Subject: 2001 WASHINGTON STATE LEGISLATIVE REPORT #1
From: UW Center for Technology and Disability Studies (uwctds@u.washington.edu)
Date: Tue Jan 30 2001 - 09:19:12 PST
2001 WASHINGTON STATE LEGISLATIVE REPORT #1
January 29, 2001
Prepared by: Sharan E. Brown, J.D., Ed.D.
For the Washington Assistive Technology Alliance (WATA)
The regular session of the 57th Washington State Legislature began January
8, 2001 and as in previous years, WATA will be providing regular summaries
of the legislative activities of interest to users of adaptive technology
throughout the 105-day session.
This session is sure to be exciting; for starters, the House is split evenly
between Republican and Democrat representatives and the Senate is closely
matched with 25 Democrats and 24 Republicans. With no clear party majority,
it may be difficult to get the necessary votes to pass proposed legislation.
In addition, the legislature must pass the biennium (2001-2003) state budget
staying within the spending lid imposed by Initiative 601 that passed last
year. I-601 set a spending ceiling of 2% of total state revenues. Because
state revenues have gone down significantly-partly as a result of other
initiatives that passed last year-state services across all sectors of
government will be severely affected. Department budgets will have to be
cut, but just how much and where the cuts will come is still not clear.
Governor Locke has issued his proposed 2001-03 biennial budget request and
it does cut social services budgets significantly. However, this is not the
final word on the state budget by any means and disability advocacy groups
will be working hard to keep the cuts on services to individuals with
disabilities to a minimum.
During the first three weeks of this legislative session, no bills have been
introduced directly related to adaptive technology, although there are
several bills being considered which may indirectly affect users of
technology as well as other issues of importance to the disability community
as a whole. We will follow the bills described below during this session and
include new proposed legislation that may be of interest to our readers.
As in the previous legislative updates, we would like to call your attention
to the wealth of information available on the Washington State Legislature's
website (http://www.leg.wa.gov/). Here you can find your legislators' phone
number and email address, check on the status of a bill, and download copies
and obtain bill reports. Additional resources for information are listed at
the end of this report.
We encourage you to contact your legislatures and let them know what is
important to you and how you feel about issues being debated in Olympia. If
you would like to contact a member of the legislature, you can also do so by
calling the Legislative Hotline at (V) 1-800-562-6000 or TDD 1-800-635-9993.
The Legislative Information Center at 1-360-786-7573 also provides
information.
If you have questions concerning this legislative report, please call WATA
at 206-685-4181.
Health Care
Senate Bill (SB) 5423/House Bill (HB) 1390
Health Care Benefits for Individuals with Disabilities
The federal Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999
provides various incentives for unemployed individuals with disabilities to
return to work, including continued health care and support services when
they return to work. However, in order for Washington state citizens to
benefit from the federal programs, the state legislature must implement the
Ticket to Work. This bill proposes to do so and thus allow the state to take
advantage of the various federal work incentive programs, including the
continued health care coverage for individuals with disabilities returning
to work.
Prime sponsors are Senator Fairley and Representative Cody.
SB 5470/HB1259
Health Insurance for Former Foster Youth
This bill would allow Washington State to participate in a new optional
federal Medicaid program that provides Medicaid coverage for youth ages
19-21 leaving foster care. Under current state law, foster youth lose their
insurance when they turn 19 years old.
Prime sponsors of the house bill are Representatives Kip Tokuda and March
Boldt.
SB 5026
Prescription Drug Discount Program
Senate Bill 5026 is an attempt to address the increasing cost of
prescription drugs in state health care programs and for those individuals
without insurance coverage for prescription drugs. Under the bill, the state
would establish an aggregate purchasing prescription drug discount program
that would take advantage of the state's buying power and take advantage of
its position as major buyer of prescription drugs. The idea is that by doing
so the state will get a better price for the drugs it currently provides
under a variety of state programs. With the money saved by buying in larger
quantity and thereby reducing the total cost of state purchased prescription
drugs, the bill proposes to provide some relief to citizens who lack
prescription coverage.
