H-1280.1
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1024
State of Washington 68th Legislature 2023 Regular Session
By House Appropriations (originally sponsored by Representatives
Simmons, Reed, Berry, Ryu, Goodman, Bateman, Ramel, Peterson, Street,
Doglio, Macri, Reeves, Wylie, Alvarado, Thai, Santos, Ormsby, and
Fosse)
READ FIRST TIME 02/16/23.
1 AN ACT Relating to labor and income of incarcerated persons;
2 amending RCW 72.09.015, 72.09.100, 72.09.110, 72.09.111, 72.09.130,
3 72.09.460, and 72.09.480; adding a new section to chapter 72.09 RCW;
4 creating new sections; repealing RCW 72.09.400 and 72.09.410; and
5 providing an effective date.
6 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
7 NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. This act may be known and cited as the
8 real labor real wages act.
9 Sec. 2. RCW 72.09.015 and 2022 c 254 s 2 are each amended to
10 read as follows:
11 The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.
12 (1) "Adult basic education" means education or instruction
13 designed to achieve general competence of skills in reading, writing,
14 and oral communication, including English as a second language and
15 preparation and testing services for obtaining a high school diploma
16 or a high school equivalency certificate as provided in RCW
17 28B.50.536.
18 (2) "Base level of correctional services" means the minimum level
19 of field services the department of corrections is required by
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 1 statute to provide for the supervision and monitoring of
2 ((offenders)) incarcerated persons.
3 (3) "Civil judgment for assault" means a civil judgment for
4 monetary damages awarded to a correctional officer or department
5 employee entered by a court of competent jurisdiction against an
6 ((inmate)) incarcerated person that is based on, or arises from,
7 injury to the correctional officer or department employee caused by
8 the ((inmate)) incarcerated person while the correctional officer or
9 department employee was acting in the course and scope of his or her
10 employment.
11 (4) "Community custody" has the same meaning as that provided in
12 RCW 9.94A.030 and also includes community placement and community
13 supervision as defined in RCW 9.94B.020.
14 (5) "Contraband" means any object or communication the secretary
15 determines shall not be allowed to be: (a) Brought into; (b)
16 possessed while on the grounds of; or (c) sent from any institution
17 under the control of the secretary.
18 (6) "Correctional facility" means a facility or institution
19 operated directly or by contract by the secretary for the purposes of
20 incarcerating adults in total or partial confinement, as defined in
21 RCW 9.94A.030.
22 (7) "County" means a county or combination of counties.
23 (8) "Department" means the department of corrections.
24 (9) "Earned early release" means earned release as authorized by
25 RCW 9.94A.729.
26 (10) "Evidence-based" means a program or practice that has had
27 multiple-site random controlled trials across heterogeneous
28 populations demonstrating that the program or practice is effective
29 in reducing recidivism for the population.
30 (11) "Extended family visit" means an authorized visit between an
31 ((inmate)) incarcerated person and a member of his or her immediate
32 family that occurs in a private visiting unit located at the
33 correctional facility where the ((inmate)) incarcerated person is
34 confined.
35 (12) "Good conduct" means compliance with department rules and
36 policies.
37 (13) "Good performance" means successful completion of a program
38 required by the department, including an education, work, or other
39 program.
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 1 (14) "Immediate family" means the ((inmate's)) incarcerated
2 person's children, stepchildren, grandchildren, great grandchildren,
3 parents, stepparents, grandparents, great grandparents, siblings,
4 aunts, uncles, and a person legally married to or in a state
5 registered domestic partnership with an ((inmate)) incarcerated
6 person. "Immediate family" includes the immediate family of an
7 ((inmate)) incarcerated person who was adopted as a child or an
8 adult, but does not include an ((inmate)) incarcerated person adopted
9 by another ((inmate)) incarcerated person.
10 (15) "Indigent inmate," "indigent incarcerated person,"
11 "indigent," and "indigency" mean an ((inmate)) incarcerated person
12 who has less than a $25 balance of disposable income in his or her
13 institutional account on the day a request is made to utilize funds
14 and during the 30 days previous to the request.
15 (16) "Individual reentry plan" means the plan to prepare an
16 ((offender)) incarcerated person for release into the community. It
17 should be developed collaboratively between the department and the
18 ((offender)) person and based on an assessment of the ((offender))
19 person using a standardized and comprehensive tool to identify the
20 ((offender's)) person's risks and needs. The individual reentry plan
21 describes actions that should occur to prepare individual
22 ((offenders)) incarcerated persons for release from prison or jail,
23 specifies the supervision and services they will experience in the
24 community, and describes ((an offender's)) a person's eventual
25 discharge to aftercare upon successful completion of supervision. An
26 individual reentry plan is updated throughout the period of ((an
27 offender's)) a person's incarceration and supervision to be relevant
28 to the ((offender's)) person's current needs and risks.
