Legislative Bulletin Bill Room (360) 786-7573 Legislative Hot Line 1-800-562-6000 March 24, 2000 http://www.wacounties.org Bulletin #11 HOUSE PASSES BUDGET WITH ADDITIONAL MVET REPLACEMENT FUNDS The House of Representatives did something in the fourteenth day of the special session that they could not agree to all of last year. They passed a supplemental budget, on a vote of 85-13. Some called it miraculous while others said it would be a miracle if the Senate agreed to the House's version of the budget. There was a big sigh of relief by House budget writers once the votes were counted. However, in news reports this morning, several senators were quoted as saying "it stinks" and "we are going to be here a long time." Clearly this is developing into a fight between the two houses and not just between the two parties. A quick analysis of the two budgets was faxed to all members yesterday with the highlights. While the two budgets are similar in several areas, there are some major exceptions. The funds to replace lost MVET due to I-695 were not significantly different. The Senate offered $34 million and the House offered $35.5 million. But there is a great difference in the distribution formulas. The Becca funding was the same in both budgets, $4.7 million for settlement and $6 million for on- going costs. The House gave the counties a major victory by including $4.15 million for the Office of Public Defense for indigent defense costs for dependency hearings. This is a milestone for counties who have been trying for years to get the state to recognize the high cost of public defense. House members need to be thanked for including this item in their budget. The House budget also included drug court monies for King, Pierce and Spokane counties. The House replaced 90% of the loss for public health districts and departments. There was a slightly higher amount in the Senate budget. Probably the most surprising and disappointing aspect of the House budget was in the area of shorelines. It was surprising that it offered $100 million, $20 million per year, for shorelines easement acquisition for the years 2002-2006. Of course future Legislatures will have to honor that commitment. It was disappointing that there was no funding for shorelines planning in spite of the fact that DOE will adopt regulations by July 2000 requiring counties to update their plans in two years. When you look at the complete budget from both houses they provide a significant amount of money to counties. However, both budgets will only replace about 60% of the lost MVET revenue suffered by passage of I-695. Attached to the back of Legislative Bulletin are a comparison for all programs and then a comparison for the replacement of criminal justice and sales tax equalization. Neither budget maintained these two funds effectively eliminating sales tax equalization. When looking at the Senate distribution you should remember that $7.2 million is unallocated, and will be distributed to distressed counties followed by any new county that would have qualified for sales tax equalization. Then if there are errors or emergencies they will be funded. CTED, OFM and representatives of WSAC and WACO will make the distribution. It is also important to know that while there are great differences between what some counties receive, this is still a moving target. The Association continues to advocate for as much funding as possible. No county should assume this is the final number for your county. There is great disagreement between the two houses and almost anything can happen. ************************************** PROPERTY TAX PROPOSALS FOR SENIOR CITIZENS Part of the compromise budget package in the House between the Republicans and Democrats included two property tax proposals for senior citizens. These two bills are HB 3166 and HB 3167. Both were introduced on March 21 and contained a significant number of sponsors. Both bills had a hearing on Wednesday morning, March 22, in the House Finance Committee, and passed the full House Wednesday night. HB 3166 provides that individuals who currently qualify for the low income senior citizen/disabled exemption would also receive a $500 property tax credit against their state levy. To say it another way, HB 3166 does not increase the number of individuals who are currently eligible for this program, it simply grants those that are eligible, a $500 state property tax credit. For those in the higher income level (between $25,000 and $30,000), the credit is more significant than it is for those in the lower income bracket ($15,000 or less), because the State levy would be very small. The second bill, HB 3167, creates a new class of individuals who would be eligible for the exemption. It would be all individuals 65 years and older--without regard to income level. Any homeowner 65 or over would receive a $200 state property tax credit. HB 3167 is a scaled down version of the constitutional amendment from the Senate that allows a $200 credit for all residential property owners. The House version simply grants this for individuals 65 and over and, because there is already a senior citizen provision in the constitution, the House feels that no constitutional