Prime sponsor is Senator Franklin.
SB 5211/HB 1080
Comparable Mental Health Benefits
SB 5211/HB 1080 requires health insurers to provide comparable mental health
benefits to children. This means children would have the same co-pays for
mental health as other health services, and would have no arbitrary
outpatient or inpatient limits unless these same limits also applied to
other benefits. The bill also requires catastrophic coverage for adults; in
essence, this part of the bill tries to prevent the financial disaster that
can occur if one member of the family develops a mental disorder.
Prime sponsors are Senator Thibaudeau and Representative Ruderman.
SB 5271
Insurance Coverage for Certain Mental Illnesses
Health Carriers would be required to cover, pay for, contract for, or
reimburse for diagnosis and treatment of the following mental disorders as
defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
published by the American Psychiatric Association: Schizophrenia;
Schizoaffective Disorder; Major Depressive Disorder; Bipoloar Disorder;
Paranoid, schizoid and Schizotypal Disorders; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder;
and Panic Disorder. The bill goes on to require health carriers to do the
same for a minor's mental conditions not covered under this act under
certain conditions.
Prime sponsor of this bill is Senator Thibaudeau.
Miscellaneous
SB 5473/HB 1338
Developmental Disabilities Ombudsman
This bill establishes an ombudsman for individuals with developmental
disabilities as defined under state law.
Prime sponsors are Senator Thibaudeau and Representative Tokuda.
SB 5302
Tax Exemption for Providers of DD Services
The bill proposes a tax exemption for persons under contract to provide
services for individuals with developmental disabilities.
Prime Sponsor is Senator West.
SB 5288/HB 1192
Interpreters for Individuals who are Deaf
Under SB 5288, a licensure system is proposed for interpreters for the deaf.
Primary Sponsor is Senator Fraser. A public hearing on the Senate bill will
be held before the Senate Committee on Labor, Commerce and Financial
Institutions, Tuesday, January 30 at 8 AM.
Other Resources of Interest
There are numerous other measures of broader interest to the disability
community that are being considered in Olympia. More information about these
issues can be obtained from the following resources:
General Disability Issues: Contact Toby Olson at the Governor's Committee on
Disability Issues & Employment. 1-800-949-4232/1-360-438-3168.
Special Education Issues: Contact the Washington State Special Education
Coalition Parent Coordinator, Donna Obermeyer, via phone at 360-705-2113,
email at donaobrmyr@aol.com or by mail at 4537 Juli Ct. S.E., Olympia, WA
98501.
Developmental Disability Issues: The DD Community is ably represented by the
ARC and the Community Advocacy Coalition (CAC) which sponsor weekly
briefings every Wednesday at 10:00 am. The briefings are usually held in the
John Cherberg Building, Hearing Room 2. However, this location may change;
therefore, check with Bean Driscoll by email or phone at bean@arcwa.org or
1-888-754-8798. For more information about DD issues, contact Grier Jewell
with the ARC in Olympia at (360) 357-5596 or grier@arcwa.org. The ARC
Legislative Information Hotline provides daily updates on 1-800-205-0045.
Health & Social Policy: Nancy Amidei at the University of Washington School
of Social Work publishes a weekly update on legislative action on health and
public welfare issues on their website
http://weber.u.Washington.edu/~sswweb/ Click on Policy Watch 2001. To
receive email updates, contact Nancy at amidei@u.washington.edu.
Children's Issues: The Children's Alliance sponsors weekly updates on state
legislative activities with a focus on children's issues. To receive
Children's Alliance Legislative Alerts, contact Jon Gould at 206-324-0340
ext. 19 or jon@childrensalliance.org or Paul Berry at 360-754-3290. The
Alliance also sponsors weekly briefings in Olympia at 11:00 am on Thursdays,
House Hearing Room E. The Children's Alliance website address is
http://www.childrensalliance.org
_________________________________________
Sharan E. Brown, J.D., Ed.D.
Research Assistant Professor
Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
College of Education
Box 357920
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington 98195-7920
206-685-4010
206-543-4779 FAX
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