[{"_1":2,"_100":-5,"_101":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76,88],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6387420,"mediaKeyId","2116584-19d61acc20b8f0818d87b7752978d53c","parentId",2116584,"title","Committee hears wide-ranging testimony on competency restoration bill after Trueblood backlog work","audioSeconds",4441,"startMs",2427000,"endMs",6868000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2116584-19d61acc20b8f0818d87b7752978d53c&start=2427&end=6868","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2116584-19d61acc20b8f0818d87b7752978d53c/thumbnail_2427000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6387420/Washington/Committee-hears-wide-ranging-testimony-on-competency-restoration-bill-after-Trueblood-backlog-work","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6387420-a17805b3bab24bedb2c2593899f7f4c4/orig.mp4?Expires=1771141065&Signature=aSYKfg3cgj-ZDxxH0QzAgcpOyImPS13Ma~GgvSOljklIvcJBB07HAIKDeMuCi9Kzwu-SyBO~~FcUj3xHwcJSd2CQ8mNaV829zF6WhBqlYC-jyeDLTTpmVGWprRLuKwGbPuNoFO8uqa0E~WV~5zg1cvZcEB6Jg8Rdp07AJQup-ZidVfC7K9YuGwSXjqERsDBoM6k5bA3~OzAjq46EkcVqBe2KHix8Kun4rmXc-0ijLP~bawt9DjT-bsT0Se84bXbFfLNLubFHH8FElwfgYl4VkRHUbqYOGOgDNUYTxF~usiRnmNw5mYma-1J0V3gQdiUKu0rxBY6RhKbzkGKd2kZP2w__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","House Civil Rights & Judiciary","date","2025-01-15T00:00:00Z","article","Representative Daria Farvar, prime sponsor of House Bill 1218, told the committee the bill responds to long-standing problems in Washington’s competency-evaluation and restoration system tied to the Trueblood litigation and statewide increases in referrals for competency evaluation and restoration.

The proposal would: require improvements in outpatient competency restoration and allow transfer from inpatient to outpatient when appropriate; require courts to consider involuntary medication orders when sufficient evidence exists; create a DSHS-managed growth-cap program that sets a baseline and an incentive cap for inpatient referrals by county and imposes graduated penalties for referrals above the baseline; deposit penalty revenue into a Behavioral Health Diversion Fund that counties can draw from if they reduce inpatient referrals; and direct DSHS and the Health Care Authority to convene a task force to develop protocols and report back by June 1, 2026.

Representative Farvar said Washington is in compliance with court-ordered timelines for Trueblood for the first time but warned that bed projections — including a new forensic hospital opening in 2028 — show capacity will again tighten unless referral trends change. “If it all goes as planned, we are going to have hundreds of beds coming online by 2028,” she said, and added that the state must avoid relying solely on building beds because “a bed built is a bed filled.”

Staff described the bill’s procedural changes, including limits on forensic-navigator appointments for certain felonies, requirements for defendants to comply with outpatient-program conditions, a process to transfer from inpatient to outpatient restoration after court hearing, and a mechanism allowing courts to recall competency orders and issue a warrant for failure to appear after repeated missed appearances. Staff also described the proposed penalty schedule for counties whose inpatient competency orders exceed a baseline: graduated penalties (percentages of the per-day state-hospital rate) for excess inpatient orders, with amounts deposited into the proposed Behavioral Health Diversion Fund and a process for counties to request appropriations if they reduce referrals.

Amber Leaders, senior policy adviser for the governor, and Kevin Bowmancamp, assistant secretary of DSHS’ Behavioral Health Administration, said the state has invested heavily in both forensic and community capacity but that referrals have climbed sharply — from about 3,500 orders near the time of the 2014 Trueblood trial to about 9,000 in 2024 — and that outpatient and diversion options are needed to reduce pressure on state hospitals. Leaders said forensic beds are expensive and that statewide investment choices must balance inpatient capacity with stronger community diversion and services.

Disability Rights Washington attorneys and Trueblood plaintiff counsel Kimberly Mozoff and Chloe Marino supported the bill and urged legislative action to reduce the repeated cycling of people through inpatient restoration. Mozoff cited data showing individuals in the system frequently have multiple prior competency orders and arrests in short spans and said community-based diversion, housing and low-barrier services reduce re-arrest and service use. Marino noted projections showing the new forensic hospital will cost several million dollars per bed and said the state cannot sustainably build capacity at the current referral growth rate.

Other witnesses, including the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys and the Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, opposed the bill as drafted. Prosecutors and some local officials argued many people ordered for restoration have complex needs and that community services are not available in many jurisdictions. Prosecutors also raised concerns about provisions that would limit judicial discretion or withdraw competency orders after missed outpatient appointments. County and city associations said counties do not control independent legal decision-makers (judges, prosecutors, city attorneys) and argued that shifting fiscal liability to county governments for referrals they do not directly control would be inequitable.

