RCW 71.24.906
National 988 system
—
Needs assessment
—
Recommendations
—
Report.
(1) The authority and behavioral health administrative services organizations, in collaboration with the University of Washington, the Harborview behavioral health institute, the Washington council for behavioral health, and the statewide 988 coordinator, shall plan for regional collaboration among behavioral health providers and first responders working within the 988 crisis response and suicide prevention system, standardize practices and protocols, and develop a needs assessment for trainings. Under leadership by the authority and behavioral health administrative services organizations this work shall be divided as described in this section.
(2) The University of Washington, through the Harborview behavioral health institute, shall develop an assessment of training needs, a mapping of current and future funded crisis response providers, and a comprehensive review of all behavioral health training required in statute and in rule. The training needs assessment, mapping of crisis providers, and research on existing training requirements must be completed by June 30, 2024. The Harborview behavioral health institute may contract for all or any portion of this work. The Harborview behavioral health institute shall consult with, at a minimum, the following key stakeholders:
(a) At least two representatives from the behavioral health administrative services organizations, one from each side of the Cascade crest;
(b) At least three crisis services providers identified by the Washington council for behavioral health, one from each side of the Cascade crest, and one dedicated to serving communities of color;
(c) A representative of crisis call centers;
(d) The authority and the department;
(e) At least two members who are persons with lived experience related to mental health issues, substance use disorder issues, a suicide attempt, or a suicide loss;
(f) A representative of a statewide organization of field experts consisting of first responders, behavioral health professionals, and project managers working in co-response programs in Washington; and
(g) Advocates for and organizations representing persons with developmental disabilities, veterans, American Indians and Alaska Native populations, LGBTQ populations, and persons connected with the agricultural community, as deemed appropriate by each stakeholder group, including persons with lived experience related to mental health issues, substance use disorder issues, a suicide attempt, or a suicide loss.
(3) The authority and behavioral health services organizations, in collaboration with the stakeholders specified in subsection (1) of this section, shall develop recommendations for establishing crisis workforce and resilience training collaboratives that would offer voluntary regional trainings for behavioral health providers, peers, first responders, co-responders, 988 contact center personnel, designated 988 contact hub personnel, 911 operators, regional leaders, and interested members of the public, specific to a geographic region and the population they serve as informed by the needs assessment. The collaboratives shall encourage the development of foundational and advanced skills and practices in crisis response as well as foster regional collaboration. The recommendations must:
(a) Include strategies for better coordination and integration of 988-specific training into the broader scope of behavioral health trainings that are already required;
(b) Identify effective trainings to explain how the 988 system works with the 911 emergency response system, trauma-informed care, secondary trauma, suicide protocols and practices for crisis responders, supervisory best practices for first responders, lethal means safety, violence assessments, cultural competency, and essential care for serving individuals with serious mental illness, substance use disorder, or co-occurring disorders;
(c) Identify best practice approaches to working with veterans, intellectually and developmentally disabled populations, youth, LGBTQ populations, communities of color, agricultural communities, and American Indian and Alaska Native populations;
(d) Identify ways to provide the designated 988 contact hubs and other crisis providers with training that is tailored to the agricultural community using training that is agriculture-specific with information relating to the stressors unique to persons connected with the agricultural community such as weather conditions, financial obligations, market conditions, and other relevant issues. When developing the recommendations, consideration must be given to national experts, such as the AgriSafe network and other entities;
(e) Identify ways to promote a better informed and more involved community on topics related to the behavioral health crisis system by increasing public access to and participation in trainings on the topics identified in (b) and (c) of this subsection (3), including through remote audiovisual technology;
(f) Establish suggested protocols for ways to sustain the collaboratives as new mobile rapid response crisis teams and community-based crisis teams endorsed under RCW 71.24.903, co-responder teams, and crisis facilities are funded and operationalized;
(g) Discuss funding needs to sustain the collaboratives and support participation in attending the trainings; and
(h) Offer a potential timeline for implementing the collaboratives on a region-by-region basis.
(4) The authority shall submit a report on the items developed in this section to the governor and the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 31, 2024.