29 (17) "Inmate," ((means)) "incarcerated individual," and
30 "incarcerated person" mean a person committed to the custody of the
31 department, including but not limited to persons residing in a
32 correctional institution or facility and persons released from such
33 facility on furlough, work release, or community custody, and persons
34 received from another state, state agency, county, federally
35 recognized tribe, or federal jurisdiction.
36 (18) "Labor" means the period of time before a birth during which
37 contractions are of sufficient frequency, intensity, and duration to
38 bring about effacement and progressive dilation of the cervix.
39 (19) "Physical restraint" means the use of any bodily force or
40 physical intervention to control an ((offender)) incarcerated person
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 1 or limit an ((offender's)) incarcerated person's freedom of movement
2 in a way that does not involve a mechanical restraint. Physical
3 restraint does not include momentary periods of minimal physical
4 restriction by direct person-to-person contact, without the aid of
5 mechanical restraint, accomplished with limited force and designed
6 to:
7 (a) Prevent an ((offender)) incarcerated person from completing
8 an act that would result in potential bodily harm to self or others
9 or damage property;
10 (b) Remove a disruptive ((offender)) incarcerated person who is
11 unwilling to leave the area voluntarily; or
12 (c) Guide an ((offender)) incarcerated person from one location
13 to another.
14 (20) "Postpartum recovery" means (a) the entire period a woman or
15 youth is in the hospital, birthing center, or clinic after giving
16 birth and (b) an additional time period, if any, a treating physician
17 determines is necessary for healing after the woman or youth leaves
18 the hospital, birthing center, or clinic.
19 (21) "Privilege" means any goods or services, education or work
20 programs, or earned early release days, the receipt of which are
21 directly linked to an ((inmate's)) incarcerated person's (a) good
22 conduct; and (b) good performance. Privileges do not include any
23 goods or services the department is required to provide under the
24 state or federal Constitution or under state or federal law.
25 (22) "Promising practice" means a practice that presents, based
26 on preliminary information, potential for becoming a research-based
27 or consensus-based practice.
28 (23) "Research-based" means a program or practice that has some
29 research demonstrating effectiveness, but that does not yet meet the
30 standard of evidence-based practices.
31 (24) "Restraints" means anything used to control the movement of
32 a person's body or limbs and includes:
33 (a) Physical restraint; or
34 (b) Mechanical device including but not limited to: Metal
35 handcuffs, plastic ties, ankle restraints, leather cuffs, other
36 hospital-type restraints, tasers, or batons.
37 (25) "Secretary" means the secretary of corrections or his or her
38 designee.
39 (26) "Significant expansion" includes any expansion into a new
40 product line or service to the class I business that results from an
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 1 increase in benefits provided by the department, including a decrease
2 in labor costs, rent, or utility rates (for water, sewer,
3 electricity, and disposal), an increase in work program space, tax
4 advantages, or other overhead costs.
5 (27) "Superintendent" means the superintendent of a correctional
6 facility under the jurisdiction of the Washington state department of
7 corrections, or his or her designee.
8 (28) "Transportation" means the conveying, by any means, of an
9 incarcerated pregnant woman or youth from the correctional facility
10 to another location from the moment she leaves the correctional
11 facility to the time of arrival at the other location, and includes
12 the escorting of the pregnant incarcerated woman or youth from the
13 correctional facility to a transport vehicle and from the vehicle to
14 the other location.
15 (29) "Unfair competition" means any net competitive advantage
16 that a business may acquire as a result of a correctional industries
17 contract, including labor costs, rent, tax advantages, utility rates
18 (water, sewer, electricity, and disposal), and other overhead costs.
19 To determine net competitive advantage, the department of corrections
20 shall review and quantify any expenses unique to operating a for-
21 profit business inside a prison.
22 (30) "Vocational training" or "vocational education" means
23 "vocational education" as defined in RCW 72.62.020.
24 (31) "Washington business" means an in-state manufacturer or
25 service provider subject to chapter 82.04 RCW existing on June 10,
26 2004.
27 (32) "Work programs" means all classes of correctional industries
28 jobs authorized under RCW 72.09.100.
29 Sec. 3. RCW 72.09.100 and 2012 c 220 s 2 are each amended to
30 read as follows:
31 It is the intent of the legislature to vest in the department the
32 power to provide for a comprehensive ((inmate)) work program and to
33 remove statutory and other restrictions which have limited work
34 programs in the past. It is also the intent of the legislature to
35 ensure that the department, in developing and selecting correctional
36 industries work programs, does not encourage the development of, or
37 provide for selection of or contracting for, or the significant
38 expansion of, any new or existing class I correctional industries
39 work programs that unfairly compete with Washington businesses. The
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 1 legislature intends that the requirements relating to fair
2 competition in the correctional industries work programs be liberally
3 construed by the department to protect Washington businesses from
4 unfair competition. For purposes of establishing such a comprehensive
5 program, the legislature recommends that the department consider
6 adopting any or all, or any variation of, the following classes of
7 work programs:
8 (1) CLASS I: FREE VENTURE INDUSTRIES.
