47.06B.060 - Council -- Work group -- Duties, membership, reports.

Council — Work group — Duties, membership, reports. (Effective until June 30, 2012.)

(1) In 2007, the legislature directed the joint transportation committee to conduct a study of special needs transportation to examine and evaluate the effectiveness of special needs transportation in the state. A particular goal of the study was to explore opportunities to enhance coordination of special needs transportation programs to ensure that they are delivered efficiently and result in improved access and increased mobility options for their clients. It is the intent of the legislature to further consider some of the recommendations, and to implement many of these recommendations in the form of two pilot projects that will test the potential for applying these recommendations statewide in the future.

     (2) The legislature is aware that the department of social and health services submitted an application in December of 2008 to the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services, seeking approval to use the medical match system, a federal funding system that has different requirements from the federal administrative match system currently used by the department. It is the intent of the legislature to advance the goals of chapter 515, Laws of 2009 and the recommendations of the study identified in subsection (1) of this section without jeopardizing the application made by the department.

     (3) By August 15, 2009, the agency council on coordinated transportation shall appoint a work group for the purpose of identifying relevant federal requirements related to special needs transportation, and identifying solutions to streamline the requirements and increase efficiencies in transportation services provided for persons with special transportation needs. To advance its purpose, the work group shall work with relevant federal representatives and agencies to identify and address various challenges and barriers.

     (4) Membership of the work group must include, but not be limited to, one or more representatives from:

     (a) The departments of transportation, veterans affairs, health, and social and health services;

     (b) Medicaid nonemergency medical transportation brokers;

     (c) Public transit agencies;

     (d) Regional and metropolitan transportation planning organizations, including a representative of the regional transportation planning organization or organizations that provide staff support to the local coordinating coalition established under RCW 47.06B.070;

     (e) Indian tribes;

     (f) The agency council on coordinated transportation;

     (g) The local coordinating coalitions established under RCW 47.06B.070; and

     (h) The office of the superintendent of public instruction.

     (5) The work group shall elect one or more of its members to service as chair or cochairs.

     (6) The work group shall immediately contact representatives of the federal congressional delegation for Washington state and the relevant federal agencies and coordinating authorities including, but not limited to, the federal transit administration, the United States department of health and human services, and the interagency transportation coordinating council on access and mobility, and invite the federal representatives to work collaboratively to:

     (a) Identify transportation definitions and terminology used in the various relevant state and federal programs, and establish consistent transportation definitions and terminology. For purposes of this subsection, relevant state definitions exclude terminology that requires a medical determination, including whether a trip or service is medically necessary;

     (b) Identify restrictions or barriers that preclude federal, state, and local agencies from sharing client lists or other client information, and make progress towards removing any restrictions or barriers;

     (c) Identify relevant state and federal performance and cost reporting systems and requirements, and work towards establishing consistent and uniform performance and cost reporting systems and requirements; and

     (d) Explore, subject to federal approval, opportunities to test cost allocation models, including the pilot projects established in RCW 47.06B.080, that:

     (i) Allow for cost sharing among public paratransit and medicaid nonemergency medical trips; and

     (ii) Capture the value of medicaid trips provided by public transit agencies for which they are not currently reimbursed with a funding match by federal medicaid dollars.

     (7) By December 1, 2009, the work group shall submit a report to the joint transportation committee that explains the progress made towards the goals of this section and identifies any necessary legislative action that must be taken to implement all the provisions of this section. A second progress report must be submitted to the joint transportation committee by June 1, 2010, and a final report must be submitted to the joint transportation committee by December 1, 2010.

[2009 c 515 § 1.]