[
2023 c 454 s 11
.]
RCW 71.24.907
National 988 system
—
Limitation of liability.
(1) No act or omission related to the dispatching decisions of any crisis call center staff or designated 988 contact hub staff with endorsed mobile rapid response crisis team and community-based crisis team dispatching responsibilities done or omitted in good faith within the scope of the individual's employment responsibilities with the crisis call center or designated 988 contact hub and in accordance with dispatching procedures adopted both by the behavioral health administrative services organization and the crisis call center or the designated 988 contact hub and approved by the authority shall impose liability upon:
(a) The clinical staff of the crisis call center or designated 988 contact hub or their clinical supervisors;
(b) The crisis call center or designated 988 contact hub or its officers, staff, or employees;
(c) Any member of a mobile rapid response crisis team or community-based crisis team endorsed under RCW 71.24.903
;
(d) The certified public safety telecommunicator or the certified public safety telecommunicator's supervisor; or
(e) The public safety answering point or its officers, staff, or employees.
(2) No act or omission in the provision of crisis stabilization services, professional on-site community-based intervention, outreach, de-escalation, stabilization, resource connection, or follow-up support, and delivered under the clinical supervision of a mental health professional or an approved medical program director or their delegate, to a person who is experiencing a behavioral health crisis, and which is done or omitted in good faith within the scope of the individual's employment responsibilities, shall impose liability upon:
(a) Any staff of an endorsed or nonendorsed mobile rapid response crisis team or community-based crisis team, including teams operated by tribes, or staff of a crisis stabilization unit or a 23-hour crisis relief center, including facilities operated by tribes;
(b) Any officer of a public, private, or tribal agency, the superintendent, any professional person in charge or their professional designee, or any attending staff of any such agency; or
(c) Any federal, tribal, state, county, city, other local governmental unit, or contracted behavioral health agency, or employees of such units or agencies.
(3) This section shall apply to any act or omission by any person or entity listed in subsection (2) of this section involved in the transport of patients to behavioral health services, facilities providing crisis stabilization services, or other needed crisis services.
(4) This section shall not apply to any act or omission which constitutes either gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct.
[
2024 c 370 s 1
;
2023 c 454 s 13
.]
RCW 71.24.908
Data integration platform to support diversion efforts
—
Development and implementation
—
Exempt from public disclosure.
(1) The authority must develop and implement a data integration platform by June 30, 2025, to support recovery navigator programs, law enforcement assisted diversion programs, arrest and jail alternative programs, and similar diversion efforts. The data integration platform shall:
(a) Serve as a statewide common database available for tracking diversion efforts across the state;
(b) Serve as a data collection and management tool for practitioners, allowing practitioners to input data and information relating to the utilization and outcomes of pretrial diversions, including whether such diversions were terminated, were successfully completed and resulted in dismissal, or are still ongoing;
(c) Assist in standardizing definitions and practices; and
(d) Track pretrial diversion participants by race, ethnicity, gender, gender expression or identity, disability status, and age.
(2) If possible, the authority must leverage and interact with existing platforms already in use in efforts funded by the authority. The authority must establish a quality assurance process for behavioral health administrative services organizations and employ data validation for fields in the data collection workbook. The authority must engage and consult with the law enforcement assisted diversion national support bureau on data integration approaches, platforms, quality assurance protocols, and validation practices.
(3) Information submitted to the data integration platform is exempt from public disclosure requirements under chapter
42.56
RCW.
[
2023 sp.s. c 1 s 22
.]
RCW 71.24.909
Washington state institute for public policy study on recovery navigator programs and law enforcement assisted diversion programs.
