Join us for advocacy days!
This week’s focus is on families - the care they provide and challenges they face. Register here for Wednesday's Family Advocacy Day briefing.
(10 am via Zoom)
All advocacy day briefings are recorded. You can view past advocacy days and register for future ones here
- Jan 27 – 2021 Legislative Briefing & Legislative Reception
- Feb 3 – Community residential
- Feb 10 – Employment supports
- THIS WEEK: Families save money
- Feb 24 – March is DD awareness month
Special education update:
We strongly encourage you to watch the work session held Monday for the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Committee: Addressing learning loss and inclusion for students and youth receiving special education services
They discussed funding and policy considerations that OSPI is pulling together. Also – there is a great panel presentation on the Inclusionary Practices project underway. Super informative both in explaining what educators are doing, and in offering ideas for policy and funding asks.
Bill action this week:
Attention moves to fiscal committees and floor votes.
Note, the House Appropriations committee is expected to hear and
vote on bills through Saturday, but only has bills scheduled through Tuesday at
this time. You can check for agenda updates later
in the week here
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16
Finance; 9 am
HB 1477 - Implementing the national 988 system to enhance and expand behavioral health crisis response and suicide prevention services.
Sponsors: Orwall, Davis, Ortiz-Self, Callan, Simmons, Johnson, J., Goodman, Ryu, Ormsby, Valdez, Frame, Berg, Bergquist, Harris-Talley, Chopp, Macri, Peterson, Pollet
- Directs the Department of Health to designate crisis hotline centers that meet standards related to technology and the ability to identify and deploy community crisis resources for persons experiencing a behavioral health crisis.
- Requires behavioral health administrative services organizations to have community-based rapid crisis response services for persons who contact the 988 Crisis Hotline in need of stabilization services.
- Establishes a 988 Crisis Hotline System Director to provide direction and oversight in the implementation and administration of the 988 Crisis Hotline and behavioral health crisis system.
- Creates an implementation coalition to monitor the implementation of the 988 Crisis Hotline System and the improvements to behavioral health crisis services.
- Establishes the Statewide 988 Behavioral Health Crisis Response Line Tax on phone lines to fund the crisis hotline centers and response services.
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HB 1460 - Closing the digital divide by establishing excise taxes on telecommunications services to fund the expansion of the universal service programs in Washington.
Sponsors: Gregerson, Taylor, Simmons, Johnson, J., Lekanoff, Santos, Slatter, Dolan, Peterson, Callan, Ormsby, Morgan, Bateman, Bergquist, Ramel, Thai, Valdez, Pollet, Lovick, Macri, Chopp, Hackney, Ortiz-Self, Riccelli, Kloba, Harris-Talley
- Establishes the following programs: Senior Call-Check Service and Notification Program; Washington Lifeline Program; Universal Teleconnect Service Program; Digital Equity Opportunity Grant Program; and Digital Equity Planning Grant Program.
- Modifies the existing Universal Communications Services Account to create a Universal Services Account for receipt of revenues and expenditures of programs under the Act.
- Establishes a monthly $0.25 telephone and voice over Internet protocol tax on all switched access lines in the state.
- Establishes a monthly $0.25 Internet access tax imposed on all Internet access service subscriptions in the state.
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House Appropriations; 1:30 pm
SHB 1086 - Creating the state office of behavioral health consumer advocacy.
Sponsors: Simmons, Caldier, Bateman, Ortiz-Self, Shewmake, Ryu, Chopp, Cody, Goodman, Fey, Stonier, Macri, Fitzgibbon, Frame, Davis
- Eliminates regional behavioral health ombuds services and establishes the State Office of Behavioral Health Consumer Advocacy (SOBHCA) to coordinate the activities of behavioral health advocates across the state.
- Directs the SOBHCA to certify and coordinate the activities of behavioral health advocates throughout the state.
- Requires Medicaid managed care organizations to contract with the SOBHCA to reimburse it for behavioral health consumer advocacy services provided to their enrollees.
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ADVOCATES’ CHOICE
SHB 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
- Establishes a new account for child care and early learning purposes and includes a nonexhaustive list of allowable uses.
- Increases eligibility and decreases copayments in the Working Connections Child Care Program and expands eligibility in the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program.
