BILL REQ. #:  S-5321.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/08/08.   

     AN ACT Relating to contracting for services provided to dependent children; amending RCW 74.13.031, 74.13.165, and 41.06.142; creating new sections; and providing an effective date.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   In November 2007, the Washington state children's administration workload study was released. Among other areas, the study authors recommended areas for improved efficiency. They pointed out a number of areas in which social workers spent considerable time on noncase carrying activities to the detriment of the children and families they serve and recommended a different approach to some of these areas which might relieve some of the workload of social workers. These approaches include having others complete some of the data processing, prioritizing face-to-face contacts in dependency services, contracting out supervised visits, and contracting out client transportation.
     In addition, in each of the department of social and health services' regions across the state, there are numerous legally free children with identified adoptive homes who remain in foster care because the department social workers have not had sufficient time to complete the home studies necessary for the completion of the adoptions.

Sec. 2   RCW 74.13.031 and 2007 c 413 s 10 are each amended to read as follows:
     The department shall have the duty to provide child welfare services and shall:
     (1) Develop, administer, supervise, and monitor a coordinated and comprehensive plan that establishes, aids, and strengthens services for the protection and care of runaway, dependent, or neglected children.
     (2) Within available resources, recruit an adequate number of prospective adoptive and foster homes, both regular and specialized, i.e. homes for children of ethnic minority, including Indian homes for Indian children, sibling groups, handicapped and emotionally disturbed, teens, pregnant and parenting teens, and annually report to the governor and the legislature concerning the department's success in: (a) Meeting the need for adoptive and foster home placements; (b) reducing the foster parent turnover rate; (c) completing home studies for legally free children; and (d) implementing and operating the passport program required by RCW 74.13.285. The report shall include a section entitled "Foster Home Turn-Over, Causes and Recommendations."
     (3) Investigate complaints of any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker that results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, or sexual abuse or exploitation, or that presents an imminent risk of serious harm, and on the basis of the findings of such investigation, offer child welfare services in relation to the problem to such parents, legal custodians, or persons serving in loco parentis, and/or bring the situation to the attention of an appropriate court, or another community agency((: PROVIDED, That)). An investigation is not required of nonaccidental injuries which are clearly not the result of a lack of care or supervision by the child's parents, legal custodians, or persons serving in loco parentis. If the investigation reveals that a crime against a child may have been committed, the department shall notify the appropriate law enforcement agency.
     (4) Offer, on a voluntary basis, family reconciliation services to families who are in conflict.
     (5)(a) Monitor out-of-home placements((, on a timely and routine basis,)) and conduct face-to-face meetings with children in out-of-home care and their caregivers every thirty days to assure the safety, well-being, and quality of care being provided is within the scope of the intent of the legislature as defined in RCW 74.13.010 and 74.15.010((, and annually submit a report measuring the extent to which the department achieved the specified goals to the governor and the legislature)).
     (b) When a child's case is being managed by a private agency pursuant to a contract between the department and the private agency, the private agency shall conduct the thirty-day face-to-face visits with the child and the caregiver, and report promptly to the department in writing on the visit. In these cases, the department need not also conduct a thirty-day visit.
     (6) Have authority to accept custody of children from parents and to accept custody of children from juvenile courts, where authorized to do so under law, to provide child welfare services including placement for adoption, to provide for the routine and necessary medical, dental, and mental health care, or necessary emergency care of the children, and to provide for the physical care of such children and make payment of maintenance costs if needed. Except where required by Public Law 95-608 (25 U.S.C. Sec. 1915), no private adoption agency which receives children for adoption from the department shall discriminate on the basis of race, creed, or color when considering applications in their placement for adoption.
     (7) Have authority to provide temporary shelter to children who have run away from home and who are admitted to crisis residential centers.
     (8) Have authority to purchase care for children; and shall follow in general the policy of using properly approved private agency services for the actual care and supervision of such children insofar as they are available, paying for care of such children as are accepted by the department as eligible for support at reasonable rates established by the department.
