H-1764.2

SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1771

ByHouse Human Services & Early Learning (originally sponsored by Representatives Senn, Jinkins, Davis, Macri, Mead, Ortiz-Self, Shewmake, Goodman, Lekanoff, Chapman, Entenman, Appleton, Fey, Lovick, Bergquist, Doglio, Ormsby, Pollet, and Frame; by request of Office of the Governor)

AN ACT Relating to establishing the welcome to Washington baby act to create family supports through universal home visiting programs and a statewide family linkage program for resources and referrals; amending RCW 43.216.130 and 43.216.157; adding new sections to chapter 43.216 RCW; creating a new section; and recodifying RCW 43.216.130, 43.216.152, 43.216.155, 43.216.157, and 43.216.159.

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

(2) The legislature also finds that universal voluntary home visiting services are one of the most effective ways to build on a family's strengths and support parents early as their child's first and most important teachers. Offering all parents of newborns the convenience of short-term, health-focused, culturally responsive home visits will benefit the infant and the postpartum mother, as well as provide a natural opportunity to share information and help connect the family with community-based resources to address their current and future needs, whether related to health care, child care, housing, transportation, disability services, education and training, or temporary economic supports.

(3) With the implementation of this act, the legislature intends to continue expanding access to evidence-based, research-based, and promising practice longer-term home visiting services and to begin building a statewide network of short-term, universal voluntary home visiting programs selected and administered through locally coordinated systems.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 43.216 RCW to read as follows:

(1) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the department shall select up to four demonstration sites for the implementation of a short-term universal voluntary community-based home visiting program as described in this section. The department must select demonstration sites by October 1, 2019, based on communities with the highest needs as well as community interest and capacity. The department must begin implementation of services in the demonstration sites by January 1, 2021.

(2) To be eligible for funding under this section, a universal voluntary community-based home visiting program must:

(a) Be an evidence-based or promising practice model selected by the community through a thoughtful community engagement process and be reflective of community goals, needs, and diversity;

(b) Be coordinated with a local resource and referral linkage system that includes, but is not limited to, family service centers, community information centers, nonprofit provider coalitions, and governmental entities;

(c) Deliver services using a community-based organization, with home visitors who reflect the diversity of that community;

(d) Be culturally responsive and appropriate to meet the needs, including the language needs, of the families to be served;

(e) Offer up to three voluntary health-focused home visits during the infant's first year to all families in the community regardless of income, education, or employment status;

(f) Offer visits in the family's home or another location at times convenient for working families, including options for evening and weekend visits; and

(g) Provide for a process that will allow for adaptations necessary to meet the specific needs of local communities within the context of the chosen model, such as:

(i) Requiring home visits to be led or supervised by a health care professional licensed by the department of health, which may include nurses, midwives, or other relevant health care professionals; and

(ii) Allowing for the option of pairing a licensed health care provider with a trusted community partner whenever culturally appropriate.

(3) In partnership with the family, the initial visit must focus on the immediate health and safety needs of the child, mother, and family, and if appropriate, provide the family with information and referrals to local community-based resources matched to the family's interests and needs. As appropriate, the universal voluntary community-based home visiting program must include a process for following up with families to facilitate their connection with local service providers.

(4) The department shall offer technical assistance to assist communities in the demonstration sites with engagement, planning, and implementation activities as needed including, but not limited to:

(a) Facilitating connections between local health jurisdictions, cities, counties, community-based organizations, and early learning coalitions;

(b) Developing a family recruitment and outreach plan;

(c) Promoting awareness and understanding of the program to increase community participation and support;

(d) Assessing workforce needs such as training, recruiting, and retaining culturally responsive home visitors who are reflective of community diversity;

(e) Identifying or developing a resource and referral linkage system; and

(f) Gathering and analyzing data on program performance measures and aggregate child and family outcomes.

(5) All personally identifiable data collected under this section is confidential. The community-based home visiting programs shall maintain the confidentiality of this data consistent with the requirements of this section. Nothing in this section limits existing confidentiality requirements applicable under other state or federal laws. A community-based home visiting program may only disclose the following information:

(a) Aggregate data, without personally identifiable information, to the department for the purposes of program evaluation and outcome reporting; and

(b) With the family's consent, limited family information only for the purposes of referrals to local community-based resources matched to the family's interests and needs. The community-based home visiting program must provide the family with the limited family information to be shared prior to the program sharing any family information as part of a referral to a community-based resource.

(6) Nothing in this section relieves a mandated reporter from requirements to report child abuse or neglect pursuant to RCW 26.44.030.

(7) The department may adopt rules under chapter 34.05 RCW for the administration of its duties under this section.