- Provides for increased rates, training, grants, and services for child care and early learning providers.
- Increases supports for families of children from birth to age 3, as well as for their providers.
Our take: There are many reasons to support stabilizing the childcare workforce and helping early programs build out. The Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program – the state’s preschool program – is an inclusive model available to low-income children and children with IEPs. The more ECEAP slots we have, the greater access we all have to inclusive preschool options.
We appreciate the complex needs rate enhancement for ECEAP programs to better support children with disabilities or who have other complex needs. (What would make the bill ideal: Banning the practice of making self-toileting a requirement for childcare at state-subsidized programs.)
This bill is a priority of the Early Learning Action Alliance
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SHB 1225 - Concerning school-based health centers.
Sponsors: Stonier, Bateman, Lekanoff, Johnson, J., Davis, Cody, Santos, Thai, Ortiz-Self, Ormsby, Valdez, Riccelli, Tharinger
- Establishes the school-based health center program office within the Department of Health.
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SHB 1325 - Implementing policies related to children and youth behavioral health.
Sponsors: Callan, Eslick, Leavitt, Fitzgibbon, Thai, Duerr, Senn, Ortiz-Self, Davis, Bergquist, Ramos, Lekanoff, Pollet, Dent, Goodman
- Establishes the Partnership Access Line for Moms and the Mental Health Referral Service for Children and Teens as ongoing programs.
- Requires the Health Care Authority to provide reimbursement for up to five sessions of mental health intake and assessment of children from birth through age 5 in home and community settings.
- Requires providers to use the current version of the Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood.
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Senate Ways and Means; 1:30 pm
ADVOCATES’ CHOICE
SSB 5160 - Addressing landlord-tenant relations by providing certain tenant protections during and after public health emergencies, providing for legal representation in eviction cases, establishing an eviction resolution pilot program for nonpayment of rent cases, and authorizing landlord access to state rental assistance programs.
Sponsors: Kuderer, Liias, Conway, Das, Lovelett, Saldaña, Wilson, C.
- Prohibits landlords from terminating or refusing to renew a rental lease that expires at the end of the lease term or is subject to a 20-day termination notice until two years after expiration of any public health emergency, with exceptions.
- Authorizes tenants adversely impacted by COVID-19 to terminate their tenancy upon a 20-day written notice.
- Requires landlords, before any collection action for unpaid rent accrued during the Governor's eviction moratorium or public health emergency and if the rent debt is no more than six months, to first offer tenants a repayment plan schedule equal to or greater than payment of the rent debt in monthly payments of at least one-sixth of the rent debt owed.
- Requires the court to appoint counsel for indigent tenants at the initial hearing and at trial and for the state to pay the costs of such legal services subject to amounts appropriated.
- Requires the Administrative Office of the Courts to contract with dispute resolution centers to establish a two-year, statewide eviction resolution pilot program to facilitate the resolution of nonpayment of rent cases.
- Requires the Department of Commerce to authorize landlords an opportunity to apply to certain state rental assistance programs, if feasible, while establishing necessary application and eligibility and conditions on receipt of funds .
- Provides that unlawful detainer actions are presumptively of limited dissemination, with exceptions.
- Eliminates the optional notice for landlords to use in nonpayment of rent cases that instructs tenants to pay into the court registry the rent allegedly owed or file a statement denying rent is owed.
Our take: This bill is a priority of the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance. In their words: This bill will expand legal assistance for renters throughout Washington, require a reasonable payment plan for tenants to get caught up, and more. Right to Counsel policies around the nation have been shown to drastically reduce evictions and prevent homelessness, and we have the opportunity to give tenants access to representation in our communities.
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ADVOCATES’ CHOICE
SSB 5237 - Expanding accessible, affordable childcare and early childhood development programs.
Sponsors: Wilson, C., Dhingra, Das, Billig, Conway, Darneille, Hasegawa, Hunt, Keiser, Kuderer, Liias, Lovelett, Nguyen, Nobles, Pedersen, Saldaña, Salomon
Companion to HB 1213.
- Establishes a new account for child care and early learning purposes and includes a non-exhaustive list of allowable uses.
- Expands eligibility and decreases co-payments in the Working Connections Child Care Program and expands eligibility in the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program.
- Provides increased rates, training, grants, supports, and services for child care and early learning providers.
