- Legislative updates for DD advocates
- Sign up for advocacy days or support
- Bills of interest to the DD community
Key bills of interest this week:
- SB
5284 – Eliminating subminimum wages. Being
heard Monday morning
- SB 5268 – Transforming services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Being heard Monday afternoon.
SUMMARY: There are fewer public hearings this week as committees start to pass bills out of committee. Typically, bills are revised before passing out of committee and legislators are using this time to draft amendments. If the bill has a fiscal note (costs money) it will be referred the budget writing committee (Appropriations in the House, Ways and Means in the Senate). If not, it will go to Rules for consideration for a floor vote. The first cutoff deadline for the session is February 15. All bills must clear their policy committees in their chamber of origin (Houses bills pass out of assigned House committee; Senate bills pass out of assigned Senate committees).
The public can watch committee action and read proposed amendments, but there is no public testimony on proposed amendments.
In this week’s preview:
- Public hearing schedule – highlighting bills of note to the developmental disability community
- Notable bills not yet scheduled for a hearing
- Key bills that are advancing
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2021
Senate Labor, Commerce & Tribal Affairs; 9:30 am
SB 5284 - Eliminating subminimum wage certificates for persons with disabilities.
Sponsors: Randall, Billig, Carlyle, Das, Hasegawa, Hunt, Keiser, Kuderer, Liias, Lovelett, Nguyen, Nobles, Robinson, Saldaña, Salomon, Stanford, Wellman, Wilson, C.
- Prohibits the Washington Department of Labor and
Industries (L&I) from issuing subminimum wage special certificates after
July 31, 2023.
- Requires L&I to notify the employer,
employee, and other individuals of specific information related to special
certificates prior to expiration.
- Provides a process by which special certificates
may be extended under certain conditions.
- Mandates the Washington Department of Social and
Health Services (DSHS) to continue providing services and technical assistance to
individuals with disabilities while prioritizing certificate expirations.
- Requires L&I and DSHS to submit an annual report containing specific information related to individuals employed under special certificates until all remaining certificates have expired.
Our take: We championed a similar bill two years ago; ending subminimum wages is a long-time advocacy goal of many advocates with disabilities and organizations that support them. While the debate in Washington has centered on people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, the law applies to any disability. (Language in state law: “The employment of individuals whose earning capacity is impaired by age or physical or mental deficiency or injury”). Essentially, people with disabilities and older workers can be asked to take a productivity test, and then their pay is determined based on that test. People without disabilities are not subject to this request. The bill does not apply to apprenticeships or people under age 18. The law predates civil rights legislation, including the Americans with Disabilities Act. The proposed bill includes a phase out plan for certificates that allow subminimum wages.
-
Senate Health & Long Term Care; 1:30 pm
SB 5268 - Transforming services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities by increasing the capabilities of community residential settings and redesigning the long-term nature of intermediate care facilities.
Sponsors: Keiser, Braun, Nguyen
- Requires caseload forecasting and budgeting for the number of individuals requesting individual family services
and Basic Plus Waivers services and the number of individuals expected to reside in state-operated living alternatives.
- Directs the Department of Social and Health Services to examine the need for
community respite beds and crisis stabilization services, study Medicaid rates for contracted community residential service providers, develop quality metrics for community residential and residential habilitation centers, coordinate services across systems, and establish a staffing plan to achieve one case manager per 35 clients.
- Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review
Committee to review the Developmental Disabilities Administration's eligibility
procedures.
- Establishes a joint legislative executive task force to redesign the long-term nature of intermediate care facilities and establish a network of smaller, skilled nursing facilities in community settings to serve individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities
Our take: Plus – the bill keeps the conversation going about the future of supporting people with I/DD; provides stronger language for budgeting for IFS and Basic Plus waivers; and looks to capture data about crisis/respite. Negative – It delays a small win from last session and fails to factor in the number of people who may need community residential services under the Core waiver.
Legislation last year (SB 6040, 2020) required courtesy caseload forecasting for the IFS and Basic Plus waivers and, if funded, a review of DDA’s No Paid Services list to reflect an accurate count of who is eligible and interested in receiving services. This new bill (SB 5268) delays that courtesy forecast to 2023. It adds a courtesy forecast for expected use of State Operated Living Alternatives. It leaves out forecasting for the Core waiver/ community residential support.
Hundreds of people use SOLAs versus thousands who use community residential, so this could have a substantial impact on any attempt to accurately reflect and plan for the true need for DDA services.
