The result is fewer resources available to support individuals with developmental disabilities and their families in the community.
     (2) The legislature intends to honor the legacy of compassionate care at residential habilitation centers, by ensuring that state funding and the value of state assets previously devoted to institutional care is retained for services for individuals with developmental disabilities living in the community. In order to improve the cost-efficiency of care at residential habilitation centers and begin to shift resources to expand community services, Fircrest School shall be closed during the 2003-2005 biennium. The secretary of social and health services shall develop and implement a transition plan that ensures that residents of Fircrest School shall be offered the choice of services at another residential habilitation center, community services, or, if appropriate, services in a skilled nursing facility. The proceeds from the eventual disposal of Fircrest property shall be deposited in the Fircrest legacy trust account established in section 2 of this act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 43.79 RCW to read as follows:
     The Fircrest legacy trust account is created in the state treasury. All proceeds from the disposal of surplus property at Fircrest School must be deposited into the account. "Proceeds" include the net receipts from the sale of all or a portion of the property or the lease payments for all or a portion of the property. Moneys in the account may be spent only after appropriation. Expenditures from the account may be used only for services to individuals with developmental disabilities and their families.

Sec. 3   RCW 28A.190.020 and 1990 c 33 s 171 are each amended to read as follows:
     The term "residential school" as used in RCW 28A.190.020 through 28A.190.060, 72.01.200, 72.05.010 and 72.05.130, each as now or hereafter amended, shall mean Green Hill school, Maple Lane school, Naselle Youth Camp, Cedar Creek Youth Camp, Mission Creek Youth Camp, Echo Glen, Lakeland Village, Rainier school, Yakima Valley school, Interlake school, ((Fircrest school,)) Francis Haddon Morgan Center, the Child Study and Treatment Center and Secondary School of Western State Hospital, and such other schools, camps, and centers as are now or hereafter established by the department of social and health services for the diagnosis, confinement and rehabilitation of juveniles committed by the courts or for the care and treatment of persons who are exceptional in their needs by reason of mental and/or physical deficiency: PROVIDED, That the term shall not include the state schools for the deaf and blind or adult correctional institutions.

Sec. 4   RCW 28C.04.390 and 1999 c 121 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The college board worker retraining program funds shall be used for training programs and related support services, including financial aid, counseling, referral to training resources, job referral, and job development that:
     (a) Are consistent with the unified plan for work force development;
     (b) Provide increased enrollments for dislocated workers and Fircrest employees who lost their jobs with the closure of Fircrest School;
     (c) Provide customized training opportunities for dislocated workers and Fircrest employees who lost their jobs with the closure of Fircrest School; and
     (d) Provide increased enrollments and support services, including financial aid for those students not receiving unemployment insurance benefits, that do not replace or supplant any existing enrollments, programs, support services, or funding sources.
     (2) The college board shall develop a plan for use of the worker retraining program funds in conjunction with the work force training customer advisory committee established in subsection (3) of this section. In developing the plan the college board shall:
     (a) Provide that applicants for worker retraining program funds shall solicit financial support for training programs and give priority in receipt of funds to those applicants which are most successful in matching public dollars with financial support;
     (b) Provide that applicants for worker retraining program funds shall develop training programs in partnership with local businesses, industry associations, labor, and other partners as appropriate and give priority in receipt of funds to those applicants who develop customized training programs in partnership with local businesses, industry associations, and labor organizations;
     (c) Give priority in receipt of funds to those applicants serving rural areas;
     (d) Ensure that applicants receiving worker retraining program funds gather information from local work force development councils on employer work force needs, including the needs of businesses with less than twenty-five employees; and
     (e) Provide for specialized vocational training at a private career school or college at the request of a recipient eligible under subsection (1)(b) of this section. Available tuition for the training is limited to the amount that would otherwise be payable per enrolled quarter to a public institution.
     (3) The executive director of the college board shall appoint a work force training customer advisory committee by July 1, 1999, to:
     (a) Assist in the development of the plan for the use of the college board worker retraining program funds and recommend guidelines to the college board for the operation of worker retraining programs;
     (b) Recommend selection criteria for worker retraining programs and grant applicants for receipt of worker retraining program grants;
     (c) Provide advice to the college board on other work force development activities of the community and technical colleges;
     (d) Recommend selection criteria for job skills grants, consistent with criteria established in this chapter and chapter 121, Laws of 1999. Such criteria shall include a prioritization of job skills applicants in rural areas;
     (e) Recommend guidelines to the college board for the operation of the job skills program; and
     (f) Recommend grant applicants for receipt of job skills program grants.
     (4) Members of the work force training customer advisory committee shall consist of three college system representatives selected by the executive director of the college board, three representatives of business selected from nominations provided by statewide business organizations, and three representatives of labor selected from nominations provided by a statewide labor organization representing a cross-section of workers in the state.

