AN ACT Relating to unemployment; amending RCW 50.62.020 and 50.20.043; reenacting and amending RCW 50.62.010, 50.62.030, and 42.17.310; adding a new chapter to Title 50 RCW; and creating new sections.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that:

(1) Structural changes in the state's economy have resulted in the permanent loss of forty-four to fifty-five thousand jobs per year as a result of plant closures, business failures, and layoffs between 1979 to 1985.

(2) These permanent job losses and major changes in the state's industries and occupations has led to a large increase in the number of unemployment compensation claimants who exhaust their benefits without finding a job. In 1979 less than 27,000 claimants exhausted their benefits without finding work. By 1986 the number of unemployment compensation exhaustees rose to more than 51,000.

(3) High levels of permanent job losses and unemployed workers exhausting their unemployment benefits have resulted in large increases in social costs such as unemployment compensation, public assistance, health programs, and lost taxes normally paid by workers and businesses. Local communities also suffer from increased social costs resulting from rising demands for services by long-term unemployed workers and their families.

(4) A significant percentage of the increase in the public assistance caseloads results from unemployed workers who exhaust their unemployment benefits without finding employment.

(5) Rising long-term unemployment increases the number of families with social, medical, emotional, and financial problems which require outside assistance and intervention.

(6) Many communities in the state have inadequate and poorly coordinated resources and programs to assist the unemployed in coping with their problems that are associated with unemployment.

(7) The lack of coordinated and effective services for the unemployed seriously hampers their ability to conduct an effective work search and may have the effect of prolonging their unemployment and increasing the possibility of exhausting their unemployment benefits and entering the public assistance caseloads.

(8) Businesses also suffer from rising levels of long-term unemployment as many of their customers are forced into bankruptcy and mortgage foreclosures.

Sec. 2. Section 1, chapter 5, Laws of 1985 ex. sess. as amended by section 1, chapter 171, Laws of 1987 and by section 1, chapter 284, Laws of 1987 and RCW 50.62.010 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:

The legislature finds and declares that:

(1) The number of persons unemployed in the state is significantly above the national average.

(2) Persons who are unemployed represent a skilled resource to the economy and the quality of life for all persons in the state.

(3) There are jobs available in the state that can be filled by unemployed persons.

(4) A public labor exchange can appreciably expedite the employment of unemployed job seekers and filling employer vacancies thereby contributing to the overall health of the state and national economies.

(5) The Washington state job service of the employment security department has provided a proven service of assisting persons to find employment for the past fifty years.

(6) Expediting the reemployment of unemployment insurance claimants will reduce payment of claims drawn from the state unemployment insurance trust fund.

(7) Increased emphasis on assisting in the reemployment of claimants and monitoring claimants' work search efforts will positively impact employer tax rates resulting from the recently enacted experience rating legislation, chapter 205, Laws of 1984.

(8) Special employment service efforts are necessary to adequately serve agricultural employers who have unique needs in the type of workers, recruitment efforts, and the urgency of obtaining sufficient workers.

(9) Study and research of issues related to employment and unemployment provides economic information vital to the decision-making process.

(10) Older workers and the long-term unemployed experience greater difficulty finding new employment at wages comparable to their prelayoff earnings relative to all unemployment insurance claimants who return to work.

(11) After a layoff, older unemployed workers and the long-term unemployed workers fail to find unemployment insurance-covered employment at a much higher rate than other groups of unemployment insurance claimants.

(12) Many older workers and the long-term unemployed are unable to find new employment at wages comparable to their prelayoff earnings due to a lack of job skills which are currently in demand or poor reading or writing skills.

The legislature finds it necessary and in the public interest to have a program of job service to assist persons drawing unemployment insurance claims to find employment, to assist the long-term unemployed and older unemployed workers who are unable to find employment at wages comparable to their prelayoff wages in obtaining the training and education necessary to find new employment at wages comparable to their prelayoff earnings, to provide employment assistance to the agricultural industry, and to conduct research into issues related to employment and unemployment.

Sec. 3. Section 2, chapter 5, Laws of 1985 ex. sess. as amended by section 2, chapter 284, Laws of 1987 and RCW 50.62.020 are each amended to read as follows:

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.

