HOUSE BILL REPORT

2SHB 2543

BYHouse Committee on Appropriations (originally sponsored by Representatives Morris, Moyer, Braddock, Holland, Jones, Brooks, H. Myers, Winsley, Nelson, Wineberry, Brekke, Bowman, Sprenkle, Raiter, Leonard, Spanel, Vekich, Brough, Appelwick, Cole, Belcher, Baugher, Peery, Wang, Haugen, Inslee, Hine, R. Fisher, Prentice, Pruitt, R. King, Walker, Rector, Crane, Dellwo, Smith, Horn, Scott, Rayburn, P. King, Valle, Miller, Jacobsen, G. Fisher, Basich, Kremen, May, Schoon, Forner, Locke, Wood, Brumsickle, Youngsman, Todd, Rasmussen, Cooper and Day)

Regarding community violence prevention and public security programs.

House Committe on Health Care

Majority Report:  The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass.  (11)

      Signed by Representatives Braddock, Chair; Day, Vice Chair; Brooks, Ranking Republican Member; Cantwell, Chandler, Morris, Prentice, D. Sommers, Sprenkle, Vekich and Wolfe.

House Staff:John Welsh (786-7133)

Rereferred House Committee on Appropriations

Majority Report:  The second substitute bill be substituted therefor and the second substitute bill do pass.  (25)

      Signed by Representatives Locke, Chair; Grant, Vice Chair; Silver, Ranking Republican Member; Youngsman, Assistant Ranking Republican Member; Appelwick, Belcher, Bowman, Braddock, Brekke, Dorn, Doty, Ebersole, Hine, Inslee, May, McLean, Nealey, Padden, Peery, Rust, Spanel, Sprenkle, Valle, Wang and Wineberry.

House Staff:      Maureen Morris (786-7152)

AS PASSED HOUSE FEBRUARY 9, 1990

BACKGROUND:

Recent incidents of violence in the community, including several particularly depraved sexual predatory offenses against children, have shocked the public into an intense awareness for taking decisive steps to protect communities from contagious cycles of violence. Exposure to violence at an early age appears to be a significant risk factor for subsequent violent behavior.  Because the criminal justice system has little, if any, control over societal patterns and relationships that spawn violence, early interventions are more conducive to the prevention of community violence.

Some violence intervention programs, such as anger management and domestic violence mental health treatment, where they exist, are fragmented and poorly funded and are in danger of terminating due to restrictive mental health priorities limited to the chronically and schizophrenic mentally ill.

SUMMARY:

The secretary of the Department of Social & Health Services, subject to appropriated funds, is required to develop a comprehensive intervention strategy for curtailing contagious cycles of violence in the communities by providing services through pilot programs of three-years duration.  State, county, and community resources involving the criminal justice, mental health, and social services systems will be coordinated to provide effective intervention at the earliest identifiable levels for treating, controlling and preventing community violence.

The secretary must establish, through a competitive selection process, sites in communities geographically balanced throughout the state with a sustained commitment towards containing violence. Each pilot program must designate a lead agency and develop interagency agreements to deliver a coordinated continuum of services provided by state and local agencies and organizations. A 25 percent local match is required for funding the local program that may include contributions in kind.

The goals of the pilot programs include support for intervention with families experiencing violence, and coordinating and preserving existing programs addressing violence.

The services provided by the pilot programs include treatment and support to children or other family members who are victims, as well as to victims of violent crimes; a case management system that assesses the extent and effect of violence, secures appropriate intervention services and monitors case progress; anger management services; parenting and care-giver training; and public education.

Each program will be evaluated and the results reported to the Department of Social and Health Services by October 1, 1992.  The department must report the results of the program evaluations to the Legislature by December 1, 1992.

An emergency is declared.

Fiscal Note:      Available.

Effective Date:The bill contains an emergency clause and takes effect immediately.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    (Health Care)  Lonnie Johns-Brown, Washington Association of Child Abuse Councils; Bev Emery, Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs; Py Bateman, Alternatives to Fear; Doug Bartholomew, Eastside Mental Health; and Karen Hecht-Wagner, Stop Abuse.

(Appropriations)  Representative Betty Sue Morris and Representative John Moyer.

House Committee - Testified Against:      (Health Care)  No one.

(Appropriations)  No one.

House Committee - Testimony For:    (Health Care)  The long-term prevention of violent crime and reduction of recidivism is the best solution for community protection.  The criminal justice system has little if any control over the causes of violence.  Programs for prevention, intervention and treatment at the earliest onset of violent or criminal behavior will have a very real affect in curtailing contagious cycles of violence.  There is a dire need for an effective strategy for coordinating the criminal justice, mental health and social services systems for targeting violence in the communities. Studies indicate that juvenile sexual offenses take place in the context of severely disturbed, frequently sexualized and often violent family relationships.  Sex offenders are likely to have been victims of sexual abuse or neglect themselves.

(Appropriations)  Anger and family violence are at the root of many of our social problems.  A public health approach to the problem is necessary to prevent the problem and ultimately avoid the individual, social, and financial costs of violence.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      (Health Care)  None.

(Appropriations)  None.