Sec. 5   RCW 50.62.020 and 1987 c 284 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.
     (1) "Job service" means the employment assistance program of the employment security department;
     (2) "Employment assistance" means services to unemployed persons focused on and measured by the obtaining of employment;
     (3) "Labor exchange" means those activities which match labor supply and labor demand, including recruitment, screening, and referral of qualified workers to employers;
     (4) "Special account of the administrative contingency fund" means that fund under RCW 50.24.014 established within the administrative contingency fund of the employment security department which provides revenue for the purposes of this chapter.
     (5) "Continuous wage and benefit history" means an information and research system utilizing a longitudinal data base containing information on both employment and unemployment.
     (6) "Long-term unemployed" means demographic groups of unemployment insurance claimants identified by the employment security department pursuant to RCW 50.62.040(1)(e) which have the highest percentages of persons who have drawn at least fifteen weeks of unemployment insurance benefits or have the highest percentage of persons who have exhausted their unemployment insurance benefits.
     (7) "Older unemployed workers" means unemployment insurance claimants who are at least fifty years of age.
     (8) "Unemployed Fircrest workers" are those persons employed at the Fircrest School whose jobs were eliminated by the closure of Fircrest School.

Sec. 6   RCW 50.62.030 and 1995 c 135 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
     Job service resources shall be used to assist with the reemployment of unemployed workers using the most efficient and effective means of service delivery. The job service program of the employment security department may undertake any program or activity for which funds are available and which furthers the goals of this chapter. These programs and activities shall include, but are not limited to:
     (1) Giving unemployed Fircrest workers, older unemployed workers, and the long-term unemployed the highest priority for all services made available under this section. The employment security department shall make the services provided under this chapter available to the unemployed Fircrest workers, older unemployed workers, and the long-term unemployed as soon as they register under the employment assistance program;
     (2) Supplementing basic employment services, with special job search and claimant placement assistance designed to assist unemployment insurance claimants to obtain employment;
     (3) Providing employment services, such as recruitment, screening, and referral of qualified workers, to agricultural areas where these services have in the past contributed to positive economic conditions for the agricultural industry; and
     (4) Providing otherwise unobtainable information and analysis to the legislature and program managers about issues related to employment and unemployment.

Sec. 7   RCW 50.04.075 and 1984 c 181 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     "Dislocated worker" means any individual who:
     (1) Has been terminated or received a notice of termination from employment;
     (2) Is eligible for or has exhausted entitlement to unemployment compensation benefits; and
     (3) Is unlikely to return to employment in the individual's principal occupation or previous industry because of a diminishing demand for their skills in that occupation or industry or is an employee at Fircrest School whose job was terminated by the closure of Fircrest School.

Sec. 8   RCW 71A.20.020 and 1994 c 215 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     The following residential habilitation centers are permanently established to provide services to persons with developmental disabilities: Lakeland Village, located at Medical Lake, Spokane county; Rainier School, located at Buckley, Pierce county; Yakima Valley School, located at Selah, Yakima county; ((Fircrest School, located at Seattle, King county;)) and Frances Haddon Morgan ((Children's)) Center, located at Bremerton, Kitsap county.