(1) The authority shall contract with the Washington state institute for public policy to conduct a study of the long-term effectiveness of the recovery navigator programs under RCW 71.24.115
and law enforcement assisted diversion programs under RCW 71.24.589
implemented in Washington state, with reports due by June 30, 2028, June 30, 2033, and June 30, 2038, and an assessment as described under subsection (2) of this section. The Washington state institute for public policy shall collaborate with the authority and the substance use recovery services advisory committee under RCW 71.24.546
on the topic of data collection and to determine the parameters of the report, which shall include:
(a) Recidivism rates for recovery navigator and law enforcement assisted diversion program participants, including a comparison between individuals who did and did not use the pretrial diversion program under RCW 69.50.4017, and outcomes for these individuals;
(b) Trends or disparities in utilization of the recovery navigator and LEAD programs and outcomes based on race, ethnicity, gender, gender expression or identity, disability status, age, and other appropriate characteristics; and
(c) Recommendations, if any, for modification and improvement of the recovery navigator program or law enforcement assisted diversion programs.
(2)(a) The Washington state institute for public policy shall, in consultation with the authority and other key stakeholders, conduct a descriptive assessment of the current status of statewide recovery navigator programs and the degree to which the implementation of these programs reflects fidelity to the core principles of the law enforcement assisted diversion program as established by the law enforcement assisted diversion national support bureau in its toolkit as it existed on July 1, 2023, which shall include:
(i) The results of the law enforcement assisted diversion standards fidelity index analysis, conducted by an independent research scientist with expertise in law enforcement assisted diversion evaluation, including findings with respect to each standard assessed, for each recovery navigator program, in each behavioral health administrative services organization region;
(ii) Reports on utilization of technical support from the law enforcement assisted diversion national support bureau by recovery navigator program contractors, the authority, and behavioral health administrative services organizations; and
(iii) Barriers to achieving fidelity to core principles.
(b) The report shall also describe law enforcement assisted diversion programs in Washington state that are not affiliated with recovery navigator programs.
(c) The report may include recommendations for changes to recovery navigator programs reported by recovery navigator program administrators, stakeholders, or participants.
(d) The authority, behavioral health administrative services organizations, and other recovery navigator program administrators shall cooperate with the institute in making this assessment.
(e) The institute shall submit this assessment to the governor and relevant committees of the legislature by June 30, 2024.
(3) The authority shall cooperate with the Washington state institute for public policy to provide data for the assessment and reports under this section.
(4) The authority must establish an expedited preapproval process by August 1, 2023, that allows requests for the use of data to be forwarded to the Washington state institutional review board without delay when the request is made by the Washington state institute for public policy for the purpose of completing a study that has been directed by the legislature.
[
2023 sp.s. c 1 s 24
.]
RCW 71.24.910
Balance billing violations
—
Discipline.
If the insurance commissioner reports to the department that he or she has cause to believe that a provider licensed under this chapter has engaged in a pattern of violations of RCW 48.49.020
or
48.49.030
or has violated RCW 48.43.732, and the report is substantiated after investigation, the department may levy a fine upon the provider in an amount not to exceed $1,000 per violation and take other formal or informal disciplinary action as permitted under the authority of the department.
[
2025 c 389 s 10
;
2022 c 263 s 22
.]
NOTES:
Finding
—
Intent
—
2025 c 389:
See note following RCW 48.43.732
.
Effective date
—
2022 c 263:
See note following RCW 43.371.100
.
RCW 71.24.911
Statewide behavioral health treatment and recovery support services mapping tool.
Subject to funding provided for this specific purpose, the authority must collaborate with the department and the department of social and health services to expand the Washington recovery helpline and the recovery readiness asset tool to provide a dynamically updated statewide behavioral health treatment and recovery support services mapping tool that includes a robust resource database for those seeking services and a referral system to be incorporated within the locator tool to help facilitate the connection between an individual and a facility that is currently accepting new referrals. The tool must include dual interface capability, one for public access and one for internal use and management.
[
2023 sp.s. c 1 s 28
.]
RCW 71.24.912
Work group
—
Systems, policies, and processes related to intake, screening, and assessment for substance use disorders.
(1) The authority shall convene a work group to recommend changes to systems, policies, and processes related to intake, screening, and assessment for substance use disorder services, with the goal to broaden the workforce capable of administering substance use disorder assessments and to make the assessment process as brief as possible, including only what is necessary to manage utilization and initiate care. The assessment shall be low barrier, person-centered, and amenable to administration in diverse health care settings and by a range of health care professionals. The assessment shall consider the person's self-identified needs and preferences when evaluating direction of treatment and may include different components based on the setting, context, and past experience with the client.
