The bill seeks to improve the background check process for home care workers in Washington State by amending existing laws governing the screening of long-term care workers. It stipulates that the Department of Social and Health Services cannot automatically disqualify individuals from working with vulnerable populations based solely on certain criminal convictions if a specified period has passed since the last conviction, with defined timeframes for various offenses. The bill also clarifies that these provisions do not apply to background checks for the Department of Children, Youth, and Families or its employees, except under specific circumstances.

Additionally, the legislation introduces new requirements for character, competence, and suitability reviews, allowing individual providers and home care agency providers to work for up to 30 days while awaiting background check results, provided they do not have disqualifying convictions. It mandates notification to clients about background check results and their rights, establishes definitions for terms like "authorized entity" and "fingerprint-based background check," and requires the development of rules to ensure the safety of vulnerable adults and minors during the review process. The bill also expands the definition of individuals subject to background checks to include contractors with unsupervised access to vulnerable adults and introduces the term "Review required result" for background check outcomes that require further evaluation.

Statutes affected:
Original Bill: 43.20A.715, 74.39A.056
Substitute Bill: 43.20A.715, 74.39A.056
Engrossed Substitute: 43.20A.715, 74.39A.056
Bill as Passed Legislature: 43.20A.715, 74.39A.056
Session Law: 43.20A.715, 74.39A.056