Sec. 9   RCW 71A.20.050 and 1990 c 33 s 589 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The secretary shall appoint a superintendent for each residential habilitation center. The superintendent of a residential habilitation center shall have a demonstrated history of knowledge, understanding, and compassion for the needs, treatment, and training of persons with developmental disabilities.
     (2) The secretary shall have custody of all residents of the residential habilitation centers and control of the medical, educational, therapeutic, and dietetic treatment of all residents, except that the school district that conducts the program of education provided pursuant to RCW 28A.190.030 through 28A.190.050 shall have control of and joint custody of residents while they are participating in the program. The secretary shall cause surgery to be performed on any resident only upon gaining the consent of a parent, guardian, or limited guardian as authorized, except, if after reasonable effort to locate the parents, guardian, or limited guardian as authorized, and the health of the resident is certified by the attending physician to be jeopardized unless such surgery is performed, the required consent shall not be necessary.
     (3) In the event that a resident must be transferred from one residential habilitation center to another due to a reduction in capacity or closure of the facility, the secretary shall consult with the resident's family or guardian in the manner provided in RCW 71A.10.070. Consultation shall include assurance that residents transferring from one residential habilitation center to another be provided comparable or better services and care at their new residential habilitation center. When more than one resident must be transferred, the secretary shall consider the proximity and level of family involvement when prioritizing transfers to the closest appropriate residential habilitation center with available capacity. A transfer under this section may not be delayed by proceedings under RCW 71A.20.080.

Sec. 10   RCW 71A.20.080 and 1989 c 175 s 143 are each amended to read as follows:
     Whenever in the judgment of the secretary, the treatment and training of any resident of a residential habilitation center has progressed to the point that it is deemed advisable to return such resident to the community, the secretary may grant placement on such terms and conditions as the secretary may deem advisable after consultation in the manner provided in RCW 71A.10.070. The secretary shall give written notice of the decision to return a resident to the community as provided in RCW 71A.10.060. The notice must include a statement advising the recipient of the right to an adjudicative proceeding under RCW 71A.10.050 and the time limits for filing an application for an adjudicative proceeding. The notice must also include a statement advising the recipient of the right to judicial review of an adverse adjudicative order as provided in chapter 34.05 RCW.
     Except under RCW 71A.20.050(3), a placement decision shall not be implemented at any level during any period during which an appeal can be taken or while an appeal is pending and undecided, unless authorized by court order so long as the appeal is being diligently pursued.
     The department of social and health services shall periodically evaluate at reasonable intervals the adjustment of the resident to the specific placement to determine whether the resident should be continued in the placement or returned to the institution or given a different placement.

Sec. 11   RCW 72.05.010 and 1985 c 378 s 9 are each amended to read as follows:
     The purposes of RCW 72.05.010 through 72.05.210 are: To provide for every child with behavior problems, mentally and physically handicapped persons, and hearing and visually impaired children, within the purview of RCW 72.05.010 through 72.05.210, ((as now or hereafter amended,)) such care, guidance and instruction, control and treatment as will best serve the welfare of the child or person and society; to insure nonpolitical and qualified operation, supervision, management, and control of the Green Hill school, the Maple Lane school, the Naselle Youth Camp, the Mission Creek Youth Camp, Echo Glen, the Cascadia Diagnostic Center, Lakeland Village, Rainier school, the Yakima Valley school, Interlake school, ((Fircrest school,)) the Francis Haddon Morgan Center, the Child Study and Treatment Center and Secondary School of Western State Hospital, and like residential state schools, camps and centers hereafter established, and to place them under the department of social and health services except where specified otherwise; and to provide for the persons committed or admitted to those schools that type of care, instruction, and treatment most likely to accomplish their rehabilitation and restoration to normal citizenship.