One plus is it directs the governor and legislature to consider including forecast numbers for IFS and Basic Plus waivers in their budgets. And it requires DSHS to request funding for these expenditures. It does NOT require them to include or fund them, however. (Unlike personal care, DD waiver services are not entitlement. DDA does not request funds for people eligible but not served, and the legislature does not factor that information into its allocation decisions for DDA.)
-
Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education; 1:30 pm
SB 5376 - Promoting awareness of the governor's office of the education ombuds.
Sponsors: Wilson, C., Wellman
- Requires public schools to annually notify parents, students, and school employees about the services available through the Office of the Education Ombuds (OEO).
- Tasks OEO with developing a template of the notification information with translation into Spanish and include other languages as resources allow.
Our take: The OEO is awesome and every family of a public school student should know about this amazing resource to help people better understand their rights and obligations so they can work constructively with school districts.
-
House Children, Youth & Families; 1:30 pm
HB 1347 - Concerning exceptional foster care maintenance payments.
Sponsors: Caldier, Robertson, Davis, Simmons, Senn, Berg
- Requires the Department of Children, Youth, and Families to provide foster maintenance payments that are at least one third of the payment that a qualified residential treatment program would receive for children exhibiting certain behaviors.
-
HB 1354 - Concerning suicide review teams.
Sponsors: Mosbrucker, Orwall, Davis, Ramos, Callan, Berry, Valdez, Jacobsen, Bergquist, Dent, Pollet
- Establishes the Washington Youth Suicide Review Team to review the circumstances related to suicides occurring among youth up to age 24.
-
House Appropriations; 3:30 pm
SHB 1089 - Concerning compliance audits of requirements relating to peace officers and law enforcement agencies.
Sponsors: Ramos, Goodman, Leavitt, Slatter, Wylie, Bateman, Berry, Dolan, Ramel, Ortiz-Self, Senn, Peterson, Gregerson, Ryu, Valdez, Callan, Kloba, Hackney, Chopp, Duerr, Ormsby, Taylor, Bronoske, Fey, Lekanoff, Santos, Macri, Johnson, J., Frame, Orwall, Pollet
- Authorizes the State Auditor to review a deadly
force investigation to determine whether the involved actors complied with all
applicable rules and procedures.
- Authorizes the State Auditor, upon the request of the Criminal Justice Training Commission, to review a law enforcement agency to ensure compliance with all applicable rules and procedures governing the training and certification of the agency's peace officers.
-
SHB 1092 - Concerning law enforcement data collection.
Sponsors: Lovick, Goodman, Berry, Leavitt, Fitzgibbon, Johnson, J., Slatter, Wylie, Bateman, Ramos, Berg, Sells, Dolan, Tharinger, Simmons, Ramel, Ortiz-Self, Senn, Peterson, Gregerson, Ryu, Bronoske, Valdez, Callan, Kloba, Hackney, Chopp, Duerr, Ormsby, Taylor, Lekanoff, Frame, Santos, Macri, Orwall, Davis, Pollet, Bergquist, Harris-Talley
- Requires the Washington State University (WSU)
to establish a program to collect, report, and publish information on law
enforcement's use of force and other interactions with and incidents involving
the public.
- Requires all general and limited authority law enforcement agencies to participate in the program by collecting and reporting certain information to the WSU.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2021
House Education; 8:00 am
HB 1366 - Requiring school districts to prioritize the resumption of in-person instruction to certain students following an emergency.
- Requires school districts that have discontinued the provision of in-person instruction due to an emergency to, when resuming in-person instruction, prioritize instruction for students meeting specified requirements, including:
- Students in foster care
- Students experiencing homelessness
- Students recently released from a juvenile rehabilitation facility or other facility providing education services to students in an institutional setting;
- Students with 504 plans
- Students who have 10 or more unexcused absences within any month during the current school year
Our take: We appreciate the focus on students often furthest from educational justice. But why aren’t students enrolled in special education prioritized? Special education students have not only missed out of individualized instruction and related supports, in many cases they are regressing and losing key developmental skills.
-
HB 1373 - Promoting student access to information about behavioral health resources.
Sponsors: Callan, Steele, Ortiz-Self, Dolan, Johnson, J., Slatter, Bergquist, Leavitt, Davis, Fey, Simmons, Berry, Thai, Wicks, Ryu, Kloba, Chambers, Berg, Wylie, Santos, Paul, Ormsby, Ramel, Macri, Pollet, Morgan, Harris-Talley
-
HB 1450 - Procuring, and supporting the use of, appropriate computers and devices for public school students and instructional staff by levying a tax on wireless devices.
