FINAL BILL REPORT

HB 2435

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

C 220 L 18

Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description: Reducing training requirements for certain respite care providers who provide respite to unpaid caregivers and work three hundred hours or less in any calendar year.

Sponsors: Representatives Kilduff, Schmick, Cody, Muri, Kagi, Tharinger, Pollet and Tarleton.

House Committee on Health Care & Wellness

Senate Committee on Health & Long Term Care

Background:

Long-term care workers provide paid, personal care assistance to individuals with developmental disabilities or other long-term care needs. The term includes individual providers of home care services. It excludes people who are not paid by the state or any private agency or facility licensed by the state to provide personal care services.

The minimum training requirement for long-term care workers is 75 hours of entry-level training approved by the Department of Social and Health Services (Department). Several categories of individual providers are subject to different training requirements. For example:

Only training curricula approved by the Department may be used to fulfill these requirements. The Department may only approve curricula that have been developed with input from consumer and worker representatives and that require comprehensive instruction by qualified instructors.

For individual providers represented by an exclusive bargaining representative, all required training must be provided by a training partnership designated by the exclusive bargaining representative. The training partnership must provide reports to verify that individual providers have complied with all training requirements.

Summary:

Rather than completing 35 hours of training, a person working as an individual provider must complete 14 hours of training within 120 days of becoming an individual provider if he or she:

To become eligible to provide care, the individual provider must complete 5 training hours, including 3 hours of safety training and 2 hours of orientation training regarding the caregiving role and terms of employment. The training partnership must offer at least 12 of the 14 training hours online, and 5 of the online training hours must be individually selected from elective courses.

Votes on Final Passage:

House

98

0

Senate

49

0

(Senate amended)

House

96

0

(House concurred)

Effective:

June 7, 2018