Senate committee approves renaming measure for residential habilitation centers, including Yakima Valley School

The Senate Human Services Committee on Feb. 25 adopted amendment B1 to Engrossed Substitute House Bill 2319 and recommended the bill be sent to the rules committee, a move that will rename several facilities to "residential habilitation centers," including the Yakima Valley School.

A sponsor of amendment B1 (identified in the packet as Senator Wilson's amendment) moved adoption. Senator Warnick said she had visited the Yakima Valley School and that "the name change is not supported" by constituents, urging opposition. Senator Christian also opposed the amendment, saying "the folks of Yakima have made it clear, that they did not want the name change for their particular community and school," and criticizing the committee for proceeding against local preferences.

The chair defended the amendment as a consistency measure in statute, saying it "just simply provides consistency in the statute by renaming all of the facilities, to the residential habilitation centers where the underlying bill only names 3 for Crest, Rainier and Lakeland." The committee adopted B1 by voice vote; the amendment was rolled into a striking amendment and the bill, as amended, received a due-pass recommendation to be sent to rules (the committee recorded the bill as passed subject to signatures).

Why it matters: staff told the committee the renaming aligns statutory language across facilities identified in the bill. Opponents framed the change as insensitive to local input from Yakima-area constituents. The committee majority advanced the statutory cleanup and consolidation by sending the bill to rules.

Next steps: Engrossed Substitute HB 2319 will be considered by the rules committee; this committee recorded the bill as passed subject to signatures.