AN ACT Relating to teen
pregnancy prevention; amending RCW 74.09.790 and 74.09.800; adding a new
chapter to Title 70 RCW; creating new sections; and providing an expiration
date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF
WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec.
1. FINDINGS AND STATE
POLICY.
(1) The legislature finds that:
(a) Each year in
Washington approximately fifteen thousand teenage girls become pregnant;
(b) The public cost of
adolescent pregnancy is substantial. Eighty percent of teen prenatal care and
deliveries are publicly funded. Over fifty percent of the women on public
assistance became mothers as teenagers; and
(c) The personal costs
of adolescent pregnancy can be socially and economically overwhelming. These
too young mothers are often unable to finish high school. Their economic
potential is diminished, their probability of dependence on public assistance
increases, and their children are more likely to grow up in poverty. The cycle
of teen mothers raising children in poverty jeopardizes their future
educational opportunity and economic viability of future generations.
(2) The legislature
therefore declares that in the interest of health, welfare, and economics, it
is the policy of the state to reduce the incidence of unplanned teen
pregnancy. To reduce the rate of teen pregnancy in Washington, the legislature
hereby:
(a) Establishes
four-year projects to prevent teen pregnancy;
(b) Initiates a teen
pregnancy prevention media campaign;
(c) Increases funding
for family planning education, outreach, and services; and
(d) Expands medicaid
eligibility for postpartum family planning services.
NEW SECTION. Sec.
2. DEFINITIONS. Unless the
context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply
throughout this chapter.
(1)
"Community" means an individual political subdivision of the state, a
group of such political subdivisions, or a geographic area within a political
subdivision.
(2)
"Department" means the department of health.
NEW SECTION. Sec.
3. TEEN PREGNANCY PREVENTION
PROJECTS. There is established in the department a program to coordinate and
fund community-based teen pregnancy prevention projects. Selection of projects
shall be made competitively based upon compliance with the requirements of
sections 4 and 5 of this act. To the extent practicable, the projects shall be
geographically distributed throughout the state. Criteria shall be established
by the department in consultation with other state agencies and groups involved
in teen pregnancy prevention.
NEW SECTION. Sec.
4. TEEN PREGNANCY PREVENTION
PROJECTS‑-REQUIREMENTS. (1) Each project shall be designed to reduce the
incidence of unplanned teen pregnancy in the defined community, and may include
preteens.
(2) At least fifty
percent of the funding for teen pregnancy prevention projects shall be
community matching funds provided by private or public entities. In-kind
contributions such as, but not limited to, staff, materials, supplies, or
physical facilities may be considered as all or part of the funding provided by
the communities.
(3) The department
shall perform evaluations of the projects. Each project shall be evaluated
solely on the rate by which the teen pregnancy rates in the community are reduced,
measured from the rates prior to the implementation of the project. Projects
that demonstrate by empirical evidence that they have been successful in
reducing the teen pregnancy rate in their community shall be eligible for
consideration if reauthorized funding becomes available.
NEW SECTION. Sec.
5. TEEN PREGNANCY PREVENTION
PROJECTS‑- APPLICATIONS. Applications for teen pregnancy prevention
project funding shall:
(1) Define the
community requesting funding;
(2) Designate a lead
agency or organization for the project;
(3) Contain evidence of
the active participation of entities in the community that will participate in
the project;
(4) Demonstrate the
participation of teens in the development of the project;
(5) Describe the
specific activities that will be undertaken by the project;
(6) Identify the
community matching funds required under section 4 of this act;
(7) Include statistics
on teen pregnancy rates in the community over at least the past five years;
(8) Include components
that will demonstrate sensitivity to religious, cultural, and socioeconomic
differences; and
(9) Include components
giving emphasis to the importance of sexual abstinence as a method of pregnancy
prevention, as provided in RCW 28A.230.070 and 70.24.210.
The department shall
not discriminate against applicants for teen pregnancy prevention project
funding based on the type of pregnancy prevention strategies and services
included in the applicant's proposal.
NEW SECTION. Sec.
6. REPORT. The department
shall submit an annual report on the state's teen pregnancy rates over the
previous five years, both state-wide and in the specific communities in which
teen pregnancy prevention projects are located, to the appropriate standing
committees of the legislature in the years 1995 through 1999.
NEW SECTION. Sec.
