DCYF oversight board comp.

AN ACT Relating to providing compensation to members of the 1
department of children, youth, and families oversight board with 2
direct lived experience; and amending RCW 43.216.015.3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
Sec. 1. RCW 43.216.015 and 2021 c 304 s 4 are each amended to 5
read as follows: 6
(1)(a) The department of children, youth, and families is created 7
as an executive branch agency. The department is vested with all 8
powers and duties transferred to it under chapter 6, Laws of 2017 3rd 9
sp. sess. and such other powers and duties as may be authorized by 10
law. The vision for the department is that Washington state's 11
children and youth grow up safe and healthy — thriving physically, 12
emotionally, and academically, nurtured by family and community.13
(b) The department, in partnership with state and local agencies, 14
tribes, and communities, shall protect children and youth from harm 15
and promote healthy development with effective, high quality 16
prevention, intervention, and early education services delivered in 17
an equitable manner. An important role for the department shall be to 18
provide preventative services to help secure and preserve families in 19
crisis. The department shall partner with the federally recognized 20
Indian tribes to develop effective services for youth and families 21
S-0513.1
SENATE BILL 5199
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Senators C. Wilson, Frame, Hasegawa, Lovelett, Lovick, Nobles, and
Riccelli
Prefiled 01/09/25. Read first time 01/13/25. Referred to Committee
on Human Services.
p. 1 SB 5199
while respecting the sovereignty of those tribes and the government-1
to-government relationship. Nothing in chapter 6, Laws of 2017 3rd 2
sp. sess. alters the duties, requirements, and policies of the 3
federal Indian child welfare act, 25 U.S.C. Secs. 1901 through 1963, 4
as amended, or the Indian child welfare act, chapter 13.38 RCW.5
(2) Beginning July 1, 2018, the department must develop 6
definitions for, work plans to address, and metrics to measure the 7
outcomes for children, youth, and families served by the department 8
and must work with state agencies to ensure services for children, 9
youth, and families are science-based, outcome-driven, data-informed, 10
and collaborative. 11
(3)(a) Beginning July 1, 2018, the department must establish 12
short and long-term population level outcome measure goals, including 13
metrics regarding reducing disparities by family income, race, and 14
ethnicity in each outcome. 15
(b) In addition to transparent, frequent reporting of the outcome 16
measures in (c)(i) through (viii) of this subsection, the department 17
must report to the legislature an examination of engagement, resource 18
utilization, and outcomes for clients receiving department services 19
and youth participating in juvenile court alternative programs funded 20
by the department, no less than annually and beginning September 1, 21
2020. The data in this report must be disaggregated by race, 22
ethnicity, and geography. This report must identify areas of focus to 23
advance equity that will inform department strategies so that all 24
children, youth, and families are thriving. Metrics detailing 25
progress towards eliminating disparities and disproportionality over 26
time must also be included. The report must also include information 27
on department outcome measures, actions taken, progress toward these 28
goals, and plans for the future year. 29
(c) The outcome measures must include, but are not limited to:30
(i) Improving child development and school readiness through 31
voluntary, high quality early learning opportunities as measured by: 32
(A) Increasing the number and proportion of children kindergarten-33
ready as measured by the Washington kindergarten inventory of 34
developing skills (WAKids) assessment including mathematics; (B) 35
increasing the proportion of children in early learning programs that 36
have achieved the level 3 or higher early achievers quality standard; 37
and (C) increasing the available supply of licensed child care in 38
child care centers, outdoor nature-based child care, and family 39
homes, including providers not receiving state subsidy;40
p. 2 SB 5199
(ii) Preventing child abuse and neglect; 1
(iii) Improving child and youth safety, permanency, and well-2
being as measured by: (A) Reducing the number of children entering 3
out-of-home care; (B) reducing a child's length of stay in out-of-4
home care; (C) reducing maltreatment of youth while in out-of-home 5
care; (D) licensing more foster homes than there are children in 6
foster care; (E) reducing the number of children that reenter out-of-7
home care within twelve months; (F) increasing the stability of 8
placements for children in out-of-home care; and (G) developing 9
strategies to demonstrate to foster families that their service and 10
involvement is highly valued by the department, as demonstrated by 11
the development of strategies to consult with foster families 12
regarding future placement of a foster child currently placed with a 13
foster family; 14
(iv) Improving reconciliation of children and youth with their 15
families as measured by: (A) Increasing family reunification; and (B) 16
increasing the number of youth who are reunified with their family of 17
origin; 18
(v) In collaboration with county juvenile justice programs, 19
improving adolescent outcomes including reducing multisystem 20
involvement and homelessness; and increasing school graduation rates 21
and successful transitions to adulthood for youth involved in the 22
child welfare and juvenile justice systems; 23
(vi) Reducing future demand for mental health and substance use 24
disorder treatment for youth involved in the child welfare and 25
juvenile justice systems; 26
(vii) In collaboration with county juvenile justice programs, 27
reducing criminal justice involvement and recidivism as measured by: 28
(A) An increase in the number of youth who successfully complete the 29
terms of diversion or alternative sentencing options; (B) a decrease 30
in the number of youth who commit subsequent crimes; and (C) 31