(1) "Job service" means the employment assistance program of the employment security department;

(2) "Employment assistance" means services to unemployed persons focused on and measured by the obtaining of employment;

(3) "Labor exchange" means those activities which match labor supply and labor demand, including recruitment, screening, and referral of qualified workers to employers;

(4) "Special account of the administrative contingency fund" means that fund under RCW 50.24.014 established within the administrative contingency fund of the employment security department which provides revenue for the purposes of this chapter.

(5) "Continuous wage and benefit history" means an information and research system utilizing a longitudinal data base containing information on both employment and unemployment.

(6) "Long-term unemployed" means demographic groups of unemployment insurance claimants identified by the employment security department pursuant to RCW 50.62.040(1)(e) which have the highest percentages of persons who have drawn at least fifteen weeks of unemployment insurance benefits or have the highest percentage of persons who have exhausted their unemployment insurance benefits.

(7) "Older unemployed workers" means unemployment insurance claimants who are at least fifty years of age.

(8) "Comparable wages" means average weekly wages adjusted for inflation which are at least eighty-five percent of average prelayoff weekly wages.

Sec. 4. Section 3, chapter 5, Laws of 1985 ex. sess. as amended by section 2, chapter 171, Laws of 1987 and by section 3, chapter 284, Laws of 1987 and RCW 50.62.030 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:

Job service resources shall be used to assist with the reemployment of unemployed workers using the most efficient and effective means of service delivery. The job service program of the employment security department may undertake any program or activity for which funds are available and which furthers the goals of this chapter. These programs and activities shall include, but are not limited to:

(1) Giving older unemployed workers and the long-term unemployed the highest priority for all services made available under this section. The employment security department shall make the services provided under this chapter available to the older unemployed workers and the long-term unemployed as soon as they register under the employment assistance program;

(2) Conducting an assessment of the training and remedial education needed by older unemployed workers and the long-term unemployed to obtain employment at wages comparable to their pre-layoff weekly earnings;

(3) Referring older unemployed workers and the long-term unemployed who are unable to find employment at wages comparable to their prelayoff weekly earnings to appropriate educational and training institutions for programs which will improve their employability;

(4) Informing, verbally and in writing, the older unemployed workers and the long-term unemployed of their right to attend commissioner approved training pursuant to RCW 50.20.043;

(5) Supplementing basic employment services, with special job search and claimant placement assistance designed to assist unemployment insurance claimants to obtain employment;

((~~(3)~~)) (6) Providing employment services, such as recruitment, screening, and referral of qualified workers, to agricultural areas where these services have in the past contributed to positive economic conditions for the agricultural industry;

((~~(4)~~)) (7) Providing otherwise unobtainable information and analysis to the legislature and program managers about issues related to employment and unemployment; and

(8) To research and consider the degree to which the employment security department can contract with private employment agencies, private for-profit and not-for-profit organizations in the fields of job placement, vocational counseling, career development, career change and employment preparation on a fee for service-performance basis.

Sec. 5. Section 12, chapter 3, Laws of 1971 as last amended by section 1, chapter 40, Laws of 1985 and RCW 50.20.043 are each amended to read as follows:

No otherwise eligible individual shall be denied benefits for any week because the individual is in training with the approval of the commissioner, nor shall such individual be denied benefits with respect to any week in which the individual is satisfactorily progressing in a training program with the approval of the commissioner by reason of the application of RCW 50.20.010(3), 50.20.015, 50.20.080, or 50.22.020(1) relating to availability for work and active search for work, or failure to apply for or refusal to accept suitable work.

An individual who the commissioner determines to be a dislocated worker as defined by RCW 50.04.075, or who the commissioner determines to be within the category of the long-term unemployed or to be an older unemployed worker as defined by RCW 50.62.020, and who is satisfactorily progressing in a training program approved by the commissioner shall be considered to be in training with the approval of the commissioner.

For all individuals within the categories specified in RCW 50.62.020(6) or (7), at the time the individual files an application for an initial determination, the department shall provide information concerning the individual's right to receive benefits while satisfactorily progressing in training approved by the commissioner.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. The department shall provide notice of the right to receive benefits while satisfactorily progressing in training approved by the commissioner to all individuals within the categories specified in RCW 50.62.020(6) or (7) who, as of the effective date of this section, have filed applications for an initial determination or who are receiving benefits.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. It is the intent of the legislature to assist in the creation of local reemployment support centers which would increase the capacity of local communities to aid their unemployed. The centers are intended to supplement but not supplant the efforts of the local job service centers of the employment security department. The legislature intends that the local reemployment support centers established by this chapter shall give first priority to those unemployed persons most likely to exhaust their unemployment compensation benefits or to become long-term unemployed.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. (1) The department of community development shall issue requests for proposals to nonprofit agencies or to local government agencies to serve as the local reemployment centers under this chapter. The requests for proposals shall authorize the selected agencies to receive funds pursuant to this chapter for a two-year period.

