BILL REQ. #:  H-4032.2 

Read first time 01/16/2006.   Referred to Committee on Children & Family Services.

     AN ACT Relating to compliance with certification standards for providers of residential services and support to persons with developmental disabilities; adding a new section to chapter 71A.12 RCW; creating a new section; and prescribing penalties.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that residential services and support programs for adults with developmental disabilities include a wide range of care that plays an integral role in assisting these adults in leading safe, productive, and enriched lives. The legislature also finds that most providers of residential services and support to persons with developmental disabilities deliver beneficial assistance while promoting the health, safety, and well-being of the clients they serve. The legislature further finds, however, that due to their developmental disabilities these adults may be particularly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation when service providers fail to comply with certification standards set by the state. The potential for abuse and exploitation may be significantly greater when adults with developmental disabilities are receiving community protection services. The legislature intends to provide the department of social and health services with additional means to enforce the certification standards for residential services and support programs for adults with developmental disabilities.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 71A.12 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The department is authorized to take one or more of the enforcement actions listed in subsection (2) of this section when the department finds that a provider of residential services and support with whom the department entered into an agreement with under this chapter has:
     (a) Failed or refused to comply with the requirements of this chapter or the rules adopted under it;
     (b) Failed or refused to cooperate with the certification process;
     (c) Interfered with or prevented an inspection or investigation by the department;
     (d) Failed to comply with any applicable requirements regarding vulnerable adults under chapter 74.34 RCW; or
     (e) Knowingly, or with reason to know, made a false statement of material fact related to certification or contracting with the department, or in any matter under investigation by the department.
     (2) The department may:
     (a) Decertify or refuse to renew the certification of a provider;
     (b) Impose conditions on a provider's certification status;
     (c) Impose civil penalties of not more than five hundred dollars per day per violation. Each day during which the same or similar action or inaction occurs constitutes a separate violation;
     (d) Suspend department referrals to the provider; or
     (e) Require a provider to implement a plan of correction developed by the department and to cooperate with subsequent monitoring of the provider's progress.
     (3) When determining the appropriate enforcement action or actions under subsection (2) of this section, the department must select actions commensurate with the seriousness of the harm or threat of harm to the persons being served by the provider. Further, the department may take enforcement actions that are more severe for violations that are uncorrected, repeated, pervasive, or which present a serious threat of harm to the health, safety, or welfare of persons served by the provider. The department shall by rule develop criteria for the selection and implementation of enforcement actions authorized in subsection (2) of this section.
     (4) The provisions of chapter 34.05 RCW apply to enforcement actions under this section. Except for the imposition of civil penalties, the effective date of enforcement actions shall not be delayed or suspended pending any hearing or informal review.
     (5) The enforcement actions and penalties authorized in this section are not exclusive or exhaustive and nothing in this section prohibits the department from taking any other action authorized in statute or rule or under the terms of a contract with the provider.