change would be required for the implementation of this bill. The only person testifying on either of these bills was WACO staff who pointed out that the constitution states this program is for "retired property owners" and that the legislature has historically defined "retired" as individuals over a certain age and earning less than a certain level of income. With two different programs, the legislature is defining "retired" two different ways; under 62, less than $30,000 and over 65, without regard to income. The committee was cautioned in defining a retired property owner as simply anyone over the age of 65 since this approach could result in a constitutional challenge where the courts could determine that the word "retired" has to mean something more than just age. The committee was urged to review the constitutional provisions in the interim and consider if a constitutional change for seniors may be necessary. The committee then went into executive session. The Co-Chairs indicated that no amendments would be considered, and after a brief discussion, HB 3166 passed out of the committee by 12-0 vote and HB 3167 passed out of the committee with 11-1 vote. Late Wednesday night the House passed both bills one day after they were introduced. In the meantime, the Senate has continued to insist that the House consider SJR 8212 their constitutional amendment to allow the $200 State levy credit for all taxpayers. The House feels that the revenue loss from a $200 credit for all homeowners is so large that they would be unable to balance their operating budge and have refused to consider SJR 8212. Assessors who have concerns about the broadening of the senior citizen exemption and the administrative costs associated with HB 3166 and HB 3167, need to make their concerns known to the members of the Washington State Senate. The future of these bills in the Senate is uncertain. If there is a hearing scheduled in the Senate and if we are provided adequate advance notice, we will notify assessors so anyone interested will be able to attend. ************************************** $30 LICENSE FEE Wednesday evening, March 22, the House passed SB 6865 which puts into law the repeal of the motor vehicle excise tax and the imposition of the $30 license fee. This bill is in response to King County Superior Court Judge Robert Alsdorf's ruling last week wherein I-695 was declared unconstitutional. The $30 fee was declared unconstitutional because the initiative addresses more than one subject, that's why the legislature could repass the $30 fee as a separate bill and therefore make it constitutional. The second part of the initiative which requires a vote of the public on any increase in taxes, fees, etc., would take a constitutional amendment to make it valid because it also violated the constitution for when a referendum is held. The Governor and some legislative leaders have indicated that they will not support that change. So, the voting requirement will not be passed by the legislature. This will narrow the scope of the Supreme Court's review to simply the constitutional issue surrounding the "voting" provision and may facilitate an earlier decision by the Court. SB 6865 does not include all of the repealers that were in I-695. SB 6865 does not repeal the exemption from property taxes for motor vehicles, campers and travel trailers, nor does it repeal the language that requires park model mobile homes be subject to the property tax. Still, we are hopeful the Governor would sign SSB 6115 that previously passed the legislature, because that is a direct act by the legislature to make it clear that such vehicles are exempt. ************************************** TRANSPORTATION ************************************** $130 MILLION FOR TRANSIT IN HOUSE BUDGET A striking amendment to the operating budget bill, 2SSB 6404, passed 85- 13 by the House, sends $130 million to local transit agencies. (Both House and Senate budgets now include transit in the operating budgets.) The House total includes $50 million to cover the final MVET distribution for the fourth quarter of 1999 plus a one-time $80 million distribution to local transit agencies in 2001. These funds would be split among all transit agencies. The Senate version distributes $71.5 million in 2001, but excludes transit agencies in Cowlitz County, Mason County, Yakima County and the City of Everett. Please note that the Senate version continues an annual distribution of $87.5 million in 2002 and $16.1 million in 2003, but subsequent legislatures may not be bound by this provision. The following list compares House and Senate distributions for 2001 only. System Agency Senate House Ben Franklin Tran Benton-Franklin PTBA 1,744,000 2,401,200 Clallam Transit Clallam County PTBA 816,000 767,400 Community Transit Snohomish County PTBA 5,656,000 6,857,400 C-Tran Clark County PTBA 2,213,000 4,355,000 Community Urban Bus Cowlitz County PTBA 310,800 Everett Transit City of Everett 556,000 Grant Transit Grant County 142,000 657,800 Grays Harbor Transp Grays Harbor 961,000 772,700 Intercity Transit Thurston County PTBA 2,490,000 2,763,000 Island Transit Island County PTBA 437,000 593,200 Jefferson Transit Jefferson County PTBA 