Defense and public-defense groups noted protections and process issues they believe require work, including concerns about pre-hearing procedures, whether forensic navigators should be available in all cases, and the mechanics of detention, medication and “cell” hearings. Court and municipal judges asked for more time to hold hearings required by the bill in jurisdictions that hear competency calendars less frequently.

DSHS and forensic-health leaders described how restoration focuses on restoring a defendant’s capacity to understand proceedings and assist counsel rather than providing long-term behavioral-health treatment, and they explained how inpatient restoration periods and potential subsequent periods are ordered and reviewed under current statute. They stressed the importance of expanding outpatient and diversion capacity — and of designing protocols so that outpatient programs are sufficiently individualized to avoid repeated failures and returns to inpatient care.

No vote was taken. The sponsor asked stakeholders to continue negotiations; several organizations offered to work with the sponsor and DSHS on technical drafting and implementation details. The bill includes a statutory task-force requirement and a June 1, 2026 report deadline for protocols and county diversion plan criteria.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","House Civil Rights & Judiciary - 1/15/2025 8:00 AM","oneSentenceSummary","Representative Daria Farvar told the committee the bill responds to long-standing problems in Washington’s competency-evaluation and restoration system tied to the Trueblood litigation and rising statewide referral volumes.","taxTitle","Civil Rights & Judiciary, House of Representatives, Legislative Sessions, Washington","taxId",20256,"location","Washington","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6387424,"Committee reviews proposed updates to Washington child support schedule",1438,929000,2367000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2116584-19d61acc20b8f0818d87b7752978d53c&start=929&end=2367","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2116584-19d61acc20b8f0818d87b7752978d53c/thumbnail_929000.jpg","/articles/6387424/Washington/Committee-reviews-proposed-updates-to-Washington-child-support-schedule","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6387424-32226228bd32f284b3ea8887a7286b28/orig.mp4?Expires=1771141065&Signature=gqqzOHgTInRPntQPWa2kNMpsbLlYiPHrw~DK8ARq0B--~nX0s5oYFPyTmwuif-dwz2u73CVXppOxKMHwsUvKnt97ZEIIu70SjaVAqwvjPEfDAGJLV~7PIy7Hlc-Gcae9ruKQ-medRDgYiFmRv7xFQ6W3b-XYf4TmTlEHDcyADo3G6bl2hnwOsMZi3bQvGfNDFPJtdxIWOcwqjOYqKNXBk98V33K22n7s5p6RhUbgNX4IQpbG8mWCdKTKieyRxKaOgpartI2G4nmmWL-pWXpHHRmjDULzeSufMf50~pzXB1b6Ay~PmuF~4DDfKxw2OyqWnnxyeib0LGp2VXjUzbJ1wQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","E.V. Adams, staff to the Civil Rights & Judiciary Committee, summarized House Bill 1014 on Jan. 15, saying the bill implements recommendations from the Division of Child Support’s quadrennial work group and makes multiple changes to Washington’s child support laws.

The bill would extend the child support economic table from combined monthly net incomes of $1,000–$12,000 up to $50,000, raise the table’s lower floor to $2,200, add a deduction for mandatory state deductions such as state-paid insurance premiums, and specify that mandatory and optional educational expenses are not part of the basic support obligation and instead would be shared by the parents. It would also raise the self-support reserve from 125% to 180% of the federal poverty guideline for a single-person household and create a one-time temporary abatement provision that allows reduction of child support to $50 per month per child for up to six months while a parent is in court-ordered behavioral health treatment under the Involuntary Treatment Act.

Representative Suzanne Schmidt, prime sponsor and member of the child-support work group, said the bill “outlines the recommendations of the work force” and described the measure as a collaborative effort to comply with federal requirements and modernize support calculations. Schmidt characterized the changes as “fair to both sides” and said public hearings around the state informed the proposal.

Sharon Redmond, director of the Division of Child Support at the Department of Social and Health Services and chair of the work group, told the committee the work group met for more than nine months and held two public forums before reaching consensus on the provisions that are included in the bill. Redmond said raising the economic table’s ceiling to $50,000 addresses the reality that many families’ combined monthly net incomes exceed the previous $12,000 cap and therefore need a clearer formula to determine obligations. She explained the work-group choice to raise the self-support reserve to 180% of the federal poverty guideline because the 2024 reserve “$15.69” (as stated in testimony) was judged inadequate in the state’s cost-of-living context.

Terry Price, a family law professor and work-group member, testified in support and said the bill addresses several “low-hanging fruit” items that would help self-represented litigants and reduce conflict on the ground. Price urged consideration of indexing mechanisms but said the structure of the economic table already incorporates income-driven movement up the chart.

Pat Ronsley, legislative liaison for the Washington State Bar Association Family Law Executive Committee, said the committee’s current position was “other” given draft language in Section 3 that would add a new subparagraph about educational expenses. Ronsley said FLEC would support the bill if that new subparagraph were deleted, arguing the draft language risked redundancy with existing statutory tuition references and could create litigation over undefined terms such as “mandatory educational expenses.”

