BILL REQ. #:  Z-0881.3 

Read first time 01/26/12.   Referred to Committee on Labor & Workforce Development.

     AN ACT Relating to narrowing the definition of language access providers; amending RCW 41.56.030 and 74.04.025; creating new sections; and declaring an emergency.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   It is the intent of the legislature to clarify that state collective bargaining rights of language access providers is limited to providers paid, in whole or in part, with an expenditure of state funds and is not intended to cover providers in legal proceedings. As a clarification of current law, this act is intended to apply both prospectively and retroactively.

Sec. 2   RCW 41.56.030 and 2011 1st sp.s. c 21 s 11 are each amended to read as follows:
     As used in this chapter:
     (1) "Adult family home provider" means a provider as defined in RCW 70.128.010 who receives payments from the medicaid and state-funded long-term care programs.
     (2) "Bargaining representative" means any lawful organization which has as one of its primary purposes the representation of employees in their employment relations with employers.
     (3) "Child care subsidy" means a payment from the state through a child care subsidy program established pursuant to RCW 74.12.340 or 74.08A.340, 45 C.F.R. Sec. 98.1 through 98.17, or any successor program.
     (4) "Collective bargaining" means the performance of the mutual obligations of the public employer and the exclusive bargaining representative to meet at reasonable times, to confer and negotiate in good faith, and to execute a written agreement with respect to grievance procedures and collective negotiations on personnel matters, including wages, hours and working conditions, which may be peculiar to an appropriate bargaining unit of such public employer, except that by such obligation neither party shall be compelled to agree to a proposal or be required to make a concession unless otherwise provided in this chapter.
     (5) "Commission" means the public employment relations commission.
     (6) "Executive director" means the executive director of the commission.
     (7) "Family child care provider" means a person who: (a) Provides regularly scheduled care for a child or children in the home of the provider or in the home of the child or children for periods of less than twenty-four hours or, if necessary due to the nature of the parent's work, for periods equal to or greater than twenty-four hours; (b) receives child care subsidies; and (c) is either licensed by the state under RCW 74.15.030 or is exempt from licensing under chapter 74.15 RCW.
     (8) "Individual provider" means an individual provider as defined in RCW 74.39A.240(4) who, solely for the purposes of collective bargaining, is a public employee as provided in RCW 74.39A.270.
     (9) "Institution of higher education" means the University of Washington, Washington State University, Central Washington University, Eastern Washington University, Western Washington University, The Evergreen State College, and the various state community colleges.
     (10)(a) "Language access provider" means any independent contractor who provides spoken language interpreter services for department of social and health services appointments or medicaid enrollee appointments, or provided these services on or after January 1, 2009, and before June 10, 2010, whether paid by a broker, language access agency, or the department.
     (b) "Language access provider" does not mean: An owner, manager, or employee of a broker or a language access agency; an interpreter appointed or required in legal proceedings pursuant to RCW 2.43.030; or an interpreter under the medicaid administrative match program.
     (c) "Department of social and health services appointments" does not include legal proceedings of any nature, including criminal, civil, or administrative proceedings at any level.
     (d) "Medicaid enrollee appointments" does not include medicaid administrative match program appointments or any other service provided pursuant to that program.
     (11) "Public employee" means any employee of a public employer except any person (a) elected by popular vote, or (b) appointed to office pursuant to statute, ordinance or resolution for a specified term of office as a member of a multimember board, commission, or committee, whether appointed by the executive head or body of the public employer, or (c) whose duties as deputy, administrative assistant or secretary necessarily imply a confidential relationship to (i) the executive head or body of the applicable bargaining unit, or (ii) any person elected by popular vote, or (iii) any person appointed to office pursuant to statute, ordinance or resolution for a specified term of office as a member of a multimember board, commission, or committee, whether appointed by the executive head or body of the public employer, or (d) who is a court commissioner or a court magistrate of superior court, district court, or a department of a district court organized under chapter 3.46 RCW, or (e) who is a personal assistant to a district court judge, superior court judge, or court commissioner. For the purpose of (e) of this subsection, no more than one assistant for each judge or commissioner may be excluded from a bargaining unit.
     (12) "Public employer" means any officer, board, commission, council, or other person or body acting on behalf of any public body governed by this chapter, or any subdivision of such public body. For the purposes of this section, the public employer of district court or superior court employees for wage-related matters is the respective county legislative authority, or person or body acting on behalf of the legislative authority, and the public employer for nonwage-related matters is the judge or judge's designee of the respective district court or superior court.
     (13) "Uniformed personnel" means: (a) Law enforcement officers as defined in RCW 41.26.030 employed by the governing body of any city or town with a population of two thousand five hundred or more and law enforcement officers employed by the governing body of any county with a population of ten thousand or more; (b) correctional employees who are uniformed and nonuniformed, commissioned and noncommissioned security personnel employed in a jail as defined in RCW 70.48.020(9), by a county with a population of seventy thousand or more, and who are trained for and charged with the responsibility of controlling and maintaining custody of inmates in the jail and safeguarding inmates from other inmates; (c) general authority Washington peace officers as defined in RCW 10.93.020 employed by a port district in a county with a population of one million or more; (d) security forces established under RCW 43.52.520; (e) firefighters as that term is defined in RCW 41.26.030; (f) employees of a port district in a county with a population of one million or more whose duties include crash fire rescue or other firefighting duties; (g) employees of fire departments of public employers who dispatch exclusively either fire or emergency medical services, or both; or (h) employees in the several classes of advanced life support technicians, as defined in RCW 18.71.200, who are employed by a public employer.

