Bill to break apart DSHS faces yet another hurdle in state House
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- An effort to break up the state's largest agency is faced with yet another hurdle in the state Legislature.
A KOMO News investigation exposed severe problems within the Department of Social and Health Services.
Several key lawmakers agree the agency is simply too big to work efficiently, but on Monday the bill to break up the department ran into an unexpected obstacle. The bill, which has already cleared two House committees, must now get passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee before it gets a vote on the House floor.
Rep. Mike Armstrong, R-Wenatchee, thought he'd done everything he needed to do get the bill to the full House for a vote.
"I'm wondering where it goes next," he said.
A KOMO investigation found since 2002, 116 children have died while under DSHS supervision. Armstrong took the details of the report to help craft a bill to break up DSHS. He says he's backed up by the state workers themselves.
"I have a number of e-mails from folks inside DSHS that tell me they want some change," he said.
But Gov. Chris Gregoire says now is not the time for such a drastic change.
"Historically, I have supported taking Children's Administration out of DSHS and there will be time when I will support it again, but not when we are on a shoestring financially," she said. "If we want to guarantee that we're going to have total disruption, then let's split Children's Administration off today. The amount of disruption that would occur there, I fear, would be so much so that we would be very disappointed in the outcomes."
Armstrong believes the extra hoop he has to jump through with his bill is a veiled attempt to kill it. The bill barely escaped dying on Friday when it won last-minute passage out of the House Appropriations Committee.
"So you tell me, are they playing this bill? Are they gaming this bill? Do they not want this bill to get to the House floor?" he said.
But the House Ways and Means Committee Chairperson Rep. Kelli Linville says that's not the case.
"We'll spend more time talking about the fiscal impact before we decide whether we'll move it on," she said. "If we were going to block, it we would not have had a hearing on it."
Linville said the bill has been sent to her committee, because it is such a major piece of legislation that requires careful review.
A KOMO News investigation exposed severe problems within the Department of Social and Health Services.
Several key lawmakers agree the agency is simply too big to work efficiently, but on Monday the bill to break up the department ran into an unexpected obstacle. The bill, which has already cleared two House committees, must now get passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee before it gets a vote on the House floor.
Rep. Mike Armstrong, R-Wenatchee, thought he'd done everything he needed to do get the bill to the full House for a vote.
"I'm wondering where it goes next," he said.
A KOMO investigation found since 2002, 116 children have died while under DSHS supervision. Armstrong took the details of the report to help craft a bill to break up DSHS. He says he's backed up by the state workers themselves.
"I have a number of e-mails from folks inside DSHS that tell me they want some change," he said.
But Gov. Chris Gregoire says now is not the time for such a drastic change.
"Historically, I have supported taking Children's Administration out of DSHS and there will be time when I will support it again, but not when we are on a shoestring financially," she said. "If we want to guarantee that we're going to have total disruption, then let's split Children's Administration off today. The amount of disruption that would occur there, I fear, would be so much so that we would be very disappointed in the outcomes."
Armstrong believes the extra hoop he has to jump through with his bill is a veiled attempt to kill it. The bill barely escaped dying on Friday when it won last-minute passage out of the House Appropriations Committee.
"So you tell me, are they playing this bill? Are they gaming this bill? Do they not want this bill to get to the House floor?" he said.
But the House Ways and Means Committee Chairperson Rep. Kelli Linville says that's not the case.
"We'll spend more time talking about the fiscal impact before we decide whether we'll move it on," she said. "If we were going to block, it we would not have had a hearing on it."
Linville said the bill has been sent to her committee, because it is such a major piece of legislation that requires careful review.