FINAL BILL REPORT

                 SHB 1251

                         C 151 L 99

                     Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description:  Eliminating and consolidating boards, commissions, and programs.

Sponsors:  By House Committee on State Government (Originally sponsored by Representatives Miloscia, Ericksen, O'Brien, Cooper, D. Schmidt, Bush, Esser, Kessler, Poulsen, McIntire, Lambert, H. Sommers, Wood, Conway, Rockefeller, Fortunato and Lantz; by request of Governor Locke).

House Committee on State Government

Senate Committee on State & Local Government

Background:

The Governor and the Office of Financial Management (OFM) are required to review state boards and commissions and, in every odd-numbered year, submit to the Legislature a recommended list of boards and commissions to be terminated or consolidated.  During the 1995-1997 biennium, Washington had 381 boards and commissions, down from a high of 569 during the 1991-1993 biennium.  Each board or commission operates in conjunction with, and reports to, a particular state agency or to the Governor's office.

The Health Care Assistants Advisory Committee is made up of designees of the Medical Care Quality Assurance Commission, the Board of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery, the Podiatric Medical Board, and the Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission to establish minimum requirements necessary for a health care facility or health care practitioner to certify health care assistants.

Debt adjusters engaging in the business of debt adjusting for compensation are licensed and regulated by the Department of Licensing.

Summary:

Thirty-three boards, commissions, and committees are either repealed or abolished.  These are the Health Care Assistants Advisory Committee, Dieticians and Nutritionists Advisory Committee, Health Professions Advisory Committee, Washington State Council on Vocational Education, Public Pension Commission, Public Information Access Policy Task Force, Rural Development Council, Tax Advisory Council, Advisory Council on Criminal Justice Services, Senior Environmental Corps Coordinating Council, Washington Conservation Corps Coordinating Council, Clean Washington Center Policy Board, Puget Sound Trawl Emerging Fisheries Advisory Board, Scenic Rivers Committee of Participating Agencies, Lakes Health Plan Committee, Lower Columbia River Bi-State Steering Committee, the Business and Job Retention Advisory Committee, the Community Diversification Program Advisory Committee, and the Community Networks Committees. 

In addition, three advisory review boards from the Department of Fish and Wildlife are abolished, nine advisory and search committees advising the Department of Corrections are abolished, and the athlete agent regulatory program is abolished.

The regulation requiring debt adjusters to be licensed by the Department of Licensing is abolished, and authority for inspection and investigation of debt adjusters is transfered to the Office of the Attorney General.

The secretary of the Department of Health is required to keep a list of contacts from each regulated health care profession for policy advice and information dissemination on an ad hoc basis.

Votes on Final Passage:

House  97 0

Senate 46 0

Effective: July 25, 1999