-
Finance; 1:30 pm
HB 1297 - Concerning working families tax exemption.
Sponsors: Thai, Stokesbary, Ramel, Ryu, Robertson, Leavitt, Bateman, Fitzgibbon, Shewmake, Chapman, Johnson, J., Senn, Frame, Riccelli, Chopp, Wylie, Wicks, Simmons, Boehnke, Berry, Davis, Tharinger, Walsh, Eslick, Goodman, Peterson, Santos, Valdez, Cody, Chambers, Kloba, Ramos, Kirby, Bronoske, Gregerson, Macri, Callan, Paul, Sells, Bergquist, Ormsby, Pollet, Slatter, Stonier, Taylor, Harris-Talley
-
HB 1406 - Improving the equity of Washington state's tax code by creating the Washington state wealth tax and taxing extraordinary financial intangible assets.
Sponsors: Frame, Sullivan, Ormsby, Ortiz-Self, Kirby, Davis, Bateman, Valdez, Kloba, Pollet, Walen, Dolan, Simmons, Cody, Ramel, Lekanoff, Duerr, Ryu, Berry, Peterson, Hackney, Chopp, Macri, Bergquist, Riccelli, Harris-Talley
-
Appropriations; 3:30 pm
Overview of selected housing related programs in the Department of Commerce.
-
Ways & Means; 4:00 pm
SB 5343 - Revising 2019-2021 fiscal biennium appropriations… in the developmental disabilities and long-term care programs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sponsors: Rolfes, Robinson, Dhingra, Nguyen
- Modifies funding sources for certain Medicaid-eligible COVID-19 related expenses incurred in calendar year
2020.
- Attributes funding for these expenses to a combination of the Budget Stabilization Account and federal Medicaid matching funds, rather than the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF), freeing up CRF for other allowable uses.
-
HB 1367 - Revising 2019-2021 fiscal biennium appropriations…in the developmental disabilities and long-term care programs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sponsors: Ormsby, Bergquist, Ramos, Callan, Gregerson, Simmons, Berry, Sullivan, Leavitt, Kloba, Macri, Ramel, Harris-TalleyComment on this bill
- This bill is a companion to SB 5343. It is expected to be voted out of the House and could be amended. At this point it is substantially the same bill as SB 5343.
-
SB 5344 - Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic through state actions supported by federal funding.
Sponsors: Rolfes, Robinson, Billig, Dhingra, Nguyen, Nobles, Randall, Saldaña
- Appropriates $2.2 billion in federal funding from a combination of the federal Consolidated Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, the Coronavirus Relief Fund under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, and Medicaid for K-12 public schools, public health, healthcare, assistance to individuals and families, housing assistance, and business assistance.
-
1368 - Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic through state actions supported by federal funding.
Sponsors: Ormsby, Macri, Ramos, Callan, Gregerson, Berry, Sullivan, Leavitt, Duerr, Bergquist, Kloba, Riccelli, Ramel, Harris-Talley, Pollet
- This bill is a companion to SB 5344. It is expected to be voted out of the House and could be amended. At this point it is substantially the same bill as SB 5344.
-
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2021
Housing & Local Government; 10:30 am
SB 5107 - Addressing homelessness.
Sponsors: Fortunato
-
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021
Health & Long Term Care; 8:00 am
Work session: The impact of COVID-19 on behavioral health
-
BILLS OF INTEREST – NO HEARINGS YET
SB 5096 – Capital gains tax. A priority of the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance
SB 5160 - Provides legal representation for tenants facing eviction, requires repayment plans for unpaid rent during the pandemic, and ensures that landlords and tenants can access state rental assistance programs. A priority of WLIHA
BILLS OF INTEREST – ADVANCING
EDUCATION
SB 5044 – Concerning professional learning, equity, cultural competency, and dismantling institutional racism in the public school system.
Sponsors: Das, Wellman, Darneille, Hasegawa, Hunt, Lovelett, Nguyen, Nobles, Robinson, Saldaña, Stanford, Wilson, C.
Passed the Senate on 1/27 30-19
An amendment from the floor passed (Sen Wagoner); includes disability reference:
- EFFECT: Adds students with disabilities when adapting instruction to students' experiences within the definition of "cultural competency."
An amendment from the floor to tie in disability history month activities was withdrawn (Sen Wellman).
-
HB 1153 – Increasing language access in public schools.
