Republican lawmakers walked out of a committee meeting in the Washington Legislature on Wednesday to protest approval of a bill that would close a residential center for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
“We voted no on the bill first and, when it was apparent that the bill was going to pass, we were upset and we just decided to leave,” said Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, the top GOP lawmaker on the House Appropriations Committee.
Senate Bill 5393, which the committee voted out Wednesday, aims to close the Rainier School in Pierce County and relocate its residents by June 30, 2027. House Bill 1472 calls for the closure of both the Rainier School and the Yakima Valley School in Selah.
Republicans say the centers are crucial for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, providing paths to educational and employment opportunities. And they say that there are limited options for where people could end up if these closures occur.
But Democrats say the facilities are expensive to operate and that closing them could allow for resources to be shifted in a way that gives people improved options for services.
‘Failing pretty horrifically’
The “residential habilitation centers,” operated by the state’s Department of Social and Health Services, have also faced scrutiny in recent years.
Groups like Disability Rights Washington have documented extensive problems with abuse, neglect, and safety lapses. The group and other advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities have called for the centers to be closed.
“Washington is one of the states that had the highest investment in folks with intellectual and developmental disabilities, yet with the poorest outcomes,” said Rep. Darya Farivar, D-Seattle.
“When the RHCs were built, they were intended to be short-term placements,” Farivar said. “The intent was not for these to be permanent placements, and so the facilities we are using, the level of care that we are using, is failing pretty horrifically for these individuals.”
She also explained how the Rainier School is in an isolated location, compared to Fircrest School, in Shoreline, which allows residents greater access to the surrounding community. A new 120-bed facility is under construction at Fircrest, Farivar later noted in an email.
Including the Rainier and Yakima Valley schools, the state operates four residential habilitation centers. An analysis of the Senate bill says that the Rainier School has 58 long-term residents.
Farivar said she wants people to have the choice between a residential habilitation center and living in housing in the broader community, with support services.
Both Fircrest and Lakeland Village, near Spokane, have the capacity to house more people and can provide services at a lower cost than the Rainier School, Farivar said. “At $775,625 per person annually, Rainier is the most expensive care setting in the state,” she wrote in the email.
Farivar said she and others are pressing to ensure there’s funding in the budget for the staff needed at Fircrest and Lakeland Village so people can transition out of the Rainier School.
‘Grind the brakes off of this place’
Couture said closing the Rainier School would raise the odds of people with disabilities ending up in hospitals, jails, or living on the streets without access to care.
And, he said, “the amount of abuse and neglect that happens in community care settings is just as great, if not greater, than what has ever happened at some of these RHC facilities.”
Couture said that if the bill to close the Rainier School makes it to the House floor for a vote, Republicans “will grind the brakes off of this place and do every procedural motion in the book, we will throw the kitchen sink at defeating this. It has to stop.”
He derided the bill as the “most cruel and disgusting” one introduced this year.
The walkout after the House Appropriations Committee vote was not pre-planned, according to Couture, but rather a decision after Republican committee members became frustrated. “Most of us had tears in our eyes and there’s only just so much you can put up with,” Couture said.
It is unclear when the House could take up the bill for a floor vote. Only a short time is left until the session is scheduled to end on Sunday, April 27.
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