Sec. 12   RCW 43.84.092 and 2002 c 242 s 2, 2002 c 114 s 24, and 2002 c 56 s 402 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
     (1) All earnings of investments of surplus balances in the state treasury shall be deposited to the treasury income account, which account is hereby established in the state treasury.
     (2) The treasury income account shall be utilized to pay or receive funds associated with federal programs as required by the federal cash management improvement act of 1990. The treasury income account is subject in all respects to chapter 43.88 RCW, but no appropriation is required for refunds or allocations of interest earnings required by the cash management improvement act. Refunds of interest to the federal treasury required under the cash management improvement act fall under RCW 43.88.180 and shall not require appropriation. The office of financial management shall determine the amounts due to or from the federal government pursuant to the cash management improvement act. The office of financial management may direct transfers of funds between accounts as deemed necessary to implement the provisions of the cash management improvement act, and this subsection. Refunds or allocations shall occur prior to the distributions of earnings set forth in subsection (4) of this section.
     (3) Except for the provisions of RCW 43.84.160, the treasury income account may be utilized for the payment of purchased banking services on behalf of treasury funds including, but not limited to, depository, safekeeping, and disbursement functions for the state treasury and affected state agencies. The treasury income account is subject in all respects to chapter 43.88 RCW, but no appropriation is required for payments to financial institutions. Payments shall occur prior to distribution of earnings set forth in subsection (4) of this section.
     (4) Monthly, the state treasurer shall distribute the earnings credited to the treasury income account. The state treasurer shall credit the general fund with all the earnings credited to the treasury income account except:
     (a) The following accounts and funds shall receive their proportionate share of earnings based upon each account's and fund's average daily balance for the period: The capitol building construction account, the Cedar River channel construction and operation account, the Central Washington University capital projects account, the charitable, educational, penal and reformatory institutions account, the common school construction fund, the county criminal justice assistance account, the county sales and use tax equalization account, the data processing building construction account, the deferred compensation administrative account, the deferred compensation principal account, the department of retirement systems expense account, the drinking water assistance account, the drinking water assistance administrative account, the drinking water assistance repayment account, the Eastern Washington University capital projects account, the education construction fund, the emergency reserve fund, the federal forest revolving account, the Fircrest legacy trust account, the health services account, the public health services account, the health system capacity account, the personal health services account, the state higher education construction account, the higher education construction account, the highway infrastructure account, the industrial insurance premium refund account, the judges' retirement account, the judicial retirement administrative account, the judicial retirement principal account, the local leasehold excise tax account, the local real estate excise tax account, the local sales and use tax account, the medical aid account, the mobile home park relocation fund, the multimodal transportation account, the municipal criminal justice assistance account, the municipal sales and use tax equalization account, the natural resources deposit account, the oyster reserve land account, the perpetual surveillance and maintenance account, the public employees' retirement system plan 1 account, the public employees' retirement system combined plan 2 and plan 3 account, the public facilities construction loan revolving account beginning July 1, 2004, the public health supplemental account, the Puyallup tribal settlement account, the regional transportation investment district account, the resource management cost account, the site closure account, the special wildlife account, the state employees' insurance account, the state employees' insurance reserve account, the state investment board expense account, the state investment board commingled trust fund accounts, the supplemental pension account, the Tacoma Narrows toll bridge account, the teachers' retirement system plan 1 account, the teachers' retirement system combined plan 2 and plan 3 account, the tobacco prevention and control account, the tobacco settlement account, the transportation infrastructure account, the tuition recovery trust fund, the University of Washington bond retirement fund, the University of Washington building account, the volunteer fire fighters' and reserve officers' relief and pension principal fund, the volunteer fire fighters' and reserve officers' administrative fund, the Washington fruit express account, the Washington judicial retirement system account, the Washington law enforcement officers' and fire fighters' system plan 1 retirement account, the Washington law enforcement officers' and fire fighters' system plan 2 retirement account, the Washington school employees' retirement system combined plan 2 and 3 account, the Washington state health insurance pool account, the Washington state patrol retirement account, the Washington State University building account, the Washington State University bond retirement fund, the water pollution control revolving fund, and the Western Washington University capital projects account. Earnings derived from investing balances of the agricultural permanent fund, the normal school permanent fund, the permanent common school fund, the scientific permanent fund, and the state university permanent fund shall be allocated to their respective beneficiary accounts. All earnings to be distributed under this subsection (4)(a) shall first be reduced by the allocation to the state treasurer's service fund pursuant to RCW 43.08.190.
     (b) The following accounts and funds shall receive eighty percent of their proportionate share of earnings based upon each account's or fund's average daily balance for the period: The aeronautics account, the aircraft search and rescue account, the county arterial preservation account, the department of licensing services account, the essential rail assistance account, the ferry bond retirement fund, the grade crossing protective fund, the high capacity transportation account, the highway bond retirement fund, the highway safety account, the motor vehicle fund, the motorcycle safety education account, the pilotage account, the public transportation systems account, the Puget Sound capital construction account, the Puget Sound ferry operations account, the recreational vehicle account, the rural arterial trust account, the safety and education account, the special category C account, the state patrol highway account, the transportation equipment fund, the transportation fund, the transportation improvement account, the transportation improvement board bond retirement account, and the urban arterial trust account.
     (5) In conformance with Article II, section 37 of the state Constitution, no treasury accounts or funds shall be allocated earnings without the specific affirmative directive of this section.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 13   RCW 71A.20.030 (Facilities for Interlake School) and 1988 c 176 s 703 are each repealed.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 14   If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

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