Sec. 3   RCW 74.04.025 and 2011 1st sp.s. c 15 s 63 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The department, the authority, and the office of administrative hearings shall ensure that bilingual services are provided to non-English speaking applicants and recipients. The services shall be provided to the extent necessary to assure that non-English speaking persons are not denied, or unable to obtain or maintain, services or benefits because of their inability to speak English.
     (2) If the number of non-English speaking applicants or recipients sharing the same language served by any community service office client contact job classification equals or exceeds fifty percent of the average caseload of a full-time position in such classification, the department shall, through attrition, employ bilingual personnel to serve such applicants or recipients.
     (3) Regardless of the applicant or recipient caseload of any community service office, each community service office shall ensure that bilingual services required to supplement the community service office staff are provided through contracts with language access providers, local agencies, or other community resources.
     (4) The department shall certify, authorize, and qualify language access providers as needed to maintain an adequate pool of providers.
     (5) The department shall require compliance with RCW 41.56.113(2) through its contracts with third parties.
     (6) Initial client contact materials shall inform clients in all primary languages of the availability of interpretation services for non-English speaking persons. Basic informational pamphlets shall be translated into all primary languages.
     (7) To the extent all written communications directed to applicants or recipients are not in the primary language of the applicant or recipient, the department and the office of administrative hearings shall include with the written communication a notice in all primary languages of applicants or recipients describing the significance of the communication and specifically how the applicants or recipients may receive assistance in understanding, and responding to if necessary, the written communication. The department shall assure that sufficient resources are available to assist applicants and recipients in a timely fashion with understanding, responding to, and complying with the requirements of all such written communications.
     (8) As used in this section:
     (a) "Language access provider" means any independent contractor who provides spoken language interpreter services for department appointments or medicaid enrollee appointments, or provided these services on or after January 1, 2009, and before June 10, 2010, whether paid by a broker, language access agency, or the department. "Language access provider" does not mean: An owner, manager, or employee of a broker or a language access agency; an interpreter appointed or required in legal proceedings pursuant to RCW 2.43.030; or an interpreter under the medicaid administrative match program.
     (b) "Department appointments" does not include legal proceedings of any nature, including criminal, civil, or administrative proceedings at any level.
     (c) "Medicaid enrollee appointments" does not include medicaid administrative match program appointments or any other service provided pursuant to that program.
     (((b))) (d) "Primary languages" includes, but is not limited to, Spanish, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, and Chinese.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   This act applies both prospectively and retroactively.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately.