(1) In establishing an office of public guardianship, the legislature intends to promote the availability of guardianship and alternate services that provide support for decision making for individuals who need them and for whom adequate services may otherwise be unavailable. The legislature reaffirms its commitment to treat liberty and autonomy as paramount values for all Washington residents and to authorize public guardianship only to the minimum extent necessary to provide for health or safety, or to manage financial affairs, when the legal conditions for appointment of a guardian are met. It does not intend to alter those legal conditions or to expand judicial authority to determine that any individual is incapacitated.

(2) The legislature further recognizes that services that support decision making for people who have limited capacity can preserve individual liberty and provide effective support responsive to individual needs and wishes. The legislature also recognizes that these services may be less expensive than guardianship for the state, the courts, and for individuals with limited capacity and their families.

(((3)))(4) "Public guardianship services" means the services provided by a guardian or limited guardian appointed under chapters 11.88 and 11.92 RCW, who is compensated under a contract with the office of public guardianship.

(((4)))(5) "Long-term care services" means services provided through the department of social and health services either in a hospital or skilled nursing facility, or in another setting under a home and community-based waiver authorized under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1396n.

(7) "Supported decision-making assistance" means support for an individual with diminished decision-making ability in making decisions affecting health or safety or to manage financial affairs. Assistance includes, without limitation, acting as a representative payee, an attorney-in-fact, a trustee, or a public guardian.

(2) The supreme court shall appoint a public guardianship administrator to establish and administer a public guardianship, supported decision-making assistance, and estate administration program in the office of public guardianship. The public guardianship administrator serves at the pleasure of the supreme court.

(i) Public guardianship, supported decision-making assistance, and estate administration services to persons age eighteen or older whose income does not exceed two hundred percent of the federal poverty level determined annually by the United States department of health and human services or who are receiving long-term care services through the Washington state department of social and health services;

(iii) Estate administration services for a fee to the estate of an individual who died at age eighteen or older, in circumstances where a service provider under contract with the office of public guardianship is granted letters under RCW 11.28.120(7).

(((b)))(c) The ((office is exempt from RCW 39.29.008 because the)) primary function of the office is to contract for public guardianship, supported decision-making assistance, and estate administration services that are provided in a manner consistent with the requirements of this chapter. The office ((shall otherwise comply with chapter 39.29 RCW and)) is subject to audit by the state auditor.

(((c)))(d) Public guardianship, supported decision-making assistance, and estate administration service contracts are dependent upon legislative appropriation. This chapter does not create an entitlement.

(((d) The initial implementation of public guardianship services shall be on a pilot basis in a minimum of two geographical areas that include one urban area and one rural area. There may be one or several contracts in each area.))

(2) The office shall((, within one year of the commencement of its operation,)) adopt and maintain eligibility criteria to enable it to serve individuals with the greatest need when the number of cases in which courts propose to appoint a public guardian exceeds the number of cases in which public guardianship and supported decision-making assistance services can be provided. In adopting such criteria, the office may consider factors including, but not limited to, the following: Whether an ((incapacitated)) individual with diminished decision-making ability is at significant risk of harm from abuse, exploitation, abandonment, neglect, or self-neglect; and whether an ((incapacitated person))individual with diminished decision-making ability is in imminent danger of loss or significant reduction in public services that are necessary for the individual to live successfully in the most integrated and least restrictive environment that is appropriate in light of the individual's needs and values.

(3) The office shall adopt minimum standards of practice for public guardians and contract service providers providing public guardianship, supported decision-making assistance, and estate administration services. Any public guardian providing such public guardianship services must be certified by the certified professional guardian board established by the supreme court.

(5) The office shall not petition for appointment of a public guardian for any individual. It may develop a proposal for the legislature to make affordable legal assistance available to petition for guardianships.

(6) ((The office shall not authorize payment for services for any entity that is serving more than twenty incapacitated persons per certified professional guardian.))The office shall develop and adopt a case-weighting system designed to balance the increasing need for access to guardianship services, while effectively managing public guardian caseloads and providing appropriate supports for individuals on that caseload.

(a) The standard caseload limit for a contract service provider must be no more than twenty incapacitated persons per certified professional guardian. The office may authorize adjustments to the standard caseload limit on a case-by-case basis, and payment for services to a contract service provider that serves more than twenty incapacitated persons per professional guardian is subject to review by the office. In evaluating caseload size, the office shall consider the expected activities, time, and demands involved, as well as the available support for each case.

