Governor Jay Inslee signs Dye, Schmick bills into law

Governor Jay Inslee in the last two weeks has signed into law four bills sponsored by Ninth District Representatives Mary Dye, R-Pomeroy, and Joe Schmick, R-Colfax.

Dye's first bill, HB 1136, deals with emergency planning requirements for shortline railroads hauling cooking oil and small quantities of low volatile oils.

Dye, through a press release, explained the need for the bill.

“Two years ago, the legislature passed comprehensive oil train regulations,” she said.

“Unfortunately, food grade and mineral oils were inadvertently included in the provisions.

Oversized government regulations could injure one of the largest industries in the state.

This could hurt the people who make their living on agricultural products shipped by rail.

This is a huge victory.

It is, essentially, regulatory relief.” The bill exempts class III railroads that do not haul crude oil or refined petroleum products from certain drill performance and equipment contracting requirements with oil spill emergency response plans.

It also narrows the disaster preparedness planning requirements for small railroads not participating in the hauling of bulk-refined petroleum products used for fuel.

“Had the bill not been signed into law, the cost of meeting the stringent regulatory code could have had a crippling effect on the rail lines.

The future of Washington's rural, agricultural areas could have been jeopardized,” said Dye.

“Rail is a vital lifeline for the people and economy of the ninth legislative district.

We continue to meet the needs of a changing economy.

One-size-fits-all oil train regulations are not tailored to our diverse agricultural economy.

The unintended consequences of including agricultural oil, and other kinds of oil, in the Bakken crude regulations is disastrous to our industry and rural economic development.

I am glad we found a bipartisan solution to clean up current statute.” The bill was signed into law May 8, and it will go into effect July 23.

Dye's second bill was signed by Inslee on May 17, and it provides flexibility for member counties using the Martin Hall Juvenile Detention Facility in Medical Lake.

Whitman County is one of nine member counties of the consortium.

“Juvenile offenders cannot be housed in an adult correctional facility,” Dye said through a press release.

“The state requires space for juveniles based on county population.

This creates problems for rural counties.

In order to provide the separate facilities needed to house juveniles, counties with lower populations are allowed to form consortiums to share a juvenile detention center.

Current law requires the combined membership in a consortium of counties have a population of over 530,000.” Dye's bill reduces that requirement to 200,000, which will allow Spokane County the option to reduce its bed allocation and provide space for other counties or tribes that want to use the facility.

Spokane County has been required to maintain its required reserve space, though it has its own juvenile justice facility.

This bill will allow the county to drop out of the consortium, but also gives the option for returning in the future.

This law goes into effect on July 23.

Two bills that were sponsored by Schmick were also signed by the governor.

Both are health-care related bills.

The first, HB 1547, suspends certificate of need requirements through June 30, 2019, for hospitals and establishments that add new psychiatric beds and entities that construct psychiatric hospitals of no more than 16 beds.

Schmick said this bill will help in meeting a demand.

“Despite the addition of more psychiatric beds, we still have a shortage of these beds in many communities across our state.

This bill will allow community hospitals the opportunity, if they choose, to be able to treat patients with behavioral health needs locally,” he said.

“For people who experience a behavioral issue and need treatment, I think it's important to be as close to their support network as possible.

This measure will hopefully allow patients to stay closer to friends and family as opposed to state hospitals.

It will also alleviate some of the pressure we are seeing at these state facilities.” The bill also contains an emergency clause that will go into effect immediately.

The second bill, HB 1548, will require the state Department of Social and Health Services to establish standards for approving curricula for facility-based caregivers serving persons with behavioral health needs and for geriatric behavioral health workers.

It will allow completion of the behavioral health curriculum to substitute for the experience requirement for becoming a geriatric behavioral health worker at a nursing home.

Additionally, it will remove the requirement that a geriatric behavioral health worker have either a bachelor's or master's degree in social work.

Schmick said this bill will also help to meet a demand.

“We have a staffing crisis in our behavioral health fields.

The purpose of this legislation is to expand professional opportunities and eliminate barriers for people who have a passion and want to work in these important health-care fields,” he said.

“As a state, we want more people interested in and to promote careers in mental health.

In the long-term, this will lead to better health care and outcomes for patients.” Those bills were signed by the governor May 12.