310,000 305,500 Kitsap Transit Kitsap County PTBA 4,820,000 2,936,100 Link Chelan-Douglas PTBA 1,255,000 1,472,400 Mason County Trans Mason County 249,400 Metro/King County King County 34,504,000 35,973,300 Pacific Transit Pacific County 234,000 203,000 Pierce Transit Pierce County PTBA 9,995,000 8,423,900 Pullman Transit Whitman County PTBA 67,000 198,300 Skagit Transit Skagit PTBA 677,000 1,074,200 Spokane Transit Spokane County PTBA 4,221,000 5,774,100 Twin Transit Lewis County PTBA 35,000 199,300 Valley Transit Walla Walla County PTBA 271,000 482,800 Whatcom Trans Whatcom County PTBA 720,000 2,321,500 Yakima Transit City of Yakima 351,700 ************************************** HOUSE PASSES TRANSPORTATION BUDGET AND REVENUE BILLS The House has passed striking amendments to the Transportation budget bill 2SSB 6499 and revenue bill E2SSB 6856, and has passed a sales tax transfer bill to fund transportation, HB 3168. The first two items passed on a vote of 85-13; the third item gained unanimous support. House Transportation Committee Co-Chair Ruth Fisher (D-Pierce County), described the House Transportation budget as giving funding priority to safety projects, projects with federal, local or private partnerships, and projects of statewide significance. Compared to the Senate budget, the House budget increases funding for the County Road Administration Board (CRAB) and the Transportation Improvement Board (TIB), including $30 million for freight mobility partnership projects, $43 million for 11 local freight mobility projects, and $20 million for local jurisdictional requests. However, it cuts the Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) program by $734,000, a cut of $600,000 more than the Senate. The House provides $20 million for ferry operations and $82 million to sustain current ferry capital projects. The House version of E2SSB 6856 maintains much of the Senate version of the revenue bill, including authorizing local transit agencies to raise the sales tax for transit to 0.9 percent, and authorizing Sound Transit to enter into lease-back agreements for equipment, facilities and other property. The House bill does not include the Senate's additional fines on traffic infractions and traffic crimes, most of the proceeds of which would go to the Traffic Safety Commission. HB 3168 transfers 4.52 percent of motor vehicle-related sales tax to the multimodal transportation account, to be used for various transportation purposes. During fiscal year 2001, this transfer will put approximately $40 million in the multimodal account. ************************************** ENVIRONMENT, LAND USE & RESOURCES ************************************** HOUSE AND SENATE BUDGET COMPARISON AIR PROGRAMS Both budgets provide $9.8 million to maintain the state's air quality program, which suffered a $13.2 million loss due to I-695. The Senate budget also directs that grants to local air authorities be maintained at no less than a 90 percent funding level. ENERGY FACILITY SITING The Senate budget includes a $25,000 appropriation for a joint legislative task force review of the energy facility siting process, including local government participation. The task force is likely to include a county representative. FOREST MANAGEMENT The Senate and House budgets both withdraw money from the forest development account to provide funds for riparian easement acquisition, but different amounts are taken and directed for different purposes. See the shorelines section of this comparison for details. The Senate budget funds independent staff to the Board of Natural Resources; the $300,000 appropriation comes in part from the forest development account and the resource management cost account. Both budgets take $2 million from the forest development account for immediate road decommissioning, maintenance and repair in the Lake Whatcom watershed. LOCAL TOXICS ACCOUNT In both the House and Senate budget, the Legislature "borrows" $3 million from the Local Toxics Control Account to help fund cleanup of the Everett smelter site. Moneys collected from a cost recovery action, if any, shall first reimburse the Local Toxics Control Account. PARKS Both budgets authorize the State Parks and Recreation Commission to increase fees adopted prior to January 1, 2000 for implementation in the next fiscal year, in excess of the fiscal growth factor. SALMON RECOVERY Both budgets remove hoped-for but unrealized federal money from many provisos in last year's budget. The House budget earmarks $7,389,000 of appropriation to the salmon recovery funding board for specific projects: $6 million to Jobs for the Environment; $789,000 for fish screens and in-stream flow in the Methow; $500,000 for the nonprofit organization People for Salmon and $100,000 for by-catch reduction. Both the House and Senate budgets provide an additional $3 million of state general fund money is provided to DNR for implementation of the Forests and Fish Agreement, bringing the biennial appropriation to nearly $6.5 million. The appropriation for small timber landowner easement acquisition is reduced from $10 million federal to $2.5 million state to reflect unavailable federal funds; The Senate budget amends the long-term