S-0487.1

SENATE BILL 5077


State of Washington	65th Legislature	2017 Regular Session

By Senators Angel, Darneille, Padden, Wilson, Rolfes, Keiser, Mullet, Wellman, Conway, and Saldaña

Read first time 01/12/17. Referred to Committee on Law & Justice.

AN ACT Relating to allowing the department of corrections to provide temporary housing assistance to individuals being released from the Washington corrections center for women; amending RCW 72.02.100; creating a new section; and providing an expiration date.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 72.02.100 and 2012 c 117 s 455 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Any person 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 sentence review board, or who is discharged from custody upon expiration of sentence, or who is ordered discharged from custody by a court of appropriate jurisdiction, shall be entitled to retain his or her earnings from labor or employment while in confinement and shall be supplied by the superintendent of the state correctional facility with suitable and presentable clothing, the sum of forty dollars for subsistence, and transportation by the least expensive method of public transportation not to exceed the cost of one hundred dollars to his or her place of residence or the place designated in his or her parole plan, or to the place from which committed if such person is being discharged on expiration of sentence, or discharged from custody by a court of appropriate jurisdiction: PROVIDED, That up to sixty additional dollars may be made available to the parolee for necessary personal and living expenses upon application to and approval by such person's community corrections officer. If in the opinion of the superintendent suitable arrangements have been made to provide the person to be released with suitable clothing and/or the expenses of transportation, the superintendent may consent to such arrangement. If the superintendent has reasonable cause to believe that the person to be released has ample funds, with the exception of earnings from labor or employment while in confinement, to assume the expenses of clothing, transportation, or the expenses for which payments made pursuant to ((RCW 72.02.100)) this section or RCW 72.02.110 or any one or more of such expenses, the person released shall be required to assume such expenses.

(2) Within existing resources, the department of corrections may provide temporary housing assistance for a person being released from the Washington corrections center for women through the use of rental vouchers, for a period not to exceed three months, if such assistance will support the person's release into the community. The department's authority to provide vouchers under this section is independent of its authority under RCW 9.94A.729.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) By November 1, 2020, and in compliance with RCW 43.01.036, the department of corrections must submit a report to the legislature detailing, to the extent possible:

(a) The number of individuals provided with housing assistance pursuant to RCW 72.02.100(2);

(b) The ability of the individual to maintain housing at the conclusion of the rental voucher period; and

(2) This section expires December 31, 2020.