BILL REQ. #:  H-0578.1 

Read first time 01/14/2005.   Referred to Committee on Criminal Justice & Corrections.

     AN ACT Relating to sex offender housing stipends; and amending RCW 72.02.110.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 72.02.110 and 1988 c 143 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) As state, federal or other funds are available, the secretary of corrections or his designee is authorized, in his discretion, not to provide the forty dollars subsistence money or the optional sixty dollars to a person or persons released as described in RCW 72.02.100, and instead to utilize the authorization and procedure contained in this section relative to such person or persons.
     Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, any person designated by the secretary serving a sentence for a term of confinement in a state correctional facility for convicted felons, pursuant to court commitment, who is thereafter released upon an order of parole of the indeterminate ((sentencing)) sentence review board, or is discharged from custody upon expiration of sentence, or is ordered discharged from custody by a court of appropriate jurisdiction, shall receive the sum of fifty-five dollars per week for a period of up to six weeks. The initial weekly payment shall be made to such person upon his release or parole by the superintendent of the institution. Subsequent weekly payments shall be made to such person by the community corrections officer at the office of such officer. In addition to the initial six weekly payments provided for in this section, a community corrections officer and his supervisor may, at their discretion, continue such payments up to a maximum of twenty additional weeks when they are satisfied that such person is actively seeking employment and that such payments are necessary to continue the efforts of such person to gain employment: PROVIDED, That if, at the time of release or parole, in the opinion of the superintendent funds are otherwise available to such person, with the exception of earnings from labor or employment while in confinement, such weekly sums of money or part thereof shall not be provided to such person.
     When a person receiving such payments provided for in this section becomes employed, he may continue to receive payments for two weeks after the date he becomes employed but payments made after he becomes employed shall be discontinued as of the date he is first paid for such employment: PROVIDED, That no person shall receive payments for a period exceeding the twenty-six week maximum as established in this section.
     The secretary of corrections may annually adjust the amount of weekly payment provided for in this section to reflect changes in the cost of living and the purchasing power of the sum set for the previous year.
     (2) Prior to the distribution of any funds used to facilitate housing, including transitional housing funds or stipends, rent assistance payments, and regional transition funds, for a released sex offender classified as a risk level II or III, the secretary of corrections must receive approval from the county or city legislative authority where the offender intends to reside.