(b) Caseload limits must not exceed thirty-six cases. The office shall not authorize payment for services for any contract service provider that fails to comply with the standard caseload limit guidelines.

(c) The office shall develop case-weighting guidelines to include a process for adjusting caseload limits, relevant policies and procedures, and recommendations for changes in court rules which may be appropriate for the implementation of the system.

(d) By December 1, 2019, the office must submit to the legislature a report detailing the final case-weighting system and guidelines, and implementation progress and recommendations. The report must be made available to the public.

(8) The office shall collect uniform and consistent basic data elements regarding service delivery. This data shall be made available to the legislature and supreme court in a format that is not identifiable by individual incapacitated person to protect confidentiality.

(9) ((The office shall report to the legislature on how services other than guardianship services, and in particular services that might reduce the need for guardianship services, might be provided under contract with the office by December 1, 2009. The services to be considered should include, but not be limited to, services provided under powers of attorney given by the individuals in need of the services.

(10))) The office shall require ((public guardianship))contract service providers to seek reimbursement of fees from program clients who are receiving long-term care services through the department of social and health services to the extent, and only to the extent, that such reimbursement may be paid, consistent with an order of the superior court, from income that would otherwise be required by the department to be paid toward the cost of the client's care. Fees reimbursed shall be remitted by the provider to the office unless a different disposition is directed by the public guardianship administrator.

(10) Fees may be collected from the estate when the decedant's income prior to death exceeded two hundred percent of the federal poverty level, determined annually by the United States department of health and human services, based on a fee schedule established by the office that must be published annually.

(11) The office shall require public guardianship providers to certify annually that for each individual served they have reviewed the need for continued public guardianship services and the appropriateness of limiting, or further limiting, the authority of the public guardian under the applicable guardianship order, and that where termination or modification of a guardianship order appears warranted, the superior court has been asked to take the corresponding action.

(12) The office shall adopt a process for receipt and consideration of and response to complaints against the office and contracted providers of public guardianship, supported decision-making assistance, and estate administration services. The process shall include investigation in cases in which investigation appears warranted in the judgment of the administrator.

(13) ((The office shall contract with the Washington state institute for public policy for a study. An initial report is due two years following July 22, 2007, and a second report by December 1, 2011. The study shall analyze costs and off-setting savings to the state from the delivery of public guardianship services.

(14))) The office shall develop standardized forms and reporting instruments that may include, but are not limited to, intake, initial assessment, guardianship care plan, decisional accounting, staff time logs, changes in condition or abilities of an incapacitated person, and values history. The office shall collect and analyze the data gathered from these reports.

(((15)))(14) The office shall identify training needs for ((guardians))service providers it contracts with, and shall make recommendations to the supreme court, the certified professional guardian board, and the legislature for improvements in ((guardianship)) training. The office may offer training to individuals providing services pursuant to this chapter ((or)), to individuals who, in the judgment of the administrator or the administrator's designee, are likely to provide such services in the future, to lay guardians, and to the family and friends of individuals subject to guardianship.

(((16)))(15) The office shall establish a system for monitoring the performance of ((public guardians))contract service providers, and office staff shall make in-home visits to a randomly selected sample of public guardianship and supported decision-making assistance clients. The office may conduct further monitoring, including in-home visits, as the administrator deems appropriate. For monitoring purposes, office staff shall have access to any information relating to a public guardianship, supported decision-making assistance, and estate administration client that is available to the guardian.

Administration of an estate if the decedent died intestate or if the personal representative or representatives named in the will declined or were unable to serve shall be granted to some one or more of the persons hereinafter mentioned, and they shall be respectively entitled in the following order:

(3) The trustee named by the decedent in an inter vivos trust instrument, testamentary trustee named in the will, guardian of the person or estate of the decedent, or attorney-in-fact appointed by the decedent, if any such a fiduciary controlled or potentially controlled substantially all of the decedent's probate and nonprobate assets.

(7) If the persons so entitled shall fail for more than forty days after the death of the decedent to present a petition for letters of administration, or if it appears to the satisfaction of the court that there is no next of kin, as above specified eligible to appointment, or they waive their right, and there are no principal creditor or creditors, or such creditor or creditors waive their right, then the court may appoint a service provider under contract with the office of public guardianship under chapter 2.72 RCW or any suitable person to administer such estate.