7. TEEN PREGNANCY PREVENTION
MEDIA CAMPAIGN. The department shall develop a teen pregnancy prevention media
campaign in collaboration with major media organizations and other
organizations and corporations interested in playing a positive and
constructive role in their communities. The media campaign shall be designed
to reduce the incidence of teen pregnancies. The media campaign shall be
directed to teens, their parents, and individuals and organizations working
with teens. The department may subcontract all or part of the activities
associated with the media campaign to qualified private, nonprofit
organizations.
NEW SECTION. Sec.
8. Sections 1 through 7 of
this act shall expire June 30, 1999.
Sec. 9. RCW 74.09.790 and 1990 c
151 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
Unless the context
clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout
RCW 74.09.760 through 74.09.820 and 74.09.510:
(1) "At-risk
eligible person" means an eligible person determined by the department to
need special assistance in applying for and obtaining maternity care, including
pregnant women who are substance abusers, pregnant and parenting adolescents,
pregnant minority women, and other eligible persons who need special assistance
in gaining access to the maternity care system.
(2) "County
authority" means the board of county commissioners, county council, or
county executive having the authority to participate in the maternity care
access program or its designee. Two or more county authorities may enter into
joint agreements to fulfill the requirements of this chapter.
(3)
"Department" means the department of social and health services.
(4) "Eligible
person" means a woman in need of maternity care or a child, who is
eligible for medical assistance pursuant to this chapter or the prenatal care
program administered by the department.
(5) "Maternity
care services" means inpatient and outpatient medical care, case
management, and support services necessary during prenatal, delivery, and
postpartum periods.
(6) "Support
services" means, at least, public health nursing assessment and follow-up,
health and childbirth education, psychological assessment and counseling,
outreach services, nutritional assessment and counseling, needed vitamin and
nonprescriptive drugs, transportation, family planning services, and child
care. Support services may include alcohol and substance abuse treatment for
pregnant women who are addicted or at risk of being addicted to alcohol or
drugs to the extent funds are made available for that purpose.
(7) "Family
planning services" means planning the number of one's children by use of
contraceptive techniques.
Sec. 10. RCW 74.09.800 and 1989
1st ex.s. c 10 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
The department shall,
consistent with the state budget act, develop a maternity care access program
designed to ensure healthy birth outcomes as follows:
(1) Provide maternity
care services to low-income pregnant women and health care services to children
in poverty to the maximum extent allowable under the medical assistance
program, Title XIX of the federal social security act;
(2) Provide maternity
care services to low-income women who are not eligible to receive such services
under the medical assistance program, Title XIX of the federal social security
act;
(3) By January 1, 1990,
have the following procedures in place to improve access to maternity care
services and eligibility determinations for pregnant women applying for
maternity care services under the medical assistance program, Title XIX of the
federal social security act:
(a) Use of a shortened
and simplified application form;
(b) Outstationing
department staff to make eligibility determinations;
(c) Establishing local
plans at the county and regional level, coordinated by the department; and
(d) Conducting an
interview for the purpose of determining medical assistance eligibility within
five working days of the date of an application by a pregnant woman and making
an eligibility determination within fifteen working days of the date of
application by a pregnant woman;
(4) Establish a
maternity care case management system that shall assist at-risk eligible
persons with obtaining medical assistance benefits and receiving maternity care
services, including transportation and child care services;
(5) Within available
resources, establish appropriate reimbursement levels for maternity care
providers;
(6) Implement a
broad-based public education program that stresses the importance of obtaining
maternity care early during pregnancy;
(7) ((Study the
desirability and feasibility of implementing the presumptive eligibility
provisions set forth in section 9407 of the federal omnibus budget
reconciliation act of 1986 and report to the appropriate committees of the
legislature by December 1, 1989; and
(8))) Refer persons eligible for maternity care
services under the program established by this section to persons, agencies, or
organizations with maternity care service practices that primarily emphasize
healthy birth outcomes;
(8) Provide family
planning services including information about the synthetic progestin capsule
implant form of contraception, for twelve months immediately following a
pregnancy to women who were eligible for medical assistance under the maternity
care access program during that pregnancy or who were eligible only for
emergency labor and delivery services during that pregnancy; and
(9) Within available
resources, provide family planning services to women who meet the financial
eligibility requirements for services under subsections (1) and (2) of this
section.
NEW SECTION. Sec.
11. Sections 1 through 7 of
this act shall constitute a new chapter in Title 70 RCW.
NEW SECTION. Sec.
12. Captions as used in this
act constitute no part of the law.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 13. If specific funding for
the purposes of this act, referencing this act by bill number, is not provided
by June 30, 1993, in the omnibus appropriations act, this act shall be null and
void.