(2) The requests for proposals shall be issued for these five areas in the state:

(a) Eastern Washington, which for the purposes of this chapter shall include Spokane, Pend Oreille, Stevens, Ferry, Lincoln, Whitman, Garfield, Asotin, Columbia, and Adams counties;

(b) Central Washington, which for the purposes of this chapter shall include Klickitat, Grant, Douglas, Okanogan, Chelan, Kittitas, and Yakima counties;

(c) Southwest Washington and Peninsula, which for the purposes of this chapter shall include Skamania, Clark, Cowlitz, Wahkiakum, Lewis, Clallam, and Jefferson counties;

(d) South Puget Sound, which for the purposes of this chapter shall include Pierce, Thurston, Mason, and Kitsap counties; and

(e) Northwest Washington, which for the purposes of this chapter shall include Snohomish, Skagit, Whatcom, San Juan, and Island counties.

The department of community development shall select one agency from each of the five areas to serve as the reemployment support center in that area.

(3) The department of community development shall establish standards to govern the selection of the reemployment support centers. At a minimum, each local reemployment support center shall raise matching funds in an amount equal to the state grant.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. The local reemployment support centers shall provide direct or referral services to the unemployed. The referrals shall be made to agencies which provide any of the following services:

(1) Reemployment assistance;

(2) Medical services;

(3) Social services including marital counseling;

(4) Psychotherapy;

(5) Mortgage foreclosure and utilities problems counseling;

(6) Drug and alcohol abuse services;

(7) Credit counseling; and

(8) Other services as deemed appropriate.

The local reemployment support centers shall demonstrate the utilization of the services of volunteers to maximize the effectiveness of the centers' programs, and outreach efforts to encourage the unemployed to seek assistance.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. The employment security department and the department of social and health services shall each locate one or more workers on a full or part-time basis at each local reemployment support center in an effort to increase the effectiveness of the local reemployment centers.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 11. The department of community development shall require each local center which receives funds under this chapter to submit semiannual reports to the department which document the effectiveness of the center's activities.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 12. The referrals and services provided by the centers shall be confidential. Reporting and recordkeeping necessary to file the required reports with the department of community development shall be conducted in a manner which will maintain the confidentiality of the client-provider relationship.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 13. Each local reemployment support center designated by the department pursuant to this chapter shall receive a minimum of sixty thousand dollars for a one-year period.

Sec. 14. Section 2, chapter 107, Laws of 1987, section 1, chapter 337, Laws of 1987, section 16, chapter 370, Laws of 1987, section 1, chapter 404, Laws of 1987, and section 10, chapter 411, Laws of 1987 and RCW 42.17.310 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:

(1) The following are exempt from public inspection and copying:

(a) Personal information in any files maintained for students in public schools, patients or clients of public institutions or public health agencies, welfare recipients, prisoners, probationers, or parolees.

(b) Personal information in files maintained for employees, appointees, or elected officials of any public agency to the extent that disclosure would violate their right to privacy.

(c) Information required of any taxpayer in connection with the assessment or collection of any tax if the disclosure of the information to other persons would (i) be prohibited to such persons by RCW 82.32.330 or (ii) violate the taxpayer's right to privacy or result in unfair competitive disadvantage to the taxpayer.

(d) Specific intelligence information and specific investigative records compiled by investigative, law enforcement, and penology agencies, and state agencies vested with the responsibility to discipline members of any profession, the nondisclosure of which is essential to effective law enforcement or for the protection of any person's right to privacy.

(e) Information revealing the identity of persons who file complaints with investigative, law enforcement, or penology agencies, other than the public disclosure commission, if disclosure would endanger any person's life, physical safety, or property: PROVIDED, That if at the time the complaint is filed the complainant indicates a desire for disclosure or nondisclosure, such desire shall govern: PROVIDED, FURTHER, That all complaints filed with the public disclosure commission about any elected official or candidate for public office must be made in writing and signed by the complainant under oath.