(2) The work group must include care providers, payors, people who use drugs, individuals in recovery from substance use disorder, and other individuals recommended by the authority. The work group shall present its recommendations to the governor and appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1, 2024.
[
2023 sp.s. c 1 s 36
.]
RCW 71.24.913
Substance use disorders
—
Comprehensive assessments, reports.
(1) The authority is responsible for providing regular assessments of the prevalence of substance use disorders and interactions of persons with substance use disorder with service providers, nonprofit service providers, first responders, health care facilities, and law enforcement agencies. Beginning in 2026, the annual report required in subsection (3)(a) of this section shall include a comprehensive assessment of the information described in this subsection for the prior calendar year.
(2)(a) The authority shall identify the types and sources of data necessary to implement the appropriate means and methods of gathering data to provide the information required in subsection (1) of this section.
(b) The authority must provide a preliminary inventory report to the governor and the legislature by December 1, 2023, and a final inventory report by December 1, 2024. The reports must:
(i) Identify existing types and sources of data available to the authority to provide the information required in subsection (1) of this section and what data are necessary but currently unavailable to the authority;
(ii) Include recommendations for new data connections, new data-sharing authority, and sources of data that are necessary to provide the information required in subsection (1) of this section; and
(iii) Include recommendations, including any necessary legislation, regarding the development of reporting mechanisms between the authority and service providers, nonprofit service providers, health care facilities, law enforcement agencies, and other state agencies to gather the information required in subsection (1) of this section.
(3)(a) Beginning July 1, 2024, and each July 1st thereafter until July 1, 2028, the authority shall provide an implementation report to the governor and the legislature regarding recovery residences, recovery navigator programs, the health engagement pilot programs, and the law enforcement assisted diversion grants program. The report shall include:
(i) The number of contracts awarded to law enforcement assisted diversion programs, including the amount awarded in the contract, and the names and service locations of contract recipients;
(ii) The location of recovery residences, recovery navigator programs, health engagement hub pilot programs, and law enforcement assisted diversion programs;
(iii) The scope and nature of services provided by recovery navigator programs, health engagement hub pilot programs, and law enforcement assisted diversion programs;
(iv) The number of individuals served by recovery residences, recovery navigator programs, health engagement hub pilot programs, and law enforcement assisted diversion programs;
(v) If known, demographic data concerning the utilization of these services by overburdened and underrepresented communities; and
(vi) The number of grants awarded to providers of employment, education, training, certification, and other supportive programs, including the amount awarded in each grant and the names of provider grant recipients, as provided for in RCW 71.24.113
.
(b) The data obtained by the authority under this section shall be integrated with the Washington state institute for public policy report under RCW 71.24.909
.
(4) Beginning in the July 1, 2027, report in subsection (3)(a) of this section, the authority shall provide:
(a) The results and effectiveness of the authority's collaboration with the department of health and the department of social and health services to expand the Washington recovery helpline and recovery readiness asset tool to provide a dynamically updated statewide behavioral health treatment and recovery support services mapping tool, including the results and effectiveness with respect to overburdened and underrepresented communities, in accordance with RCW 71.24.911
;
(b) The results and effectiveness of the authority's development and implementation of a data integration platform to support recovery navigator programs and to serve as a common database available for diversion efforts across the state, including the results and effectiveness with respect to overburdened and underrepresented communities, as provided in RCW 71.24.908
;
(c) The effectiveness and outcomes of training developed and provided by the authority in consultation with the department of children, youth, and families, as provided in RCW 71.24.522
; and
(d) The effectiveness and outcomes of training developed by the authority for housing providers, as provided in RCW 71.24.657
(4).
[
2023 sp.s. c 1 s 38
.]
RCW 71.24.915
Crisis continuum of care forum.
