HB 2450 -
By Committee on Health Care
Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:
"NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 This act may be known and cited as the
state employment disability parity act.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 A new section is added to chapter 43.41 RCW
to read as follows:
The legislature finds that seven percent of the state's population
consists of persons with disabilities, that persons with disabilities
suffer significantly higher rates of unemployment and underemployment
than in the general population, and that representation of disabled
persons in the state workforce has declined in recent years. The
legislature further finds that there is no policy similar to Schedule
A in the federal civil service system for priority hiring of persons
with disabilities. The legislature further finds that state government
human resource managers do not coordinate with the department of social
and health services' division of vocational rehabilitation regarding
opportunities to employ persons with disabilities. Therefore, the
legislature intends to increase the hiring of persons with disabilities
in the state workforce.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3 A new section is added to chapter 43.41 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) Agencies employing one hundred or more people must submit an
annual report to the office of financial management, with copies to the
department of social and health services' division of vocational
rehabilitation, the department of services for the blind, and the
governor's committee on disabilities and employment. The report must
be submitted in accordance with a schedule determined by the office of
financial management.
(2) The report must include the following information from the
prior fiscal year:
(a) The number of employees as of June 30th;
(b) The number of employees classified as individuals with
disabilities;
(c) The number of employees that separated from the state agency;
(d) The number of employees that were hired by the state agency;
(e) The number of division of vocational rehabilitation program and
department of services for the blind clients hired;
(f) Anticipated hires for the current fiscal year; and
(g) Planned opportunities for division of vocational rehabilitation
clients leading to permanent employment."
HB 2450 -
By Committee on Health Care
On page 1, line 2 of the title, after "disabilities;" strike the remainder of the title and insert "adding new sections to chapter 43.41 RCW; and creating a new section."
EFFECT: The report requirement applies to agencies employing 100 or more people, rather than 30 or more. The report must be annual, submitted on a schedule determined by the office of financial management, and include data from the prior fiscal year. The department of services for the blind must be provided the report and clients of the department of services for the blind must be included in the data collected by the report. Rather than reporting individuals classified as disabled, the report must include those individuals who self-identify as disabled.