BILL REQ. #:  S-0845.1 

Read first time 01/31/13.   Referred to Committee on Health Care .

     AN ACT Relating to facility-based vocational services; amending RCW 9.94A.725, 36.110.050, 39.23.005, 39.23.010, 39.23.020, 43.20A.445, 43.99C.020, 49.12.091, and 84.36.350; reenacting and amending RCW 82.04.385; and adding a new section to chapter 71A.10 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 71A.10 RCW to read as follows:
     Facility-based training programs provide opportunities to participate in the world of work to individuals with disabilities, and in doing so individuals with disabilities help produce goods and services that benefit the communities in which they work and live. Without such programs, many individuals would not know the daily satisfaction of going to work. Participants in facility-based vocational services are treated with respect and dignity, and are publicly recognized as productive, contributing members of their communities.
     Therefore, in the development of policies and standards under this title, the department shall consider facility-based vocational services as a viable work preparation option for individuals with disabilities and shall include targeted input from families and residential providers statewide when considering the provision of vocational services.

Sec. 2   RCW 9.94A.725 and 2000 c 28 s 27 are each amended to read as follows:
     Participation in a work crew is conditioned upon the offender's acceptance into the program, abstinence from alcohol and controlled substances as demonstrated by urinalysis and breathalyzer monitoring, with the cost of monitoring to be paid by the offender, unless indigent; and upon compliance with the rules of the program, which rules require the offender to work to the best of his or her abilities and provide the program with accurate, verified residence information. Work crew may be imposed simultaneously with electronic home detention.
     Where work crew is imposed as part of a sentence of nine months or more, the offender must serve a minimum of thirty days of total confinement before being eligible for work crew.
     Work crew tasks shall be performed for a minimum of thirty-five hours per week. Only those offenders sentenced to a facility operated or utilized under contract by a county or the state, or sanctioned under RCW 9.94A.737, are eligible to participate on a work crew. Offenders sentenced for a sex offense are not eligible for the work crew program.
     An offender who has successfully completed four weeks of work crew at thirty-five hours per week shall thereafter receive credit toward the work crew sentence for hours worked at approved, verified employment. Such employment credit may be earned for up to twenty-four hours actual employment per week provided, however, that every such offender shall continue active participation in work crew projects according to a schedule approved by a work crew supervisor until the work crew sentence has been served.
     The hours served as part of a work crew sentence may include substance abuse counseling and/or job skills training.
     The civic improvement tasks performed by offenders on work crew shall be unskilled labor for the benefit of the community as determined by the head of the county executive branch or his or her designee. Civic improvement tasks shall not be done on private property unless it is owned or operated by a nonprofit entity, except that, for emergency purposes only, work crews may perform snow removal on any private property. The civic improvement tasks shall have minimal negative impact on existing private industries or the labor force in the county where the service or labor is performed. The civic improvement tasks shall not affect employment opportunities for people with developmental disabilities contracted through ((sheltered workshops)) facility-based vocational services as defined in RCW 82.04.385. In case any dispute arises as to a civic improvement task having more than minimum negative impact on existing private industries or labor force in the county where their service or labor is performed, the matter shall be referred by an interested party, as defined in RCW 39.12.010(4), for arbitration to the director of the department of labor and industries of the state.
     Whenever an offender receives credit against a work crew sentence for hours of approved, verified employment, the offender shall pay to the agency administering the program the monthly assessment of an amount not less than ten dollars per month nor more than fifty dollars per month. This assessment shall be considered payment of the costs of providing the work crew program to an offender. The court may exempt a person from the payment of all or any part of the assessment based upon any of the following factors:
     (1) The offender has diligently attempted but has been unable to obtain employment that provides the offender sufficient income to make such payment.
     (2) The offender is a student in a school, college, university, or a course of vocational or technical training designed to fit the student for gainful employment.
     (3) The offender has an employment handicap, as determined by an examination acceptable to or ordered by the court.
     (4) The offender is responsible for the support of dependents and the payment of the assessment constitutes an undue hardship.
     (5) Other extenuating circumstances as determined by the court.

Sec. 3   RCW 36.110.050 and 1993 c 285 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
     The board shall require a city or a county that establishes a jail industries program to develop a local advisory group, or to use an existing advisory group of the appropriate composition, to advise and guide jail industries program operations. Such an advisory group shall include an equal number of representatives from labor and business. Representation from ((a sheltered workshop)) facility-based vocational services, as defined in RCW 82.04.385, and a crime victim advocacy group, if existing in the local area, should also be included.
     A local advisory group shall have among its tasks the responsibility of ensuring that a jail industry has minimal negative impact on existing private industries or the labor force in the locale where the industry operates and that a jail industry does not negatively affect employment opportunities for people with develop- mental disabilities contracted through the operation of ((sheltered workshops)) facility-based vocational services as defined in RCW 82.04.385. In the event a conflict arises between the local business community or labor organizations concerning new jail industries programs, products, services, or wages, the city or county must use the arbitration process established pursuant to RCW 36.110.060.

Sec. 4   RCW 39.23.005 and 1975 c 20 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     It is the intent of the legislature to encourage municipalities to purchase products and/or services manufactured or provided by ((sheltered workshops)) facility-based vocational services and programs of the department of social and health services which operate facilities serving ((the handicapped and disadvantaged)) persons with disabilities.

Sec. 5   RCW 39.23.010 and 1975 c 20 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     As used in RCW 39.23.005 and 39.23.020 ((the term "sheltered workshops" shall have)): (1) Facility-based vocational services has the meaning ascribed to it by RCW 82.04.385 ((and)); (2) "programs of the department of social and health services" ((shall)) means the group training homes and day training centers defined in RCW ((72.33.800)) 71A.22.020; and (3) "municipality" ((shall have)) has the meaning ascribed to it by RCW 39.04.010.

Sec. 6   RCW 39.23.020 and 1977 ex.s. c 10 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     Municipalities are hereby authorized to purchase products and/or services manufactured or provided by ((sheltered workshops)) facility-based vocational services and programs of the department of social and health services. Such purchases shall be at the fair market price of such products and services as determined by a municipality. To determine the fair market price a municipality shall use the last comparable bid on the products and/or services or in the alternative the last price paid for the products and/or services. The increased cost of labor, materials, and other documented costs since the last comparable bid or the last price paid are additional cost factors which shall be considered in determining fair market price. Upon the establishment of the fair market price as provided for in this section a municipality is hereby empowered to negotiate directly with ((sheltered workshops)) facility-based vocational services or officials in charge of the programs of the department of social and health services for the purchase of the products or services.

Sec. 7   RCW 43.20A.445 and 1983 1st ex.s. c 41 s 20 are each amended to read as follows:
     The department may establish and operate ((workshops)) facility-based vocational services for the training, habilitation, and rehabilitation of residents of institutions of the department. Products, goods, wares, articles, or merchandise manufactured or produced by the ((workshops)) facilities may be sold to governmental agencies or on the open market at fair value. Prior to establishment of new state-operated ((workshops)) facility-based vocational services at institutions, the department shall consider the availability, appropriateness, and relative cost of contracting with and giving first preference to private nonprofit ((sheltered workshops)) facility-based vocational services, as defined in RCW 82.04.385, to provide ((workshop activities)) facility-based vocational services for residents of the institution.
     The secretary shall credit the moneys derived from the sale of items from ((workshops)) facility-based vocational services under this section to a revolving fund under the control of the superintendent of the institution or facility where the items were manufactured. These moneys shall be expended for the purchase of supplies and materials for use in the ((workshop)) facility, to provide pay and training incentives for residents, and for other costs of the operation of the ((workshop)) facility. Payment of residents for work performed on ((workshop)) facility projects shall take into account resident productivity in comparison to the productivity of a nondisabled person earning the minimum wage as well as other factors consistent with goals of rehabilitation and treatment. Institutional work training programs shall be operated in accordance with standards required by the department for private vendors for the same or similar service.
     ((Workshop)) Materials and supplies for facility-based vocational services may be purchased through state purchasing or from private vendors. Each institution or facility shall maintain records to demonstrate that purchases are made at the fair market value or best available price.

Sec. 8   RCW 43.99C.020 and 1979 ex.s. c 221 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     As used in this chapter, the term "facilities for the care, training, and rehabilitation of persons with sensory, physical, or mental handicaps" means real property and any interest therein, equipment, buildings, structures, mobile units, parking facilities, utilities, landscaping, and all incidental improvements and appurtenances thereto, developed and owned by any public body within the state for purposes of the care, training, and rehabilitation of persons with sensory, physical, or mental handicaps when used in the following limited programs as designated by the department of social and health services: Nonprofit group training homes, community centers, close to home living units, ((sheltered workshops)) facility-based vocational services, vocational rehabilitation centers, developmental disability training centers, and community homes for ((the mentally ill)) individuals with mental illness.
     As used in this chapter, the term "public body" means the state of Washington, or any agency, political subdivision, taxing district, or municipal corporation thereof.

