The Washington state Auditor’s Office recently revealed it could not conduct full audits for fiscal years 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 because the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) failed to track spending with the level of detail required by federal law, a news release from state Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, stated.
To stop the “unchecked waste,” Rep. Joshua Penner, R-Orting, and Couture, successfully negotiated accountability measures into House Bill 2253. These amendments transform the agency’s request legislation into a financial firewall designed to protect taxpayer dollars and root out systemic fraud, according to the release.
The need for reform is underscored by a 2020 audit that found 29 of 31 sampled providers failed to submit required attendance records, and several operated significantly above their licensed capacity, the release stated.
To address this, they secured a permanent, lifetime ban on licensure for any provider found to have committed child care subsidy fraud.
Furthermore, the bill addresses “ghost billing” by requiring all providers accepting state subsidies to use an electronic attendance system that captures daily check-in and check-out times via digital signatures or biometrics.
“Fraud depletes the resources meant for the most vulnerable children in our state. Every dollar stolen through ghost billing or lost to mismanagement is a dollar that doesn’t go to a child in need,” Couture said. “These reforms ensure that if you steal from the taxpayers, you are out of business forever. Whether it is financial fraud or physical danger, we are done with the excuses.”
In addition to the financial safeguards, the bill includes safety provisions. It establishes that exceeding a facility’s physical capacity at any single point in time is a statutory ground for license revocation, addressing the dangerous overcrowding found in previous audits. It also mandates the immediate termination of a license if high-potency synthetic opioids like fentanyl are found in a child care home.
HB 2253 passed the House and now moves to the Senate for further consideration.
