ByRepresentatives Lovick, Leavitt, Davis, Orwall, Appleton, Macri, Gregerson, Jinkins, Ryu, Pellicciotti, Dolan, Ormsby, Stanford, Peterson, Pollet, Slatter, Valdez, Walen, Frame, and Tharinger

AN ACT Relating to establishing a law enforcement grant program to expand alternatives to arrest and jail processes; and adding a new section to chapter 36.28A RCW.

(1) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs shall develop and implement a grant program aimed at supporting local initiatives to properly identify criminal justice system-involved persons with behavioral health needs and engage those persons with therapeutic interventions and other services prior to or at the time of jail booking, or while in custody.

(2) Grants must be awarded to local law enforcement agencies based on locally developed proposals to establish or expand existing programs. A single agency may submit a proposal or two or more agencies may submit a joint proposal. A peer review panel appointed by the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs in consultation with integrated managed care organizations and behavioral health organizations must review the grant applications.

(3) Programs preferred for the award of grant funding are those that contain one or more of the following components:

(a) Employment of tools and strategies to accurately identify individuals with behavioral health needs at the point of arrest or jail booking and immediately engage those individuals with appropriate treatment programs and support services;

(b) Capacity to receive ongoing referrals to specialized behavioral health programming for persons already incarcerated in jails;

(c) Utilization of case manager and peer support services for persons with behavioral health needs who are incarcerated in jails;

(d) Specialized training for jail staff relating to incarcerated individuals with behavioral health needs;

(f) Other innovative interventions targeted specifically at persons with behavioral health needs who are brought to jail for booking or are incarcerated in jails.

(4) Proposals must provide a plan for tracking client engagement and outcomes. Grant recipients must agree to comply with any data collection and reporting requirements as established by the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs.

(5) The Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs must ensure that grants awarded under this program are separate and distinct from grants awarded pursuant to RCW 36.28A.440. Grant funds may not be used to fulfill minimum medical and treatment services that jails are legally required to provide.

(6) Once the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs certifies that a selected applicant satisfies the proposal criteria, the grant funds will be distributed. To the extent possible, grant awards should be geographically distributed on both the east and west sides of the crest of the Cascade mountain range. The Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs may prioritize grant applications that include local matching funds. Grant recipients must be selected no later than March 1, 2020.

(7) The Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs must submit an annual report regarding the grant program to the governor and appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1st of each year the program is funded. The report must be submitted in compliance with RCW 43.01.036. The report must include information on grant recipients, use of funds, and outcomes and other feedback from the grant recipients.

(8) Nothing in this section prohibits the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs from soliciting or accepting private funds to support the program created in this section.