     (9) Establish a children's services advisory committee which shall assist the secretary in the development of a partnership plan for utilizing resources of the public and private sectors, and advise on all matters pertaining to child welfare, licensing of child care agencies, adoption, and services related thereto. At least one member shall represent the adoption community.
     (10)(a) Have authority to provide continued foster care or group care as needed to participate in or complete a high school or vocational school program.
     (b)(i) Beginning in 2006, the department has the authority to allow up to fifty youth reaching age eighteen to continue in foster care or group care as needed to participate in or complete a posthigh school academic or vocational program, and to receive necessary support and transition services.
     (ii) In 2007 and 2008, the department has the authority to allow up to fifty additional youth per year reaching age eighteen to remain in foster care or group care as provided in (b)(i) of this subsection.
     (iii) A youth who remains eligible for such placement and services pursuant to department rules may continue in foster care or group care until the youth reaches his or her twenty-first birthday. Eligibility requirements shall include active enrollment in a posthigh school academic or vocational program and maintenance of a 2.0 grade point average.
     (11) Refer cases to the division of child support whenever state or federal funds are expended for the care and maintenance of a child, including a child with a developmental disability who is placed as a result of an action under chapter 13.34 RCW, unless the department finds that there is good cause not to pursue collection of child support against the parent or parents of the child. Cases involving individuals age eighteen through twenty shall not be referred to the division of child support unless required by federal law.
     (12) Have authority within funds appropriated for foster care services to purchase care for Indian children who are in the custody of a federally recognized Indian tribe or tribally licensed child-placing agency pursuant to parental consent, tribal court order, or state juvenile court order; and the purchase of such care shall be subject to the same eligibility standards and rates of support applicable to other children for whom the department purchases care.
     Notwithstanding any other provision of RCW 13.32A.170 through 13.32A.200 and 74.13.032 through 74.13.036, or of this section all services to be provided by the department of social and health services under subsections (4), (6), and (7) of this section, subject to the limitations of these subsections, may be provided by any program offering such services funded pursuant to Titles II and III of the federal juvenile justice and delinquency prevention act of 1974.
     (13) Within amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, provide preventive services to families with children that prevent or shorten the duration of an out-of-home placement.
     (14) Have authority to provide independent living services to youths, including individuals who have attained eighteen years of age, and have not attained twenty-one years of age who are or have been in foster care.
     (15) Consult at least quarterly with foster parents, including members of the foster parent association of Washington state, for the purpose of receiving information and comment regarding how the department is performing the duties and meeting the obligations specified in this section and RCW 74.13.250 and 74.13.320 regarding the recruitment of foster homes, reducing foster parent turnover rates, providing effective training for foster parents, and administering a coordinated and comprehensive plan that strengthens services for the protection of children. Consultation shall occur at the regional and statewide levels.
     (16) Starting July 1, 2009, contract with a private agency to provide all supervised visitation and client transportation services.

Sec. 3   RCW 74.13.165 and 1997 c 272 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The secretary or the secretary's designee may purchase services from nonprofit agencies for the purpose of conducting home studies for legally free children who have been awaiting adoption finalization for more than ninety days. The home studies selected to be done under this section shall be for the children who have been legally free and awaiting adoption finalization the longest period of time.
     (2) Starting July 1, 2009, the secretary or the secretary's designee shall purchase services from private agencies for the purpose of conducting home studies for legally free children awaiting adoption.

Sec. 4   RCW 41.06.142 and 2002 c 354 s 208 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Any department, agency, or institution of higher education may purchase services, including services that have been customarily and historically provided by employees in the classified service under this chapter, by contracting with individuals, nonprofit organizations, businesses, employee business units, or other entities if the following criteria are met:
     (a) The invitation for bid or request for proposal contains measurable standards for the performance of the contract;
     (b) Employees in the classified service whose positions or work would be displaced by the contract are provided an opportunity to offer alternatives to purchasing services by contract and, if these alternatives are not accepted, compete for the contract under competitive contracting procedures in subsection (4) of this section;
     (c) The contract with an entity other than an employee business unit includes a provision requiring the entity to consider employment of state employees who may be displaced by the contract;
     (d) The department, agency, or institution of higher education has established a contract monitoring process to measure contract performance, costs, service delivery quality, and other contract standards, and to cancel contracts that do not meet those standards; and
     (e) The department, agency, or institution of higher education has determined that the contract results in savings or efficiency improvements. The contracting agency must consider the consequences and potential mitigation of improper or failed performance by the contractor.