Representative Cindy Jacobson asked whether the income levels and the self-support reserve should be indexed automatically (for example, to CPI); witnesses said federal rules require a four-year review but that work-group materials could clarify the origin of the 180% figure.

The committee took testimony from state agency officials, the bill sponsor and legal stakeholders and did not vote on the measure at the hearing. Staff and work-group members offered to provide follow-up details by request to members who asked for additional data on indexing and the self-support-reserve calculations.

","House Bill 1014 would update Washington’s child support economic table, raise the self-support reserve and add limited temporary abatement for parents in court-ordered behavioral health treatment; the bill reflects work-group consensus after public meetings and drew questions about indexing and education-expense definitions.",{"_33":89,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":90,"_41":91,"_43":92,"_45":93,"_47":94,"_49":95,"_51":96,"_53":97,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":98,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":99,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6387426,"Committee hears request to add fifth Skagit County superior court judge",663,281000,944000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2116584-19d61acc20b8f0818d87b7752978d53c&start=281&end=944","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2116584-19d61acc20b8f0818d87b7752978d53c/thumbnail_281000.jpg","/articles/6387426/Washington/Committee-hears-request-to-add-fifth-Skagit-County-superior-court-judge","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6387426-902057491b46feb87db7c2daf6dca442/orig.mp4?Expires=1771141065&Signature=IRd3yLmchpQwBCSlDXN-O8u5GRAoQMSGvrjms4tpEV4so4vGd6JT0dR-1cLRrOw87Fs-IOE6rveqiHOs9rdeL9uyB09cgDpPDge75R7wxrYGR-7-jglzOISqJuHuqiQaZkNQXswTClTJstBJgx0L2Ozvj9Y5DusYB4mgDA2Pr5VHWBT6zTLkNXyWroi3U7bvzMb0Ku5tVR-Iyo4tEwI4fQpIr6QTu8V0A7bEJyUOTg4~K~63FFzxKPcqH6gSnfEe2Pz0cio3wMOlrBtAz~XLInzhk3XCFxjRrQkxQcISXlaw3PrSLyLIBCBOdRZcXkwfIH4EUgdMJxzvpeLrkdkJGg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Representative Jamila Taylor, chair of the Civil Rights & Judiciary Committee, opened the Jan. 15 hearing on House Bill 1144, which would increase the number of superior court judges in Skagit County from four to five.

The measure matters because, supporters said, changes in caseload composition and recent temporary funding that expires this year have left the county short of judicial capacity to both process routine hearings and hold timely trials.

House Bill 1144 would make permanent a judicial position that local officials temporarily funded after the COVID-19 backlog. Yolanda Baker, staff to the committee, told members that “the number of superior court judges in each county is set by statute” and that the legislature relies on an annual workload analysis by the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) to determine judicial needs. Baker said Skagit County currently has four superior court judges and that the bill would increase that number to five.

Representative Debra Lekanoff, the bill’s sponsor, said Skagit County has relied on a mix of judges and commissioners — “four full time judges, two full time commissioners and one part time commissioner” — and that one full-time commissioner position was created and funded temporarily in 2021 to address pandemic backlogs. “My intent of my request today is clear,” Lekanoff said. “A fifth permanent full time judge for Skagit County Court will allow them to meet the demands of daily hearings, emergency requests, while still handling trials within a reasonable time.”

Haley Perkins, a court program supervisor at the Administrative Office of the Courts, testified in support and said Skagit is “under resourced.” Perkins cited the Washington State Center for Court Research’s judicial needs estimate and said the tool shows Skagit’s need exceeds current staffing; the latest estimate cited in the hearing indicated a larger need than the county’s current complement, though Perkins did not provide a single-rank ordering for all counties.

Judge Laura Raquelme, assistant presiding judge of Skagit County Superior Court, described recent legal changes that have increased courtroom time for pretrial and protection-order matters and said the shift has reduced bench time available for trials. She said the court is piloting a caseflow-management system with the AOC and that an additional judge would free capacity to conduct family-law, dependency and minor-guardianship trials.

Peter Browning, chair of the Skagit County Board of Commissioners, told the committee the county has budgeted for a new judge and support staff and is planning courtroom construction to accommodate growth. Browning said the county “is prepared to pay for — we have budgeted significantly for a — new judge.”

Representative Jim Walsh asked the AOC whether Skagit ranked among the most urgent needs for new judges; AOC staff said they did not have the ranking on hand and offered to follow up after the hearing.

No committee action or vote was taken at the hearing; the item was presented for committee consideration and public record. The committee closed the hearing and moved to its next agenda item.

For now, HB 1144 remains a bill under consideration; supporters emphasized local funding commitments and facility planning while AOC agreed to provide additional ranking information to committee members.

","A hearing on House Bill 1144 covered testimony from the Administrative Office of the Courts, Skagit County judges and county leaders seeking to make a temporary, county-funded judicial position permanent to address caseload pressures and changing courtroom demands.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Committee hears wide-ranging testimony on competency restoration bill after Trueblood backlog work

Committee reviews proposed updates to Washington child support schedule

Committee hears request to add fifth Skagit County superior court judge