Sec. 9   RCW 49.12.091 and 1994 c 164 s 16 are each amended to read as follows:
     After an investigation has been conducted by the department of wages, hours and conditions of labor subject to chapter 16, Laws of 1973 2nd ex. sess., the director shall be furnished with all information relative to such investigation of wages, hours and working conditions, including current statistics on wage rates in all occupations subject to the provisions of chapter 16, Laws of 1973 2nd ex. sess. Within a reasonable time thereafter, if the director finds that in any occupation, trade or industry, subject to chapter 16, Laws of 1973 2nd ex. sess., the wages paid to employees are inadequate to supply the necessary cost of living, but not to exceed the state minimum wage as prescribed in RCW 49.46.020, as now or hereafter amended, or that the conditions of labor are detrimental to the health of employees, the director shall have authority to prescribe rules and regulations for the purpose of adopting minimum wages for occupations not otherwise governed by minimum wage requirements fixed by state or federal statute, or a rule or regulation adopted under such statute, and, at the same time have the authority to prescribe rules and regulations fixing standards, conditions and hours of labor for the protection of the safety, health and welfare of employees for all or specified occupations subject to chapter 16, Laws of 1973 2nd ex. sess. Thereafter, the director shall conduct a public hearing in accordance with the procedures of the administrative procedure act, chapter 34.05 RCW, for the purpose of the adoption of rules and regulations fixing minimum wages and standards, conditions and hours of labor subject to the provisions of chapter 16, Laws of 1973 2nd ex. sess. After such rules become effective, copies thereof shall be supplied to employers who may be affected by such rules and such employers shall post such rules, where possible, in such place or places, reasonably accessible to all employees of such employer. After the effective date of such rules, it shall be unlawful for any employer in any occupation subject to chapter 16, Laws of 1973 2nd ex. sess. to employ any person for less than the rate of wages specified in such rules or under conditions and hours of labor prohibited for any occupation specified in such rules: PROVIDED, That this section shall not apply to ((sheltered workshops)) facility-based vocational services.

Sec. 10   RCW 82.04.385 and 1988 c 176 s 915 and 1988 c 13 s 1 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
     This chapter shall not apply to income received from the department of social and health services for the cost of care, maintenance, support, and training of persons with developmental disabilities at nonprofit group training homes as defined by chapter 71A.22 RCW or to the business activities of nonprofit organizations from the operation of ((sheltered workshops)) facility-based vocational services. For the purposes of this section, "the operation of ((sheltered workshops)) facility-based vocational services" means performance of business activities of any kind on or off the premises of such nonprofit organizations which are performed for the primary purpose of (1) providing gainful employment or rehabilitation services to ((the handicapped)) individuals with disabilities as an interim step in the rehabilitation process for those who cannot be readily absorbed in the competitive labor market or during such time as employment opportunities for them in the competitive labor market do not exist; or (2) providing evaluation and work adjustment services for ((handicapped)) individuals with disabilities.

Sec. 11   RCW 84.36.350 and 1999 c 358 s 17 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The following property shall be exempt from taxation:
     (a) Real or personal property owned and used by a nonprofit corporation in connection with the operation of ((a sheltered workshop)) facility-based vocational services for ((handicapped)) persons with disabilities, and used primarily in connection with the manufacturing and the handling, sale, or distribution of goods constructed, processed, or repaired in such ((workshops or centers)) facilities; and
     (b) Inventory owned by a ((sheltered workshop)) facility providing facility-based vocational services for sale or lease by the ((sheltered workshop)) facility or to be furnished under a contract of service, including raw materials, work in process, and finished products.
     (2) Unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context, "((sheltered workshop)) facility-based vocational services" means a rehabilitation facility, or that part of a rehabilitation facility operated by a nonprofit corporation, where any manufacture or handiwork is carried on and operated for the primary purpose of: (a) Providing gainful employment or rehabilitation services to ((the handicapped)) persons with disabilities as an interim step in the rehabilitation process for those who cannot be readily absorbed in the competitive labor market or during such time as employment opportunities for them in the competitive labor market do not exist; or (b) providing evaluation and work adjustment services for ((handicapped)) individuals with disabilities.