OLYMPIA… The state’s failure to deal with water contamination at the Special Commitment Center for sex offenders on McNeil Island has led to a $7.325 million judgment in a class-action lawsuit brought by hundreds of residents of the center.
Sen. Chris Gildon, R-Puyallup, says this is the latest in a long and expensive string of payouts by the state and is certainly justification for legislation he and other Republican senators have already filed that would provide legislative oversight and force state agencies to explain themselves when their mismanagement results in a payout of $1 million or more.
“When we filed the bill, we hadn’t even heard of this ‘brown water’ case involving the Special Commitment Center and McNeil Island, but now there are 7.3 million more reasons to take action,” Gildon explained.
Gildon pre-filed Senate Bill 5144 on Jan. 7 and yesterday received a letter from the state attorney general’s office, dated Jan. 14, reporting the outcome of the case of Malone, et al, v. Strong, et al, in the western Washington district of the U.S. District Court.
“When you add up the judgments and settlements of the past two years alone, the costs of mismanagement by state agencies totals over a half-billion dollars. This type of liability represents one of the largest projected increases in the upcoming budget,” said Gildon, who is Senate Republican budget leader.
“Clearly, it’s time to hold these agencies accountable by making them provide an explanation to the Legislature for their bad behavior. At a minimum, we can try to determine where things are going wrong and make changes to practices and procedures in order to prevent future harm while also saving taxpayer dollars.”
SB 5144 has been referred to the Senate Law and Justice Committee, which will decide whether to hold a public hearing on the proposal.
These payouts from the past four years would meet the $1 million threshold in Gildon’s legislation:
- Department of Children, Youth and Families: 151
- Department of Social and Health Services: 14
- Department of Transportation: 10
- Department of Corrections: 9
- Washington State Patrol: 3
- Department of Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation Commission, Washington State University: 2 apiece
- Office of the Attorney General, Centralia College, Seattle Central College: 1 apiece
