Concerning sustainable recycling.

Creates the recycling development center, within the department of ecology, to provide or facilitate basic and applied research and development, marketing, and policy analysis in furthering the development of markets and processing for recycled commodities and products.

Requires the department of ecology to: (1) Enter into an interagency agreement with the department of commerce to perform or contract for certain activities;

(2) Create and implement a statewide recycling contamination reduction and outreach plan based on best management practices for recycling, developed with stakeholder input; and

(3) Provide technical assistance and create guidance to help local jurisdictions determine the extent of contamination in their regional recycling and to develop contamination reduction and outreach plans.

Requires each county and city comprehensive solid waste management plan to include a contamination reduction and outreach plan.

Authorizes certain local governments to apply to the department for financial aid for the preparation and implementation of the contamination reduction and outreach plans.

Addressing the effective date of certain actions taken under the growth management act.

Addresses the growth management act with regard to initial effective dates of actions that: (1) Expand an urban growth area;

(2) Remove the designation of agricultural, forest, or mineral resource lands;

(3) Create or expand a limited area of more intensive rural development;

(4) Establish a new fully contained community; or

Concerning curing ballots to assure that votes are counted.

Requires the record that is kept of ballots with missing and mismatched signatures to be updated each day that ballots are processed, each time a voter was contacted or a notice was mailed, and when a voter submitted updated information.

Concerning the proposed department of natural resources' marbled murrelet long-term conservation strategy.

Prohibits the board of natural resources from adopting a marbled murrelet long-term conservation strategy until the required analysis, mentioned below, has been finalized and made available for public review.

Concerning basic education funding.

Changes the maximum dollar amount that may be levied by or for a school district for enrichment levies.

Requires funding for additional school nurses, guidance counselors, and family and community engagement coordinators to be phased in.

Requires the legislature to begin phasing in funding for content-specific professional learning days for certain staff.

Requires each school district board of directors to adopt an unrestricted minimum fund balance for their general fund of no less than 8.5 percent of their prior year's state apportionment.

Requires the office of the superintendent of public instruction to: (1) Adopt rules necessary to create a menu of professional learning topics;

(2) Develop online training modules for professional learning topics regarding the development of individualized education programs; and

(3) Calculate the actual minimum fund balance amount for each school district for the directors' review and adoption.

Changing the name of the medical quality assurance commission to the Washington medical commission.

Directing the department of ecology to adopt a rule governing the evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions under chapter 43.21C RCW.

Requires the department of ecology to: (1) Adopt a rule establishing the process by which lead agencies evaluate environmental impacts of greenhouse gas emissions when conducting environmental review of project and nonproject actions under the state environmental policy act; and

Concerning vital statistics.

Provides a framework for ongoing administration of a single comprehensive vital records system that is operated and maintained by the department of health, under the supervision of the state registrar, to preserve the security, integrity, and confidentiality of state vital records and vital statistics.

Exempts the following from public inspection and copying under the public records act: Vital records, reports, indices, supporting documentation, vital statistics, and data.

Modernizing the control of certain communicable diseases.

Concerning health care provider credentialing by health carriers.

Prohibits a health carrier from requiring a health care provider to submit credentialing information in a format other than through the database selected under RCW 48.165.035.

Decreases the amount of time in which a health carrier must make a determination approving or denying a credentialing application from a health care provider.

Concerning an ambulance transport quality assurance fee.

Provides for a safety net fee for certain ambulance transports to be used to augment funding from other sources, thereby supporting additional payments to ambulance transport providers for medicaid services.

Requires the state health care authority to establish the manner and format for ambulance transport providers to report required data.

Imposes a quality assurance fee for each ambulance transport provided by each ambulance transport provider subject to the fee.

Provides for termination and repeal, under the sunset act, of the authorization for ambulance transport quality assurance fees.

Concerning dental hygienists.

Changes the composition of the dental hygiene examining committee by increasing the number of practicing dental hygienists to four.

Allows the renewal of an initial limited license upon demonstration of successful passage of an educational program on the administration of local anesthesia and nitrous oxide analgesia.

Concerning online access to health care resources for veterinarians and veterinary technicians.

Establishing the opportunities for employment in hospitality grant.

Creates the opportunities for employment in hospitality grant to increase the number of people from the targeted population employed in the hospitality industry.

Requires the commissioner of the employment security department to: (1) Develop and write the grant;

(2) Publicly solicit applicants for the grant;

(3) Award the grant; and

(4) Perform audits necessary to ensure grant funds are used solely to support the objectives of the grant.