(8) The department shall provide the following reports to the legislature and governor in compliance with RCW 43.01.036:

(a) By November 1, 2020, a status update on the planning and implementation activities underway in the demonstration sites selected under this section and the anticipated implementation timelines for the respective sites;

(b) By November 1, 2021:

(i) An interim evaluation report on formative goals and program activities. The interim evaluation must be completed in consultation with the home visiting services advisory committee established under RCW 43.216.130;

(ii) An implementation plan and funding model for expanding statewide access to short-term universal voluntary home visiting programs and possible consideration of the development of a statewide family linkage program for resources and referrals. The report must address options for including short-term universal voluntary home visits as a covered benefit under medicaid health plans; and

(iii) Recommendations for the statewide coordination of short-term universal voluntary home visiting services offered to families in Washington. The recommendations must be developed in collaboration with the health care authority, the department of health, and the department of social and health services;

(c) By November 1, 2022, in collaboration with the office of the insurance commissioner and the health benefit exchange, options for including short-term, universal, voluntary home visits as a covered benefit under nonmedicaid health plans; and

(d) By November 1, 2022, a final report on program outcomes. The final report must be completed in consultation with the home visiting services advisory committee established under RCW 43.216.130.

Sec. 3. RCW 43.216.130 and 2017 c 171 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

(1)(a) The home visiting services account is created in the state treasury. Revenues to the account shall consist of appropriations by the legislature and all other sources deposited in the account. All federal funds received by the department for home visiting activities must be deposited into the account.

(b)(i) Expenditures from the account shall be used for state matching funds for the purposes of the program established in this section and federally funded activities for the home visiting program, including administrative expenses.

(ii) The department oversees the account and is the lead state agency for home visiting system development. The nongovernmental private-public partnership supports the home visiting service delivery system and provides support functions to funded programs.

(iii) It is the intent of the legislature that state funds invested in the account be matched by the private-public partnership each fiscal year.

(iv) Amounts used for program administration by the department may not exceed an average of ten percent in any two consecutive fiscal years.

(v) Authorizations for expenditures may be given only after private funds are committed. The nongovernmental private-public partnership must report to the department quarterly to demonstrate investment of private match funds.

(c) Expenditures from the account are subject to appropriation and the allotment provisions of chapter 43.88 RCW.

(2) The department must expend moneys from the account to provide state matching funds for partnership activities to implement home visiting services and administer the infrastructure necessary to develop, support, and evaluate evidence-based, research-based, and promising home visiting programs.

(3) Activities eligible for funding through the account include, but are not limited to:

(a) Home visiting services that achieve one or more of the following: (i) Enhancing child development and well-being by alleviating the effects on child development of poverty and other known risk factors; (ii) reducing the incidence of child abuse and neglect; or (iii) promoting school readiness for young children and their families; ((and))

(b) Development and maintenance of the infrastructure for home visiting programs, including training, quality improvement, and evaluation; and

(c) The short-term universal voluntary home visiting programs created in section 2 of this act, any funding for which must be specified separately in the omnibus appropriations act. The private-public partnership match described in subsection (1)(b)(iii) of this section does not apply to the universal home visiting program.

(4) ((Beginning July 1, 2010,))The department shall contract with the nongovernmental private-public partnership designated in RCW ((43.215.070))43.216.065 to support programs funded through the home visiting services account. The department shall monitor performance and provide periodic reports on the uses and outcomes of the home visiting services account.

(5) The department shall, in the administration of the programs:

(a) Fund programs through a competitive bid process or in compliance with the regulations of the funding source; and

(b) Convene an advisory committee of diverse early learning and home visiting experts, including ((one)) representatives from the department, to advise the partnership regarding research and the distribution of funds from the account to eligible programs.

Sec. 4. RCW 43.216.157 and 2011 1st sp.s. c 32 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:

The definitions in this section apply throughout this section and RCW ((43.215.145, 43.215.147, and 43.121.185))43.216.130, 43.216.152, 43.216.155, 43.216.159 (as recodified by this act), and section 2 of this act unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(1) "Evidence-based" means a program or practice that has had multiple site random controlled trials across heterogeneous populations demonstrating that the program or practice is effective for the population.

(2) "Home visitation" means providing services in the permanent or temporary residence, or in other familiar surroundings, of the family receiving such services.

(3) "Longer-term home visiting" means evidence-based, research-based, or promising practice home visiting services delivered to a family on a monthly basis or a more frequent interval over a period of one to three years.

(5) "Research-based" means a program or practice that has some research demonstrating effectiveness, but that does not yet meet the standard of evidence-based practices.

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