capital requirement for this need increasing it by $8.5 million. Both budgets direct $3.3 million in new federal funding to the IAC - and not to the Department of Fish and Wildlife -- for development of hatchery management guidelines, including actions to minimize potentially negative effects of hatchery programs on wild populations. The Senate budget earmarks an additional $267,000 of the Conservation Commission budget - for a total $517,000 -- for Agriculture Fish Wildlife negotiations. SHORELINES The Senate budget provides $3 million for grants to counties and cities to implement shoreline planning and $340,000 to Ecology for technical assistance. The House budget contains no funding for shorelines planning. The Senate takes $10 million from the forest development account for distribution to counties and directs the state's $5 million share to DCTED for grants to counties and cities for shoreline/riparian acquisition. The House takes only $3 million from the forest development account and directs the $1.5 million state share to Skagit County for riparian easement acquisition. In HB 3170, the House also establishes a shorelines protection account, to be funded beginning next biennium with $20 million a year for five years. The funds will be distributed to counties (except King, Pierce and Snohomish) to acquire riparian easements and improve riparian habitat. The amount per county is based on the number of miles of shoreline of the state within the county. WATER QUALITY The House budget moves the Puget Sound Water Quality Action Team from the Governor's Office to the Department of Ecology and reduces the Action Team budget by ten percent. Both budgets direct that $450,000 of the existing Ecology TMDL budget be used for pilot projects to evaluate the ability of existing voluntary and regulatory programs to improve water quality. Although in none of the pilots is a county the lead agency for fund receipt, WSAC promoted such pilots in its legislative package. WATER RESOURCES The House provides an additional $925,000 and the Senate an additional $1.1 million general fund appropriation for water right change and transfer applications, pending passage of specific policy legislation establishing a separate line for transfers. The House budget directs this allocation to watershed planning grants if the policy bill (SB 6525) fails. Both budgets tap existing watershed planning implementation funds for $500,000 directed to the Methow River planning unit to develop baseline hydrological data. The House budget also allocates $85,000 of watershed planning funds for the Yakima basin planning unit if a dual watershed assessment process is determined to be needed. Both budgets also provide $375,000 for an EIS of the Pine Hollow (Yakima basin)reservoir project, $300,000 for pre-construction analysis of off-stream storage at Washout Canyon (Yakima basin), and $150,000 for a task force on water storage. ************************************** CONGRESS TO CONSIDER PUGET SOUND FUNDING INITIATIVE The Washington State Congressional delegation introduced a bill earlier this month to authorize a new $125 million habitat restoration program for Puget Sound. The program, the Puget Sound Ecosystem Restoration Initiative, has been spearheaded by County Executive Ron Sims to provide a new conduit for federal funds through the Corps of Engineers for habitat restoration work throughout the Puget Sound basin. If approved and funded, the program will streamline Corps study and construction procedures and provide federal funding of up to 75% of construction costs for qualifying projects. Congress will vote on the authorization bill and accompanying appropriations this summer and the Washington delegation has pledged strong support for passage. Contact Dennis Canty at King County, 206 296-8394, for further information ************************************** LAW & JUSTICE ************************************** MORE MONEY FOR LAW AND JUSTICE In addition to backfilling $35.5 million of the lost MVET funds used to pay for law and justice activities, the House budget includes the following amounts for county law and justice activities: $4.7 million for Becca settlement. $6 million for Becca ongoing costs. $4 million to the state Office of Public Defense to handle indigent defense in child dependency cases. $994,000 for drug courts in Pierce, King and Spokane counties, which exhaust federal funding this year. $529,000 for extraordinary criminal justice costs in Cowlitz, Franklin and Thurston counties. $2.5 million for the State Patrol Crime Lab. ************************************** GOVERNOR SIGNS LAW & JUSTICE BILLS Governor Locke signed the following law and justice bills this week, prior to publication. These bills have been reported on previously in the Legislative Bulletin. Bill No. Title Session Law HB 2328 Harassment filing fees C 9 L 00 ESHB 2337 Jail booking/reporting system C 3 L 00 SB 6190 Eminent domain proceedings C 68 L 00 SSB 6244 Juvenile court jurisdiction C 71 L 00 SSB 6351 Superior court commissioners C 73 L 00 SB 6570 Truancy petitions C 61 L 00 ************************************** HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES ************************************** HOUSE