Legislative Briefs

Couture prefiles bills on fentanyl, education accounts

Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, prefiled two bills before the start of the legislative session in Olympia.

One would create scholarships via education savings accounts, and another would require removal of children from homes with fentanyl or other dangerous drug abuse.

Under House Bill 1140, parents can apply for scholarship money distributed through a state-issued debit card that “families must use to pay for educational needs such as tuition, fees, textbooks, tutoring, therapies, and more,” according to a news release.

“We’ve already seen a massive wave of disenrollment in our public schools, and we’re saying we want to make sure that parents who don’t have the means to send their kids to a private school or to home school them actually have the support they deserve to give their children a great education,” Couture said in a statement.

Priority would be given to special education students, low-income students and students in failing schools, according to the bill.

“ESAs create a free market for education. That competition leads to schools upping their game to attract students, which leads to better educational outcomes,” Couture said.

State test scores are at the lowest levels since the smarter balanced assessment began in 2015, according to the bill, with over 60% of students not meeting grade level in math and half not meeting grade level standards in English, the bill states.

“The Legislature anticipates that some advocates for public schools and public school teachers will argue this scholarship will defund or damage public schools. However, in no state where education savings accounts have been implemented has this been the case. To the contrary, research shows that test results and outcomes for students in public schools have universally improved in states that have implemented education savings accounts,” according to the bill.

The bill states accounts could either be funded through direct appropriation by the Legislature or with a business and occupation tax credit allowing businesses to direct a portion of their B&O tax to ESAs.

Couture’s House Bill 1092 would require law enforcement or Child Protective Services to remove kids from dangerous homes with fentanyl or other hard drug abuse.

Fentanyl is the leading cause of death among kids under Child Protective Services supervision, according to a news release by Couture.

“The state of Washington is leaving innocent babies and toddlers trapped in homes where parents are actively abusing hard drugs like fentanyl and meth. The Department of Children, Youth and Families thinks it’s safe to lock small children in homes where they can easily ingest these deadly drugs that in some cases look like candy. These kids are dying because parents are prioritizing drugs over them. It is our job to make sure that can’t happen. It is our job to give these kids the chance they deserve,” Couture said in a statement.

An affidavit or declaration by the removing agency is required to “establish that there are reasonable grounds to believe that removal is necessary to prevent imminent or serious physical harm to the child,” according to the bill.

“A child who has been removed from the home due to exposure to fentanyl and other hard drugs can be reunited with their family once the Department of Children, Youth, and Families can show the parent or guardian has at least six months of sobriety by way of passing random drug screenings twice a month,” the news release states.

Prefiling a bill gives legislative staff more time to draft the legislation, allows sponsor signatures to be gathered early, gives more time for presiding officers to consider the bill’s committee referral and allows agendas to be established before the first week of session, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.