Behavioral health administrative services organizations in their role as regional behavioral health system leaders, in partnership with the authority, shall convene an annual crisis continuum of care forum, led by the behavioral health administrative services organizations, with participation from partners serving regional service areas, including managed care organizations, behavioral health providers, mobile rapid response crisis teams, 988 call center hubs, counties, tribes, and other regional partners, to identify and develop collaborative regional-based solutions which may include capital infrastructure requests, local capacity building, or community investments including joint funding opportunities, innovative and scalable pilot initiatives, or other funder and stakeholder partnerships. The authority shall provide funding for this annual crisis continuum of care forum. Behavioral health administrative services organizations and the authority shall jointly submit recommendations, as appropriate, supporting these efforts to the joint legislative executive committee on behavioral health.
[
2023 c 454 s 12
.]
RCW 71.24.916
23-hour crisis relief centers
—
Licensing and certification
—
Rules
—
Standards.
(1) The secretary shall license or certify 23-hour crisis relief centers that meet state minimum standards. The department shall create rules in consultation with the authority by January 1, 2024, to develop standards for licensure or certification of 23-hour crisis relief centers.
(a) The rules, at a minimum, must require the 23-hour crisis relief center to:
(i) Offer walk-in options and drop-off options for first responders and persons referred through the 988 system, without a requirement for medical clearance for these individuals. The facility must be structured to have the capacity to accept admissions 90 percent of the time when the facility is not at its full capacity, and to have a no-refusal policy for law enforcement, with instances of declined admission and the reasons for the declines tracked and made available to the department;
(ii) Provide services to address mental health and substance use crisis issues;
(iii) Maintain capacity to screen for physical health needs, deliver minor wound care for nonlife-threatening wounds, and provide care for most minor physical or basic health needs that can be addressed without need for medical diagnosis or health care prescriber orders, with an identified pathway to transfer the person to more medically appropriate services if needed;
(iv) Be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a multidisciplinary team capable of meeting the needs of individuals experiencing all levels of crisis in the community, which includes access to a prescriber and the ability to dispense medications appropriate for 23-hour crisis relief center clients;
(v) Screen all individuals for suicide risk and engage in comprehensive suicide risk assessment and planning when clinically indicated;
(vi) Screen all individuals for violence risk and engage in comprehensive violence risk assessment and planning when clinically indicated;
(vii) Limit patient stays to a maximum of 23 hours and 59 minutes except for patients waiting on a designated crisis responder evaluation or making an imminent transition to another setting as part of an established aftercare plan. Exceptions to the time limit made under this subsection shall not cause a 23-hour crisis relief center to be classified as a residential treatment facility under RCW 71.12.455
;
(viii) Maintain relationships with entities capable of providing for reasonably anticipated ongoing service needs of clients, unless the licensee itself provides sufficient services; and
(ix) When appropriate, coordinate connection to ongoing care.
(b) The rules, at a minimum, must develop standards for determining medical stability before an emergency medical services drop-off.
(c) The rules must include standards for the number of recliner chairs that may be licensed or certified in a 23-hour crisis relief center and the appropriate variance for temporarily exceeding that number in order to provide the no-refusal policy for law enforcement.
(d) The department shall specify physical environment standards for the construction review process that are responsive to the unique characteristics of the types of interventions used to provide care for all levels of acuity in facilities operating under the 23-hour crisis relief center model. In a 23-hour crisis relief center which proposes to serve both child and adult clients in the same facility, these standards must include separate internal entrances, spaces, and treatment areas such that no contact occurs between child and adult 23-hour crisis relief center clients.
(e) The department shall coordinate with the authority and department of social and health services to establish rules that prohibit facilities that are licensed or required to be licensed under chapter
18.51, 18.20, 70.97, 72.36, or
70.128
RCW from discharging or transferring a resident to a 23-hour crisis relief center.
(f) The department shall coordinate with the authority to establish rules that prohibit a hospital that is licensed under chapter
70.41
RCW from discharging or transferring a patient to a 23-hour crisis relief center unless the hospital has a formal relationship with the 23-hour crisis relief center.
(g) The authority shall take steps necessary to make 23-hour crisis relief center services, including on-site physical health care, eligible for medicaid billing to the maximum extent allowed by federal law.