Requires the secretary of the department of social and health services to coordinate with grant recipients to help refer individuals from the targeted population to wraparound services for which they are eligible.

Concerning liquor licenses.

Changes the timing in the renewal and expiration of a liquor license that is issued by the state liquor and cannabis board.

Updating the watercraft excise tax exemption for nonprofit organizations and associations.

Creating a sales tax holiday for back-to-school clothing and supplies.

Exempts the following from sales and use taxes: (1) A clothing item if the sales price of the item is less than one hundred dollars; and

(2) A school supply item if the sales price of the item is less than ten dollars.

Prohibiting certain types of abortions.

Prohibits a person, except in the case of a medical emergency, from intentionally performing, attempting to perform, or inducing an abortion on a pregnant woman: (1) That will result in the bodily dismemberment, crushing, or human vivisection of the unborn child; and

Ensuring participation on the oversight board for children, youth, and families by current or former foster youth, individuals with current or previous experience in the juvenile justice system, a physician with experience working with children or youth, and individuals residing east of the Cascade mountain range.

Changes the composition of the oversight board for children, youth, and families by including the following as members: (1) A current or former foster youth under age twenty-five;

(2) An individual under age twenty-five with current or previous experience with the juvenile justice system; and

(3) A physician with experience working with children or youth.

Concerning health care benefit management.

Repeals or recodifies chapter 19.340 RCW (pharmacy benefit managers).

Repeals chapter 19.365 RCW (radiology benefit managers).

Concerning liquor-related privileges of students enrolled in certain degree programs.

Permits an enrolled student, who is at least eighteen years old, to taste alcoholic beverages if he or she conducts the tasting: (1) On the premises of the college or university where he or she is enrolled; or

(2) On a field trip to a grape-growing area or production facility if he or she is accompanied by a faculty or staff member with a class 12 or 13 alcohol server permit.

Permits a licensee holding a domestic winery license to allow volunteers, between eighteen and twenty-one years old, to engage in wine-production related work at the winery's location, if the volunteer is enrolled as a student: (1) At a community or technical college, regional university, or state university with a special permit; and

Concerning the nursing facility medicaid payment system.

Changes the cutoff date for the department of social and health services to calculate the facility and medicaid average case mix indexes and establish and update a facility's direct care component rate.

Concerning certain providers sharing background checks.

Authorizes the following types of providers, for facilitating timely access to criminal background information and minimizing the number of requests made, to share copies of completed criminal background inquiry information: Health care facilities, in-home services agencies, community residential service businesses, and consumer directed employers.

Encouraging economic growth by providing a state business tax credit for new employment positions.

Provides a business and occupation tax credit for: (1) New employees hired for new positions created after July 1, 2019; and

(2) New positions filled by existing employees if the position vacated by the existing employee is filled by a new hire.

Requires the department of revenue to determine eligible areas for the following calendar year.

Concerning the sale and installation of solid fuel burning devices.

Prohibits a solid fuel burning device from being offered for sale or installed in new or existing buildings unless the device is certified to statewide emission performance standards.

Prohibits a solid fuel burning device from being offered for sale in this state to residents that does not meet the following particulate air contaminant emission standard under the test methodology of the United States environmental protection agency or adopted by the department of ecology or the United States environmental protection agency: Two grams per hour for all solid fuel burning devices.

Authorizes the department of ecology to adopt by rule a process to distribute the money in the woodstove education and enforcement account for woodstove education and enforcement.

Concerning port district worker development and occupational training programs.

Authorizes port districts to contract with nonprofit corporations and private and public entities that provide certain training systems and promote workforce diversity.

Concerning marketing the degradability of products.

Authorizes the attorney general and local governments to pursue false or misleading environmental claims for plastic products claiming to be compostable or biodegradable when in fact they are not.

Requiring the use of American or recycled steel products on certain public works.

Requires public works contracts to include a provision requiring that all steel products used or supplied in the performance of the contract and in any related subcontract must be: (1) Produced in the United States, at a facility regulated by the United States environmental protection agency; or

Naming of subcontractors by prime contract bidders on public works contracts.

Concerning homeless college students.

Requires the state board for community and technical colleges and the student achievement council to select four college districts, two on each side of the crest of the Cascade mountain range, and two public four-year institutions of higher education, one on each side of the crest of the Cascade mountain range, respectively, to participate in a pilot program to provide assistance to homeless students and students who were in the foster care system when they graduated high school.

Expires January 1, 2024.

-- 2019 REGULAR SESSION --
Jan 24	First reading, referred to College & Workforce Development.