H-517                _______________________________________________

                                                    HOUSE BILL NO. 761

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1987 Regular Session

By Representatives Grant, Crane, Ebersole, Hargrove, P. King, Kremen and Holm

Read first time 2/9/87 and referred to Committee on Health Care.

AN ACT Relating to prison work programs; amending RCW 43.19.655; adding a new section to chapter 72.01 RCW; and creating new sections.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     The legislature finds and declares that the costs expended by state government are of significant magnitude.  It is also the policy of the state to promote the establishment and growth of prison industries whose work shall benefit the state.  It is further the policy of the state of Washington that state prisons shall provide prisoners with a work environment in order that, upon their release, inmates may have the skills necessary for the successful reentry into society.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 72.01 RCW to read as follows:

          The department of corrections shall establish prison work programs to provide optometric goods for appropriate programs of state government including but not limited to medical assistance and juvenile rehabilitation within the department of social and health services and the department of corrections.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.     The sum of one million dollars of the moneys appropriated to the department of corrections for the biennium ending June 30, 1989, from the general fund shall be used solely for the purpose of creating industrial space at correctional institutions.  New industrial space shall be created, as necessary, through the construction of prefabricated industrial buildings.  Inmate labor shall be used in the construction to the maximum extent possible.

        Sec. 4.  Section 4, chapter 86, Laws of 1977 ex. sess. and RCW 43.19.655 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Hereafter no state agency, as defined in RCW 43.19.560(2), shall acquire by purchase or otherwise any printing, microfilm, or other duplicating equipment, other than typewriters, unless authorized by the printing and duplicating management center to so acquire.

(2) The legislature reaffirms its intent that the state, when cost effective, shall implement prison work programs to operate automated data input and retrieval systems and provide microfilm services for appropriate departments of state government.  The printing and duplicating management center, when determining whether to allow a state agency to purchase microfilm equipment, shall consult with the secretary of state and the secretary of corrections, or their designees.  The center, in determining whether to allow a state agency to purchase data entry equipment, shall consult with the secretary of corrections or the secretary's designee.

In administering this subsection, the center may request the assistance of the office of financial management to help reduce the unnecessary duplication of activities in state agencies and to promote cost-effective work programs in the state correctional system.

The department of general administration shall transfer from other state agencies to the department of corrections such printing, duplicating, microfilming, and other equipment as may be necessary to implement this subsection.