AN ACT Relating to safe egress from adult family homes; and amending RCW 70.128.130.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 70.128.130 and 2012 c 164 s 704 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The provider is ultimately responsible for the day-to-day operations of each licensed adult family home.

(2) The provider shall promote the health, safety, and well-being of each resident residing in each licensed adult family home.

(3) Adult family homes shall be maintained internally and externally in good repair and condition. Such homes shall have safe and functioning systems for heating, cooling, hot and cold water, electricity, plumbing, garbage disposal, sewage, cooking, laundry, artificial and natural light, ventilation, and any other feature of the home.

(4) In order to preserve and promote the residential home-like nature of adult family homes, adult family homes licensed after August 24, 2011, shall:

(a) Have sufficient space to accommodate all residents at one time in the dining and living room areas;

(b) Have hallways and doorways wide enough to accommodate residents who use mobility aids such as wheelchairs and walkers; and

(c) Have outdoor areas that are safe and accessible for residents to use.

(5) The adult family home must provide all residents access to resident common areas throughout the adult family home including, but not limited to, kitchens, dining and living areas, and bathrooms, to the extent that they are safe under the resident's care plan.

(6) Adult family homes shall be maintained in a clean and sanitary manner, including proper sewage disposal, food handling, and hygiene practices.

(7) Adult family homes shall develop a fire drill plan for emergency evacuation of residents, shall have working smoke detectors in each bedroom where a resident is located, shall have working fire extinguishers on each floor of the home, and shall ((not keep))house nonambulatory ((patients above the first floor of the home))residents on a level with safe egress to a public right-of-way. Nonambulatory residents must have a bedroom on the floor of the home from which the resident can be evacuated to a designated safe location outside the home without the use of stairs, elevators, chair lifts, platform lifts, or other devices as determined by the department in rule.

(8) The adult family home shall ensure that all residents can be safely evacuated from the home in an emergency as established by the department in rule. The rules established by the department must be developed in consultation with the largest organization representing fire chiefs in the state of Washington.

(9) Adult family homes shall have clean, functioning, and safe household items and furnishings.

(10) Adult family homes shall provide a nutritious and balanced diet and shall recognize residents' needs for special diets.

(11) Adult family homes shall establish health care procedures for the care of residents including medication administration and emergency medical care.

(a) Adult family home residents shall be permitted to self-administer medications.

(b) Adult family home providers may administer medications and deliver special care only to the extent authorized by law.

(12) Adult family home providers shall either: (a) Reside at the adult family home; or (b) employ or otherwise contract with a qualified resident manager to reside at the adult family home. The department may exempt, for good cause, a provider from the requirements of this subsection by rule.

(13) A provider will ensure that any volunteer, student, employee, or person residing within the adult family home who will have unsupervised access to any resident shall not have been convicted of a crime listed under RCW 43.43.830 or 43.43.842, or been found to have abused, neglected, exploited, or abandoned a minor or vulnerable adult as specified in RCW 74.39A.056(2). A provider may conditionally employ a person pending the completion of a criminal conviction background inquiry, but may not allow the person to have unsupervised access to any resident.

(14) A provider shall offer activities to residents under care as defined by the department in rule.

(15) An adult family home must be financially solvent, and upon request for good cause, shall provide the department with detailed information about the home's finances. Financial records of the adult family home may be examined when the department has good cause to believe that a financial obligation related to resident care or services will not be met.

(16) An adult family home provider must ensure that staff are competent and receive necessary training to perform assigned tasks. Staff must satisfactorily complete department-approved staff orientation, basic training, and continuing education as specified by the department by rule. The provider shall ensure that a qualified caregiver is on-site whenever a resident is at the adult family home; any exceptions will be specified by the department in rule. Notwithstanding RCW 70.128.230, until orientation and basic training are successfully completed, a caregiver may not provide hands-on personal care to a resident without on-site supervision by a person who has successfully completed basic training or been exempted from the training pursuant to statute.

(17) The provider and resident manager must assure that there is:

(a) A mechanism to communicate with the resident in his or her primary language either through a qualified person on-site or readily available at all times, or other reasonable accommodations, such as language lines; and

(b) Staff on-site at all times capable of understanding and speaking English well enough to be able to respond appropriately to emergency situations and be able to read and understand resident care plans.

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