eliminating the discharge of youth from institutional settings into 32
homelessness; and 33
(viii) Eliminating racial and ethnic disproportionality and 34
disparities in system involvement and across child and youth outcomes 35
in collaboration with other state agencies. 36
(4) Beginning July 1, 2018, the department must:37
(a) Lead ongoing collaborative work to minimize or eliminate 38
systemic barriers to effective, integrated services in collaboration 39
with state agencies serving children, youth, and families;40
p. 3 SB 5199
(b) Identify necessary improvements and updates to statutes 1
relevant to their responsibilities and proposing legislative changes 2
to the governor no less than biennially; 3
(c) Help create a data-focused environment in which there are 4
aligned outcomes and shared accountability for achieving those 5
outcomes, with shared, real-time data that is accessible to 6
authorized persons interacting with the family, child, or youth to 7
identify what is needed and which services would be effective;8
(d) Lead the provision of state services to adolescents, focusing 9
on key transition points for youth, including exiting foster care and 10
institutions, and coordinating with the office of homeless youth 11
prevention and protection programs to address the unique needs of 12
homeless youth; and 13
(e) Create and annually update a list of the rights and 14
responsibilities of foster parents in partnership with foster parent 15
representatives. The list of foster parent rights and 16
responsibilities must be posted on the department's website, provided 17
to individuals participating in a foster parent orientation before 18
licensure, provided to foster parents in writing at the time of 19
licensure, and provided to foster parents applying for license 20
renewal. 21
(5) The department is accountable to the public. To ensure 22
transparency, beginning December 30, 2018, agency performance data 23
for the services provided by the department, including outcome data 24
for contracted services, must be available to the public, consistent 25
with confidentiality laws, federal protections, and individual rights 26
to privacy. Publicly available data must include budget and funding 27
decisions, performance-based contracting data, including data for 28
contracted services, and performance data on metrics identified in 29
this section. The board must work with the secretary and director to 30
develop the most effective and cost-efficient ways to make department 31
data available to the public, including making this data readily 32
available on the department's website. 33
(6) The department shall ensure that all new and renewed 34
contracts for services are performance-based. 35
(7) The department must execute all new and renewed contracts for 36
services in accordance with this section and consistent with RCW 37
74.13B.020. When contracted services are managed through a network 38
administrator or other third party, the department must execute data-39
sharing agreements with the entities managing the contracts to track 40
p. 4 SB 5199
provider performance measures. Contracts with network administrators 1
or other third parties must provide the contract administrator the 2
ability to shift resources from one provider to another, to evaluate 3
individual provider performance, to add or delete services in 4
consultation with the department, and to reinvest savings from 5
increased efficiencies into new or improved services in their 6
catchment area. Whenever possible, contractor performance data must 7
be made available to the public, consistent with confidentiality laws 8
and individual rights to privacy. 9
(8)(a) The board shall begin its work and call the first meeting 10
of the board on or after July 1, 2018. The board shall immediately 11
assume the duties of the legislative children's oversight committee, 12
as provided for in RCW 74.13.570 and assume the full functions of the 13
board as provided for in this section by July 1, 2019. The office of 14
innovation, alignment, and accountability shall provide quarterly 15
updates regarding the implementation of the department to the board 16
between July 1, 2018, and July 1, 2019. 17
(b) The office of the family and children's ombuds shall 18
establish the board. The board is authorized for the purpose of 19
monitoring and ensuring that the department achieves the stated 20
outcomes of chapter 6, Laws of 2017 3rd sp. sess., and complies with 21
administrative acts, relevant statutes, rules, and policies 22
pertaining to early learning, juvenile rehabilitation, juvenile 23
justice, and children and family services. 24
(9)(a) The board shall consist of the following members:25
(i) Two senators and two representatives from the legislature 26
with one member from each major caucus; 27
(ii) One nonvoting representative from the governor's office;28
(iii) One subject matter expert in early learning;29
(iv) One subject matter expert in child welfare;30
(v) One subject matter expert in juvenile rehabilitation and 31
justice; 32
(vi) One subject matter expert in eliminating disparities in 33
child outcomes by family income and race and ethnicity;34
(vii) One tribal representative from west of the crest of the 35
Cascade mountains; 36
(viii) One tribal representative from east of the crest of the 37
Cascade mountains; 38
(ix) One current or former foster parent representative;39
p. 5 SB 5199
(x) One representative of an organization that advocates for the 1
best interest of the child; 2
(xi) One parent stakeholder group representative;3
(xii) One law enforcement representative; 4
(xiii) One child welfare caseworker representative;5
(xiv) One early childhood learning program implementation 6
practitioner; 7
(xv) One current or former foster youth under age twenty-five;8
(xvi) One individual under age twenty-five with current or 9
previous experience with the juvenile justice system;10
(xvii) One physician with experience working with children or 11
youth; and 12
(xviii) One judicial representative presiding over child welfare 13
court proceedings or other children's matters. 14
