Concerning water power license fees.

Changes reporting requirements of the department of ecology with regard to water power license fees.

Delays, until June 30, 2027, the expiration of certain fees for federal energy regulatory commission projects.

Requires the department of ecology and the department of fish and wildlife, in order to ensure accountability in the licensing, relicensing, and license implementation programs of the departments to: (1) Designate an employee as the manager of each department's hydropower licensing, relicensing, and license implementation program; and

Modifying certain provisions governing benefit charges of fire protection districts and regional fire protection service authorities.

Addressing the availability of retired teachers as substitutes.

Concerning passenger-carrying vehicles for railroad employees.

Requires the utilities and transportation commission to: (1) Regulate persons providing contract railroad crew transportation and contract crew hauling vehicles with respect to the safety of equipment, driver qualifications, insurance levels, and safety of operations;

(2) Compile data regarding reported safety complaints, accidents, regulatory violations and fines, and corrective actions taken by the commission involving passenger-carrying vehicles; and

Concerning timing free access days at state parks with local community events.

Creating the TEACH pilot project of financial assistance for teachers taking basic skills and content tests for teacher certification programs.

Creates the teacher endorsement and certification help pilot project to develop an expandable program that provides grants to teachers taking basic skills and content tests for teacher certification programs.

Requires the student achievement council and the professional educator standards board to: (1) Make financially needy students aware of the pilot project; and

(2) Include information about the pilot project in materials distributed to schools and students.

Authorizing county legislative authorities to approve certain group B water systems based upon their delivery of water meeting safe drinking water standards.

Authorizes the county legislative authority of a certain county in eastern Washington to: (1) Act to approve the operation of a group B public water system serving less than ten connections if certain conditions are met; and

Increasing academic rigor and streamlining assessment requirements for high school students.

Eliminates the tenth grade assessments in reading, writing, and mathematics and alternative assessments that students may use to obtain a certificate of academic achievement.

Requires students to meet the standard on the smarter balanced English language arts and mathematics assessments administered in high school, or demonstrate by the beginning of their senior year that they have met state standards using the SAT or ACT.

Intends for students who fail to meet the standard to take and pass locally determined courses in their senior year that align with their college or career goals and college and career standards including, when available, high school transition courses and dual credit courses.

Concerning the crime of indecent exposure.

Adopting the international wildland urban interface code by reference for purposes of the state building code.

Providing reasonable accommodations in the workplace for pregnant women.

Creating the Washington achieving a better life experience program.

Creates the Washington achieving a better life experience program and requires the program to allow for the creation of savings or investment accounts for eligible individuals with disabilities.

Including certain residents who do not have a high school diploma or credential and the number of students expected to enroll in basic education for adults courses at community and technical colleges in caseload forecast council forecasting.

Requires the caseload forecast council to forecast: (1) The number of state residents ages twenty-five to forty-four who do not have a high school diploma or credential; and

(2) The number of students expected to enroll in basic education for adults courses at community and technical colleges.

Concerning DNA biological samples.

Strengthening opportunities for the rehabilitation and reintegration of juvenile offenders.

Revises the juvenile justice act of 1977 to provide for the rehabilitation and reintegration of juvenile offenders.

Authorizes the juvenile court, if a juvenile offender is charged with animal cruelty in the first degree, to deny granting a deferred disposition to the juvenile, even if the juvenile otherwise may qualify for a deferred disposition.

Requires the judge to consider whether the community will benefit from granting a deferred disposition to the juvenile offender.

Addresses fines, community service, and electronic monitoring for juveniles adjudicated of taking a motor vehicle without permission in the first or second degree or theft of a motor vehicle.

Authorizes the prosecuting agency, after receiving a domestic violence offense report from a law enforcement agency, to choose not to file the information as a domestic violence offense if the offense was committed against a sibling, parent, stepparent, or grandparent.

Addressing the use of deadly force by a public officer or peace officer.

Establishing the joint legislative task force on community policing standards for a safer Washington.

Creates the joint legislative task force on community policing standards for a safer Washington.

Requires the task force to: (1) Review and discuss data collected and reported by the attorney general as directed by Senate Bill No. 6294, if passed in the 2016 legislative session, and other data reported on justifiable homicide or use of deadly force by public officers from other reputable sources;

(2) Review proposals and recommend modifications to the standards for justifiable homicide and criminal liability;

(3) Review current practices and tools available to law enforcement as an alternative to lethal uses of force;

(4) Evaluate the availability of body cameras and similar tools and determine whether the tools should be implemented;

(5) Review current training curriculum and practices available to law enforcement regarding use of force; and

(6) Evaluate the public confidence in community policing practices and use of force policies in this state.

