BILL REQ. #:  H-3141.1 

Prefiled 01/07/14. Read first time 01/13/14.   Referred to Committee on Health Care & Wellness.

     AN ACT Relating to restoring funding to in-home care services; adding a new section to chapter 74.09 RCW; creating a new section; and providing an effective date.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that in 2011 medicaid home care hours were reduced for forty-five thousand individuals by an average hour reduction of ten percent. This reduction has resulted in hardship for vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities which has resulted in a decrease in the quality of life for patients across the state. Home care services, like many other essential governmental functions, are funded in great part by the state sales tax. The sales tax is paid by all Washington residents and is duly imposed on the residents of most other state and foreign jurisdictions. However, a few jurisdictions are provided a unique exemption from the retail sales tax. Recognizing the great hardship on Washington residents from the reduction in these services, it is the intent of the legislature to restore partial funding for these reduced hours.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 74.09 RCW to read as follows:
     Decisions as to the hours of in-home care to be provided must be based solely upon an objective assessment of medical need, as follows: The department must provide eligible individuals with the hours of in-home care designated as the "base hours" for their in-home group, as set forth in WAC 388-106-0125, as it existed on December 1, 2012, unless the individual is eligible for a modification in hours pursuant to the objective standards set forth in WAC 388-106-0130 (2) through (6), as those subsections existed on December 1, 2012. The department may consider no other factors.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   This act takes effect July 1, 2014.