(f) Test questions, scoring keys, and other examination data used to administer a license, employment, or academic examination.

(g) Except as provided by chapter 8.26 RCW, the contents of real estate appraisals, made for or by any agency relative to the acquisition or sale of property, until the project or prospective sale is abandoned or until such time as all of the property has been acquired or the property to which the sale appraisal relates is sold, but in no event shall disclosure be denied for more than three years after the appraisal.

(h) Valuable formulae, designs, drawings, and research data obtained by any agency within five years of the request for disclosure when disclosure would produce private gain and public loss.

(i) Preliminary drafts, notes, recommendations, and intra-agency memorandums in which opinions are expressed or policies formulated or recommended except that a specific record shall not be exempt when publicly cited by an agency in connection with any agency action.

(j) Records which are relevant to a controversy to which an agency is a party but which records would not be available to another party under the rules of pretrial discovery for causes pending in the superior courts.

(k) Records, maps, or other information identifying the location of archaeological sites in order to avoid the looting or depredation of such sites.

(l) Any library record, the primary purpose of which is to maintain control of library materials, or to gain access to information, which discloses or could be used to disclose the identity of a library user.

(m) Financial information supplied by or on behalf of a person, firm, or corporation for the purpose of qualifying to submit a bid or proposal for (a) a ferry system construction or repair contract as required by RCW 47.60.680 through 47.60.750 or (b) highway construction or improvement as required by RCW 47.28.070.

(n) Railroad company contracts filed with the utilities and transportation commission under RCW 81.34.070, except that the summaries of the contracts are open to public inspection and copying as otherwise provided by this chapter.

(o) Financial and commercial information and records supplied by private persons pertaining to export services provided pursuant to chapter 53.31 RCW.

(p) Financial disclosures filed by private vocational schools under chapter 28C.10 RCW.

(q) Records filed with the utilities and transportation commission or attorney general under RCW 80.04.095 that a court has determined are confidential under RCW 80.04.095.

(r) Financial and commercial information and records supplied by businesses during application for loans or program services provided by chapters 43.31, 43.63A, and 43.168 RCW.

(s) Membership lists or lists of members or owners of interests of units in timeshare projects, subdivisions, camping resorts, condominiums, land developments, or common-interest communities affiliated with such projects, regulated by the department of licensing, in the files or possession of the department.

(t) ((~~Except as provided under section 2 of this 1987 act [1987 c 404 § 2],~~)) All applications for public employment, including the names of applicants, resumes, and other related materials submitted with respect to an applicant.

(u) The residential addresses and residential telephone numbers of employees or volunteers of a public agency which are held by the agency in personnel records, employment or volunteer rosters, or mailing lists of employees or volunteers.

(v) The residential addresses and residential telephone numbers of the customers of a public utility contained in the records or lists held by the public utility of which they are customers.

(w) Information obtained by the board of pharmacy as provided in RCW 69.45.090.

(x) Records of local reemployment support centers established under chapter 50.-- RCW (sections 7 through 13 of this 1988 act) if such records identify individual clients.

(2) Except for information described in subsection (1)(c)(i) of this section and confidential income data exempted from public inspection pursuant to RCW 84.40.020, the exemptions of this section are inapplicable to the extent that information, the disclosure of which would violate personal privacy or vital governmental interests, can be deleted from the specific records sought. No exemption may be construed to permit the nondisclosure of statistical information not descriptive of any readily identifiable person or persons.

(3) Inspection or copying of any specific records exempt under the provisions of this section may be permitted if the superior court in the county in which the record is maintained finds, after a hearing with notice thereof to every person in interest and the agency, that the exemption of such records is clearly unnecessary to protect any individual's right of privacy or any vital governmental function.

(4) Agency responses refusing, in whole or in part, inspection of any public record shall include a statement of the specific exemption authorizing the withholding of the record (or part) and a brief explanation of how the exemption applies to the record withheld.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 15. If any part of this act shall be found to be in conflict with federal requirements which are a prescribed condition to the allocation of federal funds to the state, such conflicting part of this act is hereby declared to be inoperative solely to the extent of such conflict, and such finding or determination shall not affect the operation of the remainder of this act. The rules under this act shall meet federal requirements which are a necessary condition to the receipt of federal funds by the state.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 16. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 17. Sections 7 through 13 of this act shall constitute a new chapter in Title 50 RCW.