Concerning involuntary outpatient mental health treatment for persons with a persistent or acute disability.

Concerning youth substance use prevention associated with tobacco and drug delivery e-cigarettes and vapor products.

Decoupling services and activities fees from tuition.

Enhancing crime victim participation in the criminal justice system process.

Establishes the safety and access for immigrant victims act.

Requires a certifying agency, on request of a victim or representative, including the victim's attorney, accredited representative, or domestic violence, sexual assault, or victim's service provider, to make a determination on a specific form whether the victim was a victim of criminal activity and has been helpful, is being helpful, or is likely to be helpful to the detection or investigation or prosecution of that criminal activity.

Prohibits a certifying agency and certifying officials from disclosing personally identifying information or the immigration status of a victim or person requesting the form certification, unless certain conditions are met.

Requires the office of crime victims advocacy to convene a crime victim certification steering committee to monitor compliance with this act and to perform other duties.

Creating efficiencies regarding requirements for license withholding and suspension for noncompliance with a child support order.

Providing salary funding to recruit and retain Washington state patrol commissioned officers.

Concerning notification requirements for the department of social and health services.

Concerning exchange facilitators.

Establishes the exchange facilitator act.

Studying the causes of workplace injuries suffered by commercial janitors.

Requires the department of labor and industries to conduct a study on commercial janitorial safety that measures the workers' safety and health risks associated with their work tasks.

Granting a city or town the authority to establish and operate a traffic school without county consent, control, or supervision.

Creating a pilot program allowing the use of a nationally recognized college readiness assessment to earn a certificate of academic achievement for high school graduation purposes and for federal and state accountability purposes.

Requires the superintendent of public instruction to: (1) If permitted by the elementary and secondary education act of 1965, as reauthorized by the every student succeeds act of 2015, implement a pilot program for school districts to pilot the administration of a nationally recognized college readiness assessment for high school students to use to earn a certificate of academic achievement for high school graduation purposes and to meet federal and state school accountability requirements;

(2) Enter into an agreement with a provider or providers of nationally recognized college readiness assessments for the provision and administration of the assessment for the purposes of the pilot program; and

(3) Solicit and select up to seven school districts to participate in the pilot program.

Creating Fred Hutch special license plates.

Expanding the professional educator workforce by increasing career opportunities in education, creating a more robust enrollment forecasting, and enhancing recruitment efforts.

Increases career opportunities in education, creates a more robust enrollment forecasting, and enhances recruitment efforts.

Allows retired teachers to reenter the workforce without penalty of pension benefits, adequate student enrollment forecasting, additional funding for the alternative routes and educator retooling programs, and enhancements to recruitment.

Requires the office of the superintendent of public instruction, in consultation with school districts, educational service districts, and other state agencies, to develop and implement a comprehensive, statewide initiative to increase the number of qualified individuals who apply for teaching positions in the state.

Addressing the use of a digital platform to employ certain independent contractors.

Modifying freight mobility strategic investment board duties relating to certain freight and rail planning.

Using global positioning system technology to protect the safety of wildland firefighters.

Establishes the wildland firefighter safety act.

Concerning accessing land during a fire suppression response for the purpose of protecting livestock from a wildland fire.

Requires the department of natural resources to: (1) Allow livestock owners, or employees or agents of a livestock owner, to access public lands for the purpose of retrieving or caring for livestock that are lawfully present on the public lands during a fire suppression response affecting the land in question; and

Providing public notices of public health, safety, and welfare in a language other than English.

Requires state agencies, required by law or rule to provide public notices to a community or area to advise or inform the public about an imminent or emergent public health, safety, or welfare risk, to also provide notices in the language that diverse residents can understand when a significant segment of the community speaks a language other than English and has limited proficiency in English.

Addressing telemedicine and integrated behavioral health care training.

Includes in the definition of "telemedicine," for the purposes of this act, consultation between psychiatrists and other providers, including primary care physicians, nurses, care coordinators, case managers, social workers, and psychologists to provide diagnostic and medication management evaluation and education.

Ensuring that restrictions on outdoor burning for air quality reasons do not impede measures necessary to ensure forest resiliency to catastrophic fires.

Authorizes the department of natural resources to inspect an area and issue a burning permit for forest resiliency burning, if the burning is unlikely to significantly contribute to a violation of air quality standards.

Authorizes the department of natural resources, authorized employees, or a warden or ranger to refuse, revoke, or postpone the use of permits for forest resiliency burning if: (1) Necessary for the safety of adjacent property; or

(2) Burning poses an unreasonable risk of air pollution.

-- 2016 REGULAR SESSION --
Jan 27	First reading, referred to Agriculture & Natural Resources (Not Officially read and referred until adoption of Introduction report).