BUDGET CLOSE TO SENATE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH The House budget includes the same basic $33.183 million for backfilling local public health at 90% of the lost MVET from I-695. The only difference is the $1.4 million the Senate has included for distribution during emergency situations to be determined by local public health and CTED. The chart attached to the back of this Legislative Bulletin reflects those numbers used in both House and Senate budgets. FYI - the final House budget does not impact the mitigation funds ($2.25 million) that King County will continue to receive, as the preliminary House Republican budget did, and is in concurrence with the Senate budget. ************************************** ASSOCIATION OF COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES (ACHS) MEETING HELD IN VANCOUVER ACHS held its bi-monthly meeting in Vancouver on March 15 - 17. WSAC staff was unable to attend the Friday Developmental Disabilities Section due to a meeting of the Legislative Steering Committee so this summary will only cover Mental Health and Chemical Dependency which met on Wednesday and Thursday respectively. WSAC staff and Susan Lucas, Mental Health Division Budget Manager reported on the still-in-progress legislative session. Our areas are pretty well done and no changes are expected in the final budget whenever adopted. It is anticipated that the budget will include the $1 million for atypical antipsychotic medication pilots and $2.3 million for community inpatient strategies directed first at solving the St. Peter dilemma in Southwest Washington. The maintenance level in mental health is basically the same after the various adjustments are made. There is also $1.7 million identified in the MH/DD collaborative effort to enhance RSN crisis services on a statewide basis. It was agreed that the additional $865,490 in federal block grant be used as recommended by the Mental Health Advisory Committee with our recommendation forwarded that telemedicine, public service announcements on reducing stigma, and the CDMHP conference be among the items considered for funding. A report on the HCFA special conditions attached to the waiver indicated that 3 of the 5 were done and the other 2 in progress. Richard Onizuka, MHD, discussed the SIG II progress and that a pilot of integrated audits was being developed for Greater Columbia and North Central RSNs. Any additional suggestions regarding duplication in the system are to be forward to Mike Lynch, North Central. There will also be a presentation at the annual Community Mental Health Council Conference in Wenatchee in June. Steve Maynard, Clark, initiated a discussion regarding the state hospital. This led into a broader discussion of disproportionate share funding and the highly technical issues surrounding administer-a- portion and the RSN role, non-medicaid services, etc. It was agreed that Susan Lucas, MHD, would put together a financial workshop to be held in conjunction with a summer meeting. It was noted that the RSNs need to let David Weston know of their intentions regarding SB 5011, the Dangerous Mentally Ill Offender, and its implementation by the end of March. Steve also initiated a discussion regarding stigma and his and others concerns that some representatives of NAMI were overemphasizing the small proportion of those who were mentally ill who displayed violent behaviors. While all were in agreement that a better portrayal of the mentally ill needed to be publicized, there was no agreement on a particular campaign at present. Fran Lewis, Pierce, and Eric Heacock, Greater Columbia, reported on the March meeting of the National Association of County Behavioral Health Directors (NACBHD) in Washington. If people are interested in some of the documents from the meeting, they can contact either Fran or Eric. Fran indicated that she felt it was the best meeting of the group she had ever attended and that the interaction with NACo was quite useful. Several of NACBHD's resolutions were adopted by NACo especially one dealing with HCFA and their reinterpretation of the Balanced Budget Act requirements for choice among even behavioral health plans throughout a state regardless of the consequences and the legal requirements placed on county government to provide such services. WSAC staff will send out the current WSAC policy statements in the areas of Human Services and Public Health for review and comments back by early April. These general statements are adopted yearly by WSAC at the June Summer Convention. They are not intended to be too specific but reflect fundamental beliefs of the elected members of WSAC that are relatively unchanged from year to year. The more specific legislative positions are then adopted in November at the Legislative Conference. One of the issues that came up during session but did not receive a public hearing was a proposal for an independent mental health ombuds system. On a quick go-round to each RSN, it was noted that the RSNs have re-evaluated their position on this issue and now feel rather strongly that they prefer the existing system where the RSN either directly contracts with an ombuds or contracts with an