(b) The senate members of the board shall be appointed by the 15
leaders of the two major caucuses of the senate. The house of 16
representatives members of the board shall be appointed by the 17
leaders of the two major caucuses of the house of representatives. 18
Members shall be appointed before the close of each regular session 19
of the legislature during an odd-numbered year. 20
(c) The remaining board members shall be nominated by the 21
governor, subject to the approval of the appointed legislators by 22
majority vote, and serve four-year terms. When nominating and 23
approving members after July 28, 2019, the governor and appointed 24
legislators must ensure that at least five of the board members 25
reside east of the crest of the Cascade mountains.26
(10) The board has the following powers, which may be exercised 27
by majority vote of the board: 28
(a) To receive reports of the office of the family and children's 29
ombuds; 30
(b) To obtain access to all relevant records in the possession of 31
the office of the family and children's ombuds, except as prohibited 32
by law; 33
(c) To select its officers and adoption of rules for orderly 34
procedure; 35
(d) To request investigations by the office of the family and 36
children's ombuds of administrative acts; 37
(e) To request and receive information, outcome data, documents, 38
materials, and records from the department relating to children and 39
p. 6 SB 5199
family welfare, juvenile rehabilitation, juvenile justice, and early 1
learning; 2
(f) To determine whether the department is achieving the 3
performance measures; 4
(g) If final review is requested by a licensee, to review whether 5
department licensors appropriately and consistently applied agency 6
rules in inspection reports that do not involve a violation of health 7
and safety standards as defined in RCW 43.216.395 in cases that have 8
already been reviewed by the internal review process described in RCW 9
43.216.395 with the authority to overturn, change, or uphold such 10
decisions; 11
(h) To conduct annual reviews of a sample of department contracts 12
for services from a variety of program and service areas to ensure 13
that those contracts are performance-based and to assess the measures 14
included in each contract; and 15
(i) Upon receipt of records or data from the office of the family 16
and children's ombuds or the department, the board is subject to the 17
same confidentiality restrictions as the office of the family and 18
children's ombuds is under RCW 43.06A.050. The provisions of RCW 19
43.06A.060 also apply to the board. 20
(11) The board has general oversight over the performance and 21
policies of the department and shall provide advice and input to the 22
department and the governor. 23
(12) The board must no less than twice per year convene 24
stakeholder meetings to allow feedback to the board regarding 25
contracting with the department, departmental use of local, state, 26
private, and federal funds, and other matters as relating to carrying 27
out the duties of the department. 28
(13) The board shall review existing surveys of providers, 29
customers, parent groups, and external services to assess whether the 30
department is effectively delivering services, and shall conduct 31
additional surveys as needed to assess whether the department is 32
effectively delivering services. 33
(14) The board is subject to the open public meetings act, 34
chapter 42.30 RCW, except to the extent disclosure of records or 35
information is otherwise confidential under state or federal law.36
(15) Records or information received by the board is confidential 37
to the extent permitted by state or federal law. This subsection does 38
not create an exception for records covered by RCW 13.50.100.39
p. 7 SB 5199
(16) ((The)) Unless specified otherwise, board members shall 1
receive no compensation for their service on the board, but shall be 2
reimbursed for travel expenses incurred while conducting business of 3
the board when authorized by the board and within resources allocated 4
for this purpose((, except appointed)). Appointed legislators ((who)) 5
shall be reimbursed for travel expenses in accordance with RCW 6
43.03.050 and 43.03.060. Board members with direct lived experience 7
may receive compensation as provided in RCW 43.03.220 and 43.03.270 8
and are entitled to be reimbursed for travel expenses as provided in 9
43.03.050 and 43.03.060.10
(17) The board shall select, by majority vote, an executive 11
director who shall be the chief administrative officer of the board 12
and shall be responsible for carrying out the policies adopted by the 13
board. The executive director is exempt from the provisions of the 14
state civil service law, chapter 41.06 RCW, and shall serve at the 15
pleasure of the board established in this section.16
(18) The board shall maintain a staff not to exceed one full-time 17
equivalent employee. The board-selected executive director of the 18
board is responsible for coordinating staff appointments.19
(19) The board shall issue an annual report to the governor and 20
legislature by December 1st of each year with an initial report 21
delivered by December 1, 2019. The report must review the 22
department's progress towards meeting stated performance measures and 23
desired performance outcomes, and must also include a review of the 24
department's strategic plan, policies, and rules. 25
(20) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this 26
section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.27
(a) "Board" means the oversight board for children, youth, and 28
families established in subsection (8) of this section.29
(b) "Direct lived experience" has the same meaning as provided in 30
RCW 43.03.220.31
(c) "Director" means the director of the office of innovation, 32
alignment, and accountability. 33
(((c))) (d) "Performance-based contract" means results-oriented 34
contracting that focuses on the quality or outcomes that tie at least 35
a portion of the contractor's payment, contract extensions, or 36
contract renewals to the achievement of specific measurable 37
performance standards and requirements. 38
--- END ---
p. 8 SB 5199