9 (a) The employer model industries in this class shall be operated
10 and managed in total or in part by any profit or nonprofit
11 organization pursuant to an agreement between the organization and
12 the department. The organization shall produce goods or services for
13 sale to both the public and private sector.
14 (b) The customer model industries in this class shall be operated
15 and managed by the department to provide Washington state
16 manufacturers or businesses with products or services currently
17 produced or provided by out-of-state or foreign suppliers.
18 (c) The department shall review these proposed industries,
19 including any potential new class I industries work program or the
20 significant expansion of an existing class I industries work program,
21 before the department contracts to provide such products or services.
22 The review shall include the analysis required under RCW 72.09.115 to
23 determine if the proposed correctional industries work program will
24 compete with any Washington business. An agreement for a new class I
25 correctional industries work program, or an agreement for a
26 significant expansion of an existing class I correctional industries
27 work program, that unfairly competes with any Washington business is
28 prohibited.
29 (d) The department shall supply appropriate security and custody
30 services without charge to the participating firms.
31 (e) ((Inmates)) Incarcerated persons who work in free venture
32 industries shall do so at their own choice. They shall be paid a wage
33 comparable to the wage paid for work of a similar nature in the
34 locality in which the industry is located, as determined by the
35 director of correctional industries. If the director cannot
36 reasonably determine the comparable wage, then the pay shall not be
37 less than the federal minimum wage.
38 (f) An ((inmate)) incarcerated person who is employed in the
39 class I program of correctional industries shall not be eligible for
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 1 unemployment compensation benefits pursuant to any of the provisions
2 of Title 50 RCW until released on parole or discharged.
3 (2) CLASS II: TAX REDUCTION INDUSTRIES.
4 (a) Industries in this class shall be state-owned and operated
5 enterprises designed primarily to reduce the costs for goods and
6 services for tax-supported agencies and for nonprofit organizations.
7 (b)(i) The industries selected for development within this class
8 shall, as much as possible, match the available pool of ((inmate))
9 incarcerated person work skills and aptitudes with the work
10 opportunities in the free community. The industries shall be closely
11 patterned after private sector industries but with the objective of
12 reducing public support costs rather than making a profit.
13 (ii) Except as provided in RCW ((43.19.534(3))) 39.26.251(2) and
14 this section, the products and services of this industry, including
15 purchased products and services necessary for a complete product
16 line, may be sold to the following:
17 (A) Public agencies;
18 (B) Nonprofit organizations;
19 (C) Private contractors when the goods purchased will be
20 ultimately used by a public agency or a nonprofit organization;
21 (D) An employee and immediate family members of an employee of
22 the department;
23 (E) A person under the supervision of the department and his or
24 her immediate family members; and
25 (F) A licensed health professional for the sole purpose of
26 providing eyeglasses to enrollees of the state medical program at no
27 more than the health professional's cost of acquisition.
28 (iii) The department shall authorize the type and quantity of
29 items that may be purchased and sold under (b)(ii)(D) and (E) of this
30 subsection.
31 (iv) It is prohibited to purchase any item purchased under
32 (b)(ii)(D) and (E) of this subsection for the purpose of resale.
33 (v) Clothing manufactured by an industry in this class may be
34 donated to nonprofit organizations that provide clothing free of
35 charge to low-income persons.
36 (c) Under no circumstance shall ((offenders)) incarcerated
37 persons under the custody of the department of corrections make or
38 assemble uniforms to be worn by correctional officers employed with
39 the department.
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 1 (d)(i) Class II correctional industries products and services
2 shall be reviewed by the department before offering such products and
3 services for sale to private contractors.
4 (ii) The secretary shall conduct a yearly marketing review of the
5 products and services offered under this subsection. Such review
6 shall include an analysis of the potential impact of the proposed
7 products and services on the Washington state business community. To
8 avoid waste or spoilage and consequent loss to the state, when there
9 is no public sector market for such goods, by-products and surpluses
10 of timber, agricultural, and animal husbandry enterprises may be sold
11 to private persons, at private sale. Surplus by-products and
12 surpluses of timber, agricultural and animal husbandry enterprises
13 that cannot be sold to public agencies or to private persons may be
14 donated to nonprofit organizations. All sales of surplus products
15 shall be carried out in accordance with rules pres