5531-S AMH PEDE ADAM 057

SSB 5531 - H AMD TO WAYS COMM AMD (H2473.1) 621

By Representative Pedersen

ADOPTED 04/09/2011

    On page 1, beginning on line 17 of the amendment, strike all of section 2 and insert the following:

    "NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 71.05 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) A county may apply to its regional support network on a quarterly basis for reimbursement of its direct costs in providing judicial services for civil commitment cases under this chapter and chapter 71.34 RCW.  The regional support network shall in turn be entitled to reimbursement from the regional support network which serves the county of residence of the individual who is the subject of the civil commitment case.  Reimbursements under this section shall be paid out of the regional support network's nonmedicaid appropriation.

    (2) Reimbursement for judicial services shall be provided per civil commitment case at a rate to be determined based on an independent assessment of the county's actual direct costs.  This assessment must be based on an average of the expenditures for judicial services within the county over the past three years.  In the event that a baseline cannot be established because there is no significant history of similar cases within the county, the reimbursement rate shall be equal to eighty percent of the median reimbursement rate of counties included in the independent assessment. 

    (3) For the purposes of this section:

    (a) "Civil commitment case" includes all judicial hearings related to a single episode of hospitalization, or less restrictive alternative detention in lieu of hospitalization, except that the filing of a petition for a one hundred eighty-day commitment under this chapter or a petition for a successive one hundred eighty-day commitment under chapter 71.34 RCW shall be considered to be a new case regardless of whether there has been a break in detention. "Civil commitment case" does not include the filing of a petition for a one hundred eighty-day commitment under this chapter on behalf of a patient at a state psychiatric hospital.

    (b) "Judicial services" means a county's reasonable direct costs in providing prosecutor services, assigned counsel and defense services, court services, and court clerk services for civil commitment cases under this chapter and chapter 71.34 RCW. 

    (4) To the extent that resources have shared purpose, the regional support network may only reimburse counties to the extent such resources are necessary for and devoted to judicial services as described in this section.

    (5) No filing fee may be charged or collected for any civil commitment case subject to reimbursement under this section."

EFFECT:   Excludes 180-day re-commitment cases for state hospital patients from the cases for which the regional support networks must reimburse the counties for the costs of judicial services. [Currently, the state provides approximately $1.5 million to reimburse Pierce and Spokane counties for the cost of conducting 180-day commitment hearings at the state psychiatric hospitals.]

Changes a reference to "prosecution services" to "prosecutor services." 

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