Benefits and Services Available to Veterans.
The Washington Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) provides a variety of services and benefits to veterans in Washington including: ?counseling, claims assistance, employment, education, training, burial, housing, medical care, business certification, and relief programs.? Certain veterans are eligible to receive additional benefits, such as scoring preferences on civil service exams, special license plates, homeownership down payment assistance programs, property tax relief, and tuition waivers, reductions, and other education benefits.? The WDVA offers long-term care in four state veterans homes for certain veterans and family members.? The Transitioning Warrior Program assists veterans based on Joint Base Lewis-McChord with claims assistance, benefits, outreach to the communities, and referral services for transitioning veterans and families. ?Through the Department of Commerce the WDVA provided digital equipment and literacy instruction focused on underserved low-income and rural veterans.
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Department of Corrections Employment, Education, and Reentry Programs.
The Department of Corrections (Department) manages all state-operated adult prisons and supervises individuals who live in the community and are under supervision.? As part of its operations, the Department is required to offer certain education and workforce programs to incarcerated individuals, prioritizing basic skills and a high school diploma or equivalent.? The Department may select an individual to participate in a state-funded associate degree program based on priority criteria.
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The Department operates a comprehensive work program for incarcerated individuals through the Correctional Industries program.? Some of the industries within the program provide basic work training and experience to incarcerated individuals.
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The Department is required to develop individual reentry plans for each incarcerated individual under its jurisdiction, with limited exceptions. ?The reentry plans include:? plans to maintain contact with family; a portfolio of the individual's educational achievements, previous employment and work experience, and any training received; and a plan to facilitate reentry into the community that addresses education, employment, substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment, family reunification, and other needs.
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The Department has additional policies that address veterans, including:? establishment of a veterans unit providing veteran housing; designation of a facility employee as a point of contact to assist veterans with resources, reentry, and benefits; and participation in raising and lowering of colors, a structured fitness program, holiday celebrations, fundraisers, and displaying the military seal from a veteran's service branch on his or her cell door and identification card.
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Diversion Opportunities.
Under certain circumstances, the prosecuting authority reviewing a case for possible criminal charges against a person may use its discretion to offer a diversion?opportunity to the person before filing charges.? Generally, prefiling diversions involve an agreement by the prosecuting authority to decline to file the pending charges if the person complies with certain conditions, such as completing a treatment program or remaining crime-free for an agreed period of time.? These types of prefiling diversions are typically operated by the prosecuting authority.
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If charges have been filed in a case, the defendant may seek other opportunities to resolve the case prior to trial depending on the nature of the charges.? For example, a defendant charged with a misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor in district or municipal court may petition the court for a deferred prosecution, subject to meeting eligibility criteria, making certain stipulations and waivers, and complying with a specific treatment plan and other conditions.? If the defendant completes the treatment plan and all other statutory requirements, the court must dismiss the defendant's charges.
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State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.
The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (College Board) is a nine-member, Governor-appointed board that has general supervision and control over Washington's system of 34 public community and technical colleges.? Among other duties, the College Board is charged with:
Subject to appropriations, the Veteran Employability Training and Career Advancement for Reentry Program (Program) is created within the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (College Board) to provide individualized transitional and soft skills to justice-involved veterans and their families to improve economic well-being, reduce recidivism, prevent homelessness, improve reintegration, and provide a workforce that is educated and trained for living-wage careers of the twenty-first century.
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Eligibility.
Justice-involved means a currently or formerly incarcerated individual and includes defendants participating in pretrial diversion programs 18 to 24 months in length in Pierce, King, or Snohomish county. ?Veteran means any person who, regardless of discharge, has served in any branch of the armed forces of the United States.
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To be eligible for the Program, a justice-involved veteran must:
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In administering the Program, the College Board must select a community college west of the crest of the Cascade Mountain Range to participate in the Program. ?The College Board must prioritize community colleges with demonstrated records of providing similar services.? Subject to appropriations, the Department?of Corrections (Department) must identify and approve participation in the Program for qualifying justice-involved veterans incarcerated or under Department supervision.?
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Veteran Support.
In serving participants in the Program, the selected community college must collaborate with the Employment Security Department (ESD) and local WorkSource office to make use of available programs, courses, and methods to deliver transitional employment and reentry readiness materials. ?The Department must assist incarcerated participants with receiving correspondence, textbooks, and other curriculum for the Program, and document participation in the Program to ensure sufficient recordkeeping and facilitate uninterrupted participation in the event a participant is transferred to another correctional facility.?
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Reentry and Educational Navigator.
Subject to appropriations, the selected community college must employ a full-time equivalent Reentry and Educational Navigator (Navigator) to determine eligibility, collaborate with the Department to make contact with eligible justice-involved veterans, and provide individualized transitional reentry and employment readiness services.? The Navigator must also, where applicable:
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Family Support.?
If a participant provides written permission to offer their immediate family services and the family meets eligibility criteria developed by the College Board, the selected community college, and the?Washington Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA), then, subject to appropriations, the Navigator must offer funds to support the participant's immediate family with:
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No funds allocated for immediate family may be used for unpaid child support or legal financial obligation fines.
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Work Group, Data Collection, and Reports to the Legislature.
A work group consisting of the College Board, the WDVA, the ESD, and the selected community college is created to analyze the feasibility of expanding the Program statewide and report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature by December 1, 2025.? The College Board, the WDVA, the ESD, and the selected community college must also report to the Legislature by November 1, 2025, and by July 1 annually thereafter until the Program expires on August 1, 2031:
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Subject to appropriations, the WDVA must assign two full-time equivalent veteran service officers or staff members trained in the benefits available to veterans to collect data on veterans entering a correctional facility and veterans under Department supervision, and share this data with the College Board and the selected community college.? A national veterans organization may provide the veteran service officers or staff members.
The Reentry and Educational Navigator is required to partner with the Employment Security Department and local WorkSource office in:? (a) making use of available programs, courses, and methods to deliver transitional employment and reentry readiness materials to participants; and (b) assisting in preparing and updating program-specific individualized transitional Reentry and Employment Readiness Plans. ?The Reentry and Educational Navigator must include the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and WorkSource partners in utilizing funding to support participants or their immediate family.? The Employment Security Department is added to the interagency work group and the list of agencies that must collaborate to submit a report to the Legislature.?
(In support) This program was designed by people with lived experience with incarceration, reentry, and veterans' issues. ?It improves reintegration and reduces recidivism. ?The Department of Corrections (Department) cannot singlehandedly solve the issue of reentry and recidivism.? This program expands the efforts of Edmonds Community College and the Department of Veterans Affairs.? The program is data-driven, will track its effectiveness, and acknowledges that veterans' families also need resources.? The program encourages justice-involved veterans to enroll in postsecondary education. ?The program is independent of the Department, which will increase its acceptance from the target population.? We need a program that expands the critical role of community colleges in the interest of reentry and bridges the gap between the Department's efforts and the larger community.
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(Opposed) None.
Representative Cindy Ryu, prime sponsor; Dennis Gibb, Edmonds College; Rory Andes, Rory Andes; and Richard Thomas, Washington Veterans Legislative Coalition.