(2) By March 31, 2025, the secretary shall amend licensure and certification rules for 23-hour crisis relief clinics in consultation with the authority and the department of children, youth, and families to create standards for licensure or certification of 23-hour crisis relief centers which provide services to children. To meet the needs of children in crisis and their families, 23-hour crisis relief centers treating children must, in addition to meeting the requirements of subsection (1) of this section:
(a) Not treat children in a shared space or allow them to have contact with adult clients;
(b) Be structured to meet the crisis needs of children ages eight and over and their families;
(c) Have written policies and procedures defining how different age groups will be appropriately separated;
(d) Provide resources to connect children and their families with behavioral health supports;
(e) Coordinate with the department of children, youth, and families for children who do not need inpatient care and are unable to be discharged to home;
(f) Address discharge planning for a child who is at risk of dependency, out-of-home placement, or homelessness; and
(g) Be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a pediatric multidisciplinary team.
(3) The secretary shall solicit input from stakeholders when engaging in rule making under subsection (2) of this section.
[
2024 c 367 s 2
;
2023 c 433 s 2
.]
NOTES:
Rules
—
2023 c 433 s 2:
"When making rules under section 2 of this act, the department of health shall consult with stakeholders including, but not limited to: The Washington council for behavioral health; WAADAC, the voice for Washington state addiction professionals persons with lived experience of behavioral health crisis; family members with lived experience of caring for someone in behavioral health crisis; the Washington state hospital association; the American college of emergency physicians; behavioral health administrative services organizations; the Washington association of designated crisis responders; the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs; and an individual or entity representing emergency medical services." [
2023 c 433 s 22
.]
RCW 71.24.920
Certified peer support specialists
—
Courses of instruction
—
Duties.
(1)(a) By January 1, 2025, the authority must develop a course of instruction to become a certified peer support specialist under chapter
18.420
RCW. The course must be approximately 80 hours in duration and based upon the curriculum offered by the authority in its peer counselor training as of July 23, 2023, as well as additional instruction in the principles of recovery coaching and suicide prevention. The authority shall establish a peer engagement process to receive suggestions regarding subjects to be covered in the 80-hour curriculum beyond those addressed in the peer counselor training curriculum and recovery coaching and suicide prevention curricula, including the cultural appropriateness of the 80-hour training. The education course must be taught by certified peer support specialists. The education course must be offered by the authority with sufficient frequency to accommodate the demand for training and the needs of the workforce. The authority must establish multiple configurations for offering the education course, including offering the course as an uninterrupted course with longer class hours held on consecutive days for students seeking accelerated completion of the course and as an extended course with reduced daily class hours, possibly with multiple days between classes, to accommodate students with other commitments. Upon completion of the education course, the student must pass an oral examination administered by the course trainer.
(b) The authority shall develop an expedited course of instruction that consists of only those portions of the curriculum required under (a) of this subsection that exceed the authority's certified peer counselor training curriculum as it exists on July 23, 2023. The expedited training shall focus on assisting persons who completed the authority's certified peer counselor training as it exists on July 23, 2023, to meet the education requirements for certification under RCW 18.420.050
.
(2) By January 1, 2025, the authority must develop a training course for certified peer support specialists providing supervision to certified peer support specialist trainees under RCW 18.420.060
.
(3)(a) By July 1, 2025, the authority shall offer a 40-hour specialized training course in peer crisis response services for individuals employed as peers who work with individuals who may be experiencing a behavioral health crisis. When offering the training course, priority for enrollment must be given to certified peer support specialists employed in a crisis-related setting, including entities identified in (b) of this subsection. The training shall incorporate best practices for responding to 988 behavioral health crisis line calls, as well as processes for co-response with law enforcement when necessary.
(b) Beginning July 1, 2025, any entity that uses certified peer support specialists as peer crisis responders, may only use certified peer support specialists who have completed the training course established by (a) of this subsection. A behavioral health agency that uses certified peer support specialists to work as peer crisis responders must maintain the records of the completion of the training course for those certified peer support specialists who provide these services and make the records available to the state agency for auditing or certification purposes.
