BILL REQ. #:  S-1050.1 

Read first time 02/03/2005.   Referred to Committee on Health & Long-Term Care.

     AN ACT Relating to public health improvement; and creating new sections.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that:
     (1) The public health system as defined in RCW 43.70.575 is essential to fulfilling the state's constitutional responsibility to protect the health and safety of its citizens.
     (2) The population-based services provided by the public health system are cost-effective and are critical in improving the value of public investments in all types of health services and in controlling health care costs.
     (3) Our state public health system lacks the capacity to fulfill its critical functions with respect to well understood health threats such as impure air and water, unsanitary living conditions, unsafe food, and inadequate rates of immunization.
     (4) The public health system lacks the capacity to address the emerging health threats of the 21st century including bioterrorism and other emergencies, health disparities, the spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis, HIV, SARS, West Nile virus, and other infectious diseases, and the predictable increases of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other diseases that will result from tobacco and other drug addiction, poor diet, and inadequate exercise.
     (5) According to the provisions of chapter 43.70 RCW the department of health has developed a public health improvement plan, in consultation with local health jurisdictions, the state board of health, and other state agencies, health services providers, and citizens concerned about public health.
     (6) The public health improvement plan includes standards for all elements of the public health system and provides a detailed accounting of both performance and funding deficits in the current system, suggesting ways in which additional funds could be used to improve that system.
     (7) The legislature's most urgent business is the review of this plan and the determination of a legislative plan for public health improvement.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   (1) There is hereby established the joint public health financing committee. Its members shall include the chairs, vice-chairs, and ranking minority members of the house of representatives and senate committees on health and of the principal fiscal committee within each chamber. In addition, one representative of the office of the governor and one representative of each member of the public health improvement partnership shall also serve as nonvoting members. The committee shall appoint an executive committee not to exceed four members from among its voting members and may appoint such subcommittees, advisory groups, or other bodies as it sees fit. Staffing assistance shall be provided by the house of representatives office of program research, senate committee services, and the joint legislative audit and review committee. The legislative auditor shall coordinate legislative staffing. The department of health and the office of the governor shall provide such staffing assistance as may be reasonably required within their existing resources.
     (2) The committee shall:
     (a) Analyze the costs and benefits to state government, to private businesses, and to state residents from fully implementing the standards for public health contained in the 2004 public health improvement plan;
     (b) Recommend strategies and a schedule for improving public health programs throughout the state according to that plan, including the timing of increased funding for public health services linked to not more than a six-year schedule for full implementation of recommended improvements;
     (c) Recommend a source and level of dedicated funding the legislature should provide for public health services. The recommendation shall include methods to ensure that such funding does not supplant existing federal, state, and local funds received by any element of the public health system; and
     (d) Conduct a review of the public health improvement plan as presently authorized in state law and recommend how its needed functions might most efficiently be integrated in the regular functioning of the public health system, and make recommendations about the need to continue requiring a public health improvement plan.
     (3) The committee shall complete an interim report to the governor and the legislature by December 1, 2005, and a final report by December 1, 2006.