- Increases prenatal-to-three supports for providers and families.
Our take: Please see comments on HB 1213, above. Great programs; solid investments. Passage and funding should improve access for children with disabilities. Even better: Preventing state-subsidized childcare providers from refusing children who are not self-toileting. Many legislators, and quite a few childcare advocates, do not realize the impact toileting requirements have on families of children with disabilities.
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SSB 5327 - Creating a confidential youth safety and well-being tip line.
Sponsors: Brown, Frockt, Lovelett, Rivers, Short, Warnick, Wellman
- Requires the Attorney General to establish a YES tip line to receive and respond to tips from the public regarding risks or potential risks to the safety or well-being of youth.
- Creates confidentiality provisions regarding information provided to the YES tip line.
- Directs the Attorney General to create a reference and best practice tool kit for law enforcement and mental health resources that provides statewide and community mental health resource information
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17
House Appropriations; 1:30 pm
SHB 1073 - Expanding coverage of the paid family and medical leave program.
Sponsors: Berry, Wicks, Fitzgibbon, Bateman, Tharinger, Simmons, Kloba, Ramel, Ortiz-Self, Goodman, Ryu, Bronoske, Hackney, Chopp, Riccelli, Stonier, Frame, Macri, Davis, Pollet, Bergquist, Harris-Talley
- Modifies the definition of "family member" for Paid Family and Medical Leave.
- Provides temporary alternate eligibility for claims through June 30, 2022.
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SHB 1220 - Supporting emergency shelters and housing through local planning and development regulations.
Sponsors: Peterson, Macri, Bateman, Ryu, Lekanoff, Fitzgibbon, Kloba, Davis, Lovick, Santos, Ortiz-Self, Simmons, Berg, Hackney, Chopp, Tharinger, Frame
- Updates the housing goals of the Growth Management Act to include planning for and accommodating affordable housing.
- Requires jurisdictions to address moderate, low, very low, and extremely low-income housing in the housing element of the comprehensive plan.
- Requires jurisdictions to address racially disparate impacts and displacement in the housing element of the comprehensive plan.
- Requires the Department of Commerce to provide the inventory and analysis of existing and projected housing needs required in the housing element of the comprehensive plan.
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HB 1500 - Concerning regular financial audits of school districts.
Sponsors: Sullivan, Ortiz-Self, Pollet
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Senate Ways and Means; 4 pm
SSB 5228 - Addressing disproportionate health outcomes by building a foundation of equity in medical training.
Sponsors: Randall, Liias, Das, Lovelett, Nobles, Wilson, C., Darneille, Hasegawa, Keiser, Kuderer, Nguyen, Robinson
- Requires public medical schools to develop health equity curriculum for medical students.
- Requires public medical school students to complete a course, or courses, on health equity prior to graduating.
- Requires each public medical school to create a goal regarding student representation and report progress on that goal annually.
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SSB 5259 - Concerning law enforcement data collection.
Sponsors: Nobles, Carlyle, Darneille, Das, Dhingra, Frockt, Hasegawa, Hunt, Keiser, Kuderer, Liias, Lovelett, Nguyen, Pedersen, Randall, Robinson, Saldaña, Stanford, Wellman, Wilson, C.
- Requires the Attorney General's Office establish an advisory group to make recommendations for implementation of a program for statewide data collection, reporting, and publication of use of force data.
- Directs the advisory board to conduct a competitive bid process to select a university to design, develop, and mange the data collection program.
- Requires that no later than July 1, 2022, all law enforcement agencies must report all instances of the use of force to the university on a quarterly basis.
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ADVOCATES’ CHOICE
SSB 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 courtesy caseload forecasting and budgeting projections for the number of individuals requesting supported living, services provided through the Core, Individual and Family Services, and Basic Plus Waivers, and the number of individuals expected to reside in state-operated living alternatives (SOLAs).
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.
Our take: This is a critical bill that advances a vision of coordinated community supports for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It builds on last year’s caseload forecasting bill and helps define the evolution of residential habilitation centers. This bill does not require the legislature to fund additional DDA waiver slots, or create entitlement services, but it would require the state to assess what the actual need is and price it out. It is a necessary step in aligning state services to actual community need. We also like the rate study for direct support providers.