(4) By July 1, 2025, the authority shall offer a course designed to inform licensed or certified behavioral health agencies of the benefits of incorporating certified peer support specialists and certified peer support specialist trainees into their clinical staff and best practices for incorporating their services. The authority shall encourage entities that hire certified peer support specialists and certified peer support specialist trainees, including licensed or certified behavioral health agencies, hospitals, primary care offices, and other entities, to have appropriate staff attend the training by making it available in multiple formats.
(5) The authority, in consultation with the office of crime victims advocacy established under RCW 43.280.080, must contract with one or more training entities for the development of three separate courses of instruction related to the provision of peer support services to persons who have experienced domestic violence, sexual assault, or human trafficking. The authority shall collaborate with people with lived and living experience in the development of the courses. The courses must supplement the instruction received by certified peer support specialists and incorporate competencies that are typically taught in training programs for victim advocates, including safety planning, a foundational understanding of domestic violence, sexual assault, or human trafficking, as applicable, and advocacy across legal, medical, social services, and other systems.
(6) The authority shall:
(a) Hire clerical, administrative, investigative, and other staff as needed to implement this section to serve as examiners for any practical oral or written examination and assure that the examiners are trained to administer examinations in a culturally appropriate manner and represent the diversity of applicants being tested. The authority shall adopt procedures to allow for appropriate accommodations for persons with a learning disability, other disabilities, and other needs and assure that staff involved in the administration of examinations are trained on those procedures;
(b) Develop oral and written examinations required under this section. The initial examinations shall be adapted from those used by the authority as of July 23, 2023. The authority shall assure that the examinations are culturally appropriate;
(c) Prepare, grade, and administer, or supervise the grading and administration of written examinations for obtaining a certificate;
(d) Approve entities to provide the educational courses required by this section and approve entities to prepare, grade, and administer written examinations for the educational courses required by this section;
(e) Develop examination preparation materials and make them available to students enrolled in the courses established under this section in multiple formats, including specialized examination preparation support for students with higher barriers to passing the written examination; and
(f) Administer, through contract, a program to link eligible persons in recovery from behavioral health challenges who are seeking employment as peers with employers seeking to hire peers, including certified peer support specialists. The authority must contract for this program with an organization that provides peer workforce development, peer coaching, and other peer supportive services. The contract must require the organization to create and maintain a statewide database which is easily accessible to eligible persons in recovery who are seeking employment as peers and potential employers seeking to hire peers, including certified peer support specialists. The program must be fully implemented by July 1, 2024.
(7) For the purposes of this section:
(a) "Peer crisis responder" means a peer support specialist certified under chapter
18.420
RCW who has completed the training under subsection (3) of this section whose job involves responding to behavioral health emergencies, including those dispatched through a 988 crisis hotline or the 911 system.
(b) "Victim services agency" means a program or organization that provides, as its primary purpose, assistance and advocacy for persons who have experienced domestic violence, sexual assault, or human trafficking. Services may include crisis intervention, individual and group support, information, referrals, and safety planning.
[
2025 c 360 s 3
;
2023 c 469 s 13
.]
NOTES:
RCW 71.24.922
Certified peer support specialists
—
Supervision caseload reduction.
Behavioral health agencies must reduce the caseload for approved supervisors who are providing supervision to certified peer support specialist trainees seeking certification under chapter
18.420
RCW.
[
2025 c 360 s 21
;
2023 c 469 s 14
.]
NOTES:
RCW 71.24.924
Certified peer support specialists
—
Billing.
(1) Beginning January 1, 2027, a person who engages in the practice of peer support services and who bills a health carrier or medical assistance or whose employer bills a health carrier or medical assistance for those services must hold an active credential as a certified peer support specialist or certified peer support specialist trainee under chapter
18.420
RCW.
(2) A person who is registered as an agency affiliated counselor under chapter
18.19
RCW who engages in the practice of peer support services and whose agency, as defined in RCW 18.19.020, bills medical assistance for those services must hold a certificate as a certified peer support specialist or certified peer support specialist trainee under chapter
18.420
RCW no later than January 1, 2027.
[
2025 c 360 s 22
;
2023 c 469 s 15
.]