     (2) Any provision contrary to or in conflict with this section in any collective bargaining agreement in effect on July 1, 2005, is not effective beyond the expiration date of the agreement.
     (3) Contracting for services that is expressly mandated by the legislature or was authorized by law prior to July 1, 2005, including contracts and agreements between public entities, shall not be subject to the processes set forth in subsections (1) ((and)), (4) ((through (6))), (5), and (7) of this section.
     (4) Competitive contracting shall be implemented as follows:
     (a) At least ninety days prior to the date the contracting agency requests bids from private entities for a contract for services provided by classified employees, the contracting agency shall notify the classified employees whose positions or work would be displaced by the contract. The employees shall have sixty days from the date of notification to offer alternatives to purchasing services by contract, and the agency shall consider the alternatives before requesting bids.
     (b) If the employees decide to compete for the contract, they shall notify the contracting agency of their decision. Employees must form one or more employee business units for the purpose of submitting a bid or bids to perform the services.
     (c) The director of personnel, with the advice and assistance of the department of general administration, shall develop and make available to employee business units training in the bidding process and general bid preparation.
     (d) The director of general administration, with the advice and assistance of the department of personnel, shall, by rule, establish procedures to ensure that bids are submitted and evaluated in a fair and objective manner and that there exists a competitive market for the service. Such rules shall include, but not be limited to: (i) Prohibitions against participation in the bid evaluation process by employees who prepared the business unit's bid or who perform any of the services to be contracted; (ii) provisions to ensure no bidder receives an advantage over other bidders and that bid requirements are applied equitably to all parties; and (iii) procedures that require the contracting agency to receive complaints regarding the bidding process and to consider them before awarding the contract. Appeal of an agency's actions under this subsection is an adjudicative proceeding and subject to the applicable provisions of chapter 34.05 RCW, the administrative procedure act, with the final decision to be rendered by an administrative law judge assigned under chapter 34.12 RCW.
     (e) An employee business unit's bid must include the fully allocated costs of the service, including the cost of the employees' salaries and benefits, space, equipment, materials, and other costs necessary to perform the function. An employee business unit's cost shall not include the state's indirect overhead costs unless those costs can be attributed directly to the function in question and would not exist if that function were not performed in state service.
     (f) A department, agency, or institution of higher education may contract with the department of general administration to conduct the bidding process.
     (5) As used in this section:
     (a) "Employee business unit" means a group of employees who perform services to be contracted under this section and who submit a bid for the performance of those services under subsection (4) of this section.
     (b) "Indirect overhead costs" means the pro rata share of existing agency administrative salaries and benefits, and rent, equipment costs, utilities, and materials associated with those administrative functions.
     (c) "Competitive contracting" means the process by which classified employees of a department, agency, or institution of higher education compete with businesses, individuals, nonprofit organizations, or other entities for contracts authorized by subsection (1) of this section.
     (6) The requirements of this section do not apply to RCW 74.13.031 and 74.13.165.
     (7) The joint legislative audit and review committee shall conduct a performance audit of the implementation of this section, including the adequacy of the appeals process in subsection (4)(d) of this section, and report to the legislature by January 1, 2007, on the results of the audit.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   The department of social and health services and the exclusive bargaining representative for the children's administration social workers shall work together to prioritize social worker tasks and devise a method by which to alleviate from the social workers' workload the lower priority tasks. The department and the bargaining representative shall keep the legislature apprised of their progress by jointly reporting to the legislature no later than July 1, 2008, and again no later than November 15, 2008.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   Sections 1 through 4 of this act take effect July 1, 2009.