independent agency themselves to then subcontract for the service. Most have already contracted out the hiring and firing duties to avoid a conflict of interest. They saw some value in a centralized system but desired to retain a local RSN voice in the service whether through a governing or advisory role. They were concerned with the training level of the existing regional long-term care ombuds and the resulting unsubstantiated reports of neglect. The Chemical Dependency Section spent a lengthy period of time on Thursday morning discussing the ADATSA program and the possibilities of reforming this program that has not been substantively changed since its origin in the mid-eighties. The discussion included questions surrounding responsibility for residential services, possible duplication among systems, the level of case management, differing and complex CSO process requirements with the resulting differential level of service to similar populations on a statewide basis. It was suggested that the Section write a letter to DASA suggesting a re- examination of the program. Geoff Miller, King, brought the Section up-to-date on the issues at Cedar Hills, King County's residential facility. The state Department of Health issued a blistering press release concerning the conditions at the facility and threatened the loss of licensure. County Executive Sims has immediately begun an in-house examination to ensure the facility is in full compliance with the law and that there is no threat to patient safety. Amnon Shoenfeld, King's Crisis Manager for mental health, is temporarily directing the facility. It is expected that any concerns or problems will be handled in a timely fashion and the facility back up to standards soon. Cedar Hills is an approximately 200- bed facility handling chemical dependency involuntary treatment and those with dual diagnosis among others. Penni Newman, Pierce, reported on both the legislative committee and the legislative strategies 2001 work group. She indicated meetings had been planned for both March and April for the strategies 2001 group. They are attempting to determine just what is the priority objective, the why, and the when. They may try to get something in the Governor's budget. Geoff Miller, King, opened the discussion regarding the waiting lists for methadone treatment. There are apparently some Title XIX, medicaid issues involved in serving methadone clients and a lack of state match funds to obtain the maximum amount of federal dollars available. Geoff thought King needed somewhere in the neighborhood of $700,000 - $1 million for state match. These funds are not currently available. The City of Seattle and its Heroin Task Force is also examining this issue and potentially alternate sources of funds. DASA is looking at possibly contracting with the tribes in the northwest area of the state in order to get around state law requiring county approval of new programs. Snohomish County is also re-examining the whole area. The methadone bill failed again in the 2000 session but was quite close to coming out of the House Children and Family Services Committee this time. Central Office, Fred Garcia, and his regional administrators delivered a handful of updates from central office. One was regarding doing a statewide client satisfaction survey. They were asked to coordinate this effort with existing instruments and efforts by other Health and Rehabilitative Sections in DSHS. They also reported on the counselor shortage committee, the recently held policy conference, ADATSA bed utilization, 7.01 planning (tribal relations), and CSAT applications. Cleve Thompson, Clark, ended the day's meeting with a summary of the programs going on in Clark County that serve those with both mental illness and chemical dependency. They have a number of innovative programs for both youth and adults. Other counties are urged to contact either Cleve or Steve Maynard, RSN administrator for the details. It should be noted that housing came up in Cleve's presentation just as it did in many of the subjects discussed during the day. It is obvious that residential services are a major concern in all of the behavioral health areas we provide. The next ACHS meeting will be held May 17 - 19 in Spokane at one of the hotels adjacent to the Spokane airport due to the conflict of the Bloomsday Race downtown. Look for complete information to arrive in April. ************************************** LEGISLATIVE NEWS ************************************** BILLS BECOMING LAW Governor Gary Locke has signed the following: (All bills passed in the regular legislative session have an effective date of June 8, 2000 unless otherwise specified.) HB 2328, Anti-harassment Filing Fees, Chapter 9, Laws of 2000 HB 2329, Judgment Summaries SB 6244, Extending Juvenile Jurisdiction for Penalties, effective immediately. SB 6295, Garnishment Proceedings HB 2522, Extending Civil Jurisdiction in District Court to $50,000 HB 2595, Protection Orders for Vulnerable Adults and Directing Clerk to Enter in JIS EHB 2713, Establishing Mandatory Arbitration Fee at $120 (with I- 695 Proviso for Vote) ************************************** COUNTY NEWS ************************************** PIERCE