The family policy council shall:

     (1) Establish network boundaries no later than July 1, 1994. There is a presumption that no county may be divided between two or more community networks and no network shall have fewer than forty thousand population. When approving multicounty networks, considering dividing a county between networks, or creating a network with a population of less than forty thousand, the council must consider: (a) Common economic, geographic, and social interests; (b) historical and existing shared governance; and (c) the size and location of population centers. Individuals and groups within any area shall be given ample opportunity to propose network boundaries in a manner designed to assure full consideration of their expressed wishes;

     (2) Develop a technical assistance and training program to assist communities in creating and developing community networks and comprehensive plans;

     (3) Approve the structure, purpose, goals, plan, and performance measurements of each community network;

     (4) Identify all prevention and early intervention programs and funds, including all programs set forth in RCW 70.190.110, which could be transferred, in all or part, to the community networks, and report their findings and recommendations to the governor and the legislature regarding any appropriate program transfers by January 1 of each year;

     (5) Reward community networks that show exceptional success as provided in RCW 43.41.195;

     (6) Seek every opportunity to maximize federal and other funding that is consistent with the plans approved by the council for the purpose and goals of this chapter;

     (7) Review the state-funded out-of-home placement rate before the end of each contract to determine whether the region has sufficiently reduced the rate. If the council determines that there has not been a sufficient reduction in the rate, it may reduce the immediately succeeding grant to the network;

     (8)(a) The council shall monitor the implementation of programs contracted by participating state agencies by reviewing periodic reports on the extent to which services were delivered to intended populations, the quality of services, and the extent to which service outcomes were achieved at