This is a priority bill of The Arc of Washington and its state chapters.
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18
House Finance committee; 8 am
SHB 1015 - Creating the Washington equitable access to credit act.
Sponsors: Maycumber, Chapman, Tharinger, Graham, Santos, Macri
- Establishes the Equitable Access to Credit Program (Program) within the Department of Commerce for the purpose of awarding grants to qualified lending institutions to provide access to credit for historically underserved communities.
- Creates a credit against business and occupation (B&O) taxes owed for contributions made to the Program.
- Authorizes a maximum B&O tax credit of $1 million per taxpayer per year and a total B&O tax credit for the Program of $8 million per year
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19
Senate Ways and Means; 9 am
SSB 5287 - Concerning affordable housing incentives.
Sponsors: Das, Kuderer, Conway, Keiser, Liias, Nguyen, Nobles, Pedersen, Randall, Salomon, Wilson, C.
- Authorizes a 12-year extension of existing 8-year and 12-year Multi-Family Property Tax Exemptions (MFTEs) that are set to expire if they meet certain affordability requirements.
- Establishes a new 20-year property tax exemption for the creation of permanently affordable homes.
- Temporarily expands the 12- year MFTE and the 20- year exemption for permanently affordable homes to all cities until December 31, 2024 if they meet certain density requirements.
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SSB 5399 - Concerning the creation of a universal health care commission.
Sponsors: Randall, Cleveland, Das, Dhingra, Frockt, Hunt, Kuderer, Liias, Lovelett, Nguyen, Nobles, Robinson, Saldaña, Stanford, Van De Wege, Wellman, Wilson, C.
- Establishes the universal health care commission.
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SB 5265 - Creating a bridge year pilot program.
Sponsors: Hunt, Das, Nguyen, Wellman, Wilson, C.
- Requires the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer a bridge year pilot program that allows students in the graduating classes of 2021 and 2022 an additional year to take courses at the student’s high school, an institution of higher education, or a combination.
- Establishes that students participating in the program shall be considered Running Start students for funding allocation and enrollment purposes.
- Allows bridge year students to participate in Running Start and take College in the High School courses.
- Directs participating high schools to establish a bridge-year liaison who, in consultation with participating students, creates individual learning plans for participating students.
- Requires districts to expunge any D or F grade from a participating student’s transcript if the student takes the same course during their bridge year and completes the course with a higher grade.
- Permits students in the pilot program to participate in extracurricular activities at their high school.
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SB 5405 - Instructing the joint legislative audit and review committee to perform racial equity analyses.
Sponsors: Hasegawa, Conway, Liias, Nguyen, Saldaña, Wilson, C.
- Requires the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee to incorporate a racial equity analysis, or note if a racial equity analysis is not necessary or appropriate, in its performance audits, sunset reviews, and other audits or reports.
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SSB 5241 - Promoting economic inclusion.
Sponsors: Dhingra, Nguyen, Darneille, Das, Hasegawa, Hunt, Keiser, Liias, Nobles, Saldaña, Stanford, Wilson, C.
- Creates economic inclusion grants, subject to appropriation, to promote equity, economic inclusion, and a stable financial foundation for people experiencing poverty.
- Directs the Department of Commerce to provide progress reports and other information regarding economic inclusion grants to the Governor, Legislature, and the Legislative Executive WorkFirst Poverty Reduction Task Force, by November 15, 2021, and annually thereafter.
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SSB 5249 - Supporting mastery-based learning.
Sponsors: Wellman, Nobles, Das, Dhingra, Hasegawa, Kuderer, Nguyen, Saldaña, Wilson, C.
- Requires the Mastery-Based Learning Work Group to develop a Washington State profile of a high school graduate, in consultation with the Educational Opportunity Gap Oversight and Accountability Committee and others
- Places additional representatives from various education groups on the work group.
- Directs the State Board of Education (SBE) to develop recommendations relating to the profile of a graduate.
- Requires the SBE to perform a survey on graduation pathways that includes high school students and recent graduates.
Bills referred to fiscal committee but not yet scheduled:
HB 1153 – Increasing language access for K-12 families
HB 1295 – Providing education in institutional settings
Bills referred for floor vote:
SB 5284 - Eliminating subminimum wage/disabilities