COUNTY CREATES OPPORTUNITY FOR DEATH INVESTIGATORS Death investigators who are preparing for certification by the American Board of MedicoLegal Death Investigators will be able to test in-state this summer. Dr. John Howard, Pierce County Medical Examiner, has five investigators who are eligible the board examination, which is usually done in St. Louis, Missouri. He has assigned Chief Investigator Ed Duke to make arrangements to have the testing conducted in Tacoma and is extending the opportunity to any others in the state who are eligible. No date has been set but the testing is expected to occur in the next three to four months. Further information will be circulated as it becomes available. Interested parties are encouraged to contact Ed Duke at the Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office at or (253) 798- 6494. ************************************** COMING EVENTS ************************************** March 27-31 Washington State Association of Coroners' and Medical Examiners' Spring Training, "Basic Death Investigation," PLEASE NOTE: The training will be held at the Des Moines Police Department. 28-30 Washington State Association of Sheriffs' and Oregon State Association of Sheriffs' Annual Joint Meeting, Red Lion, Port Angeles. April 5-7 WSAC Western District Meeting, Best Western Lakeway Inn & Conference Center, Bellingham 9-15 National County Government week. 17-19 County Auditors' Elections Conference, Campbell's Resort, Chelan. 26-28 County Clerks' Spring Conference, Icicle Inn, Leavenworth. 26-28 County Prosecuting Attorneys' Annual Spring Training Program, Cavanaugh's Gateway, Yakima. ************************************** SCHOLARSHIP TRIVIA ************************************** 1. When were the first Washington Counties Scholarships awarded? 1993 2. How many awards have been given overall? 24 scholarships totaling over $30,000 3. How many counties can boast of their scholars? You all can! But winners have come from 15 counties 4. Which county has produced the most winners? Two for King; three each for Snohomish, Pierce, and Thurston; two for Mason; and, one each for Lewis, Grant, Wahkiakum, Chelan, Whatcom, Island, Kittitas, Clark, Asotin, and Klickitat 5. How do you explain #2, 24 awards and #4, a total of 15 counties? A 1997 winner had parents working in two different counties 6. Are boys smarter than girls? Who knows!! But 19 awards have gone to female students and only five to males 7. How many scholarships will be awarded in 2000? Five! 8. What is the scholarship amount? $1500! 9. If you applied before, can you apply again? You bet! As long as you are a dependent child of a county employee and will be enrolled full time during the 2000/01 school year in a baccalaureate degree, associate degree, or vocational/technical certification program 10. What do you do to win? Apply no later than April 3rd! ************************************** RAMBLINGS ************************************** The Local Government Advisory Committee, which takes a lead role in examining statewide financial policies, evaluating the impact to the BARS prescription, and making recommendations to the legislature, is reworking itself and has created draft bylaws to be adopted in April. The three members representing the Washington Association of County Officials are Snohomish County Treasurer Bob Dantini, Thurston County Auditor's office Deputy Auditor of Finance Les Brodie, and WACO Executive Director Fred Saeger. The 18-member committee is chaired by a member of the State Auditor's office, and works as a team to achieve an appropriate and effective financial information structure for the local governments. ***** After the resignation of Bob Paylor in January the Commissioners in Grays Harbor were presented with three nominees by the Democratic Party. After several weeks of interviews and deliberation Dan Wood, a field manager for the Washington Farm Bureau and a Hoquiam School Board member was appointed to fill the unexpired term. Wood has said he will run for election this fall. There are three other candidates saying they will also run. ************************************** JOBS ************************************** THE BREMERTON-KITSAP HEALTH DISTRICT - COMMUNITY HEALTH NURSE VI - DIRECTOR OF FAMILY AND COMMUNITY HEALTH DIVISION. This fulltime position administers the Family and Community Health Division of the health district. It requires a valid Washington State RN license. Prefer Master's degree in Public Health, Public Administration, or Public Health Nursing with an administrative component; plus 8 years public health nursing, 4 of which have been in supervisory/administrative capacity occurring with the past 4 years. A Bachelor's degree in Nursing, plus ten years of Public Health Nursing, 5 of which have been in a supervisory/administrative capacity occurring partially in the past 4 years, and ANA certification may meet the requirements of the position. $4,433 - $5,658/mo. DOEQ. Reliable personal auto, valid Washington State driver's license and proof of auto insurance required. The recruitment closes 4/7/00. Please submit resume to 109 Austin Drive, Bremerton, WA 98312. Call 360-337-5227 for more information. **** END ****