AN ACT Relating to reducing training requirements for developmental disability respite providers working three hundred hours or less in any calendar year; and amending RCW 74.39A.076.

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

Sec. 1.  RCW 74.39A.076 and 2015 c 152 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Beginning January 7, 2012, except for long-term care workers exempt from certification under RCW 18.88B.041(1)(a):

(a) A biological, step, or adoptive parent who is the individual provider only for his or her developmentally disabled son or daughter must receive twelve hours of training relevant to the needs of adults with developmental disabilities within the first one hundred twenty days after becoming an individual provider ((or within one hundred twenty calendar days after March 29, 2012, whichever is later)).

(b) A person working as an individual provider who provides respite care services only for individuals with developmental disabilities and works three hundred hours or less in any calendar year must complete fourteen hours of training within the first one hundred twenty days after becoming an individual provider. Five of the fourteen hours must be completed before becoming eligible to provide care, including two hours of orientation training regarding the caregiving role and terms of employment and three hours of safety training. The training partnership identified in RCW 74.39A.351 must offer at least twelve of the fourteen hours online, and five of those online hours must be individually selected from elective courses.

(c) Individual providers identified in (((b)(i), (ii), and (iii))) (c)(i) or (ii) of this subsection must complete thirty-five hours of training within the first one hundred twenty days after becoming an individual provider ((or within one hundred twenty calendar days after March 29, 2012, whichever is later)). Five of the thirty-five hours must be completed before becoming eligible to provide care. Two of these five hours shall be devoted to an orientation training regarding an individual provider's role as caregiver and the applicable terms of employment, and three hours shall be devoted to safety training, including basic safety precautions, emergency procedures, and infection control. Individual providers subject to this requirement include:

(i) An individual provider caring only for his or her biological, step, or adoptive child or parent unless covered by (a) of this subsection; and

(ii) A person working as an individual provider who provides twenty hours or less of care for one person in any calendar month((; and

(iii) A person working as an individual provider who only provides respite services and works less than three hundred hours in any calendar year)).

(2) In computing the time periods in this section, the first day is the date of hire ((or March 29, 2012, whichever is applicable)).

(3) Only training curriculum approved by the department may be used to fulfill the training requirements specified in this section. The department shall only approve training curriculum that:

(a) Has been developed with input from consumer and worker representatives; and

(b) Requires comprehensive instruction by qualified instructors.

(4) The department shall adopt rules to implement this section.

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