Sponsors: Orwall, Gregerson, Davis, Hackney, Macri, Callan, Pollet, Ramos, Bergquist, Thai, Johnson, J., Simmons, Valdez
Committee action expected Thursday 2/4
-
HB 1366 – Requiring school districts to prioritize the resumption of in-person instruction to certain students following an emergency.
Committee action expected 2/4. Advocates startled that special education left out.
-
HB 1295 - Providing public education to youth in or released from institutional education facilities.
Sponsors: Callan, Eslick, Ramel, Leavitt, Simmons, Springer, Fitzgibbon, Dolan, Bateman, Shewmake, Johnson, J., Senn, Sutherland, Walen, Peterson, Davis, Goodman, Hackney, Kloba, Fey, Ramos, Frame, Ryu, Macri, Bergquist, Pollet, Stonier
Committee action expected 2/4
-
SB 5030 - Developing comprehensive school counseling programs.
Sponsors: Mullet, Wellman, Conway, Darneille, Hasegawa, Kuderer, Liias, Lovelett, Nguyen, Rivers, Salomon, Wilson, C.
Passed committee and before Rules
-
EARLY LEARNING AND CHILDCARE
HB 1213 – Expanding accessible, affordable childcare and early childhood development programs.
Sponsors: Senn, Chopp, Ramos, Bateman, Sells, Shewmake, Lekanoff, Peterson, Stonier, Duerr, Fitzgibbon, Berry, Rule, Davis, Wicks, Fey, Callan, Dolan, Frame, Lovick, Chapman, Ryu, Santos, Thai, Ortiz-Self, Orwall, Simmons, Slatter, Gregerson, Bergquist, Hackney, Valdez, Ramel, Riccelli, Macri, Goodman, Harris-Talley
Committee action expected Thursday, 2/4. Disability advocates are asking for a requirement that state-subsidized child care not be allowed to turn a child away because they are not potty trained yet. Families of children with disabilities report this is a major barrier to child care
-
SB 5237 – Senate’s companion to HB 1213. Expanding child care and early learning
Sponsors: Wilson, C., Dhingra, Das, Billig, Conway, Darneille, Hasegawa, Hunt, Keiser, Kuderer, Liias, Lovelett, Nguyen, Nobles, Pedersen, Saldaña, Salomon
Committee action expected Wednesday, 2/3. Advocates are seeking amendment for potty training
-
HUMAN SERVICES
HB 1061 - Concerning youth eligible for developmental disability services who are expected to exit the child welfare system.
Sponsors: Senn, Dent, Leavitt, Wicks, Slatter, Wylie, Simmons, Kloba, Ortiz-Self, Gregerson, Callan, Young, Morgan, Frame, Santos, Rule, Davis
Passed policy committee with amendments. Referred to appropriations. Substitute language (Rep Senn)
-
CIVIL RIGHTS/LEGAL
HB 1071 - Concerning bias-based criminal offenses.
Sponsors: Valdez, Lekanoff, Leavitt, Fitzgibbon, Kloba, Ramel, Senn, Ortiz-Self, Gregerson, Goodman, Ryu, Ormsby, Santos, Macri, Johnson, J., Davis, Pollet, Bergquist
Passed out of committee 1/18
-
HB 1197 - Concerning health care decisions made by a designated person.
Sponsors: Riccelli, Tharinger, Cody, Pollet, Harris-Talley
Passed out of committee 1/19
-
HB 1218 - Improving health, safety, and quality of life for residents in long-term care facilities.
Sponsors: Bateman, Simmons, Sells, Lekanoff, Peterson, Stonier, Davis, Taylor, Dolan, Orwall, Cody, Santos, Ortiz-Self, Fitzgibbon, Slatter, Bronoske, Callan, Valdez, Ramel, Riccelli, Macri, Goodman, Harris-Talley
Executive action expected 2/3
UPCOMING DEADLINES
February 15 - Policy cutoff/chamber of origin. All bills must pass out of policy committee in the chamber of origin
February 22 - Fiscal cutoff/chamber of origin. All bills with a fiscal note must pass out of budget writing committee in the chamber of origin
March 9 – Last day to consider bills in the chamber of origin (floor votes)
Once bills pass out of their chamber of origin they repeat the hearing process in the opposite chamber. Next policy and fiscal cut-off dates are March 26 and April 2. Last day to pass most bills off the floor is April 11 (with some exceptions, notably for bills necessary to implement the budget and the budget).
The last day of the regular session is April 25, 2021.
- Information compiled by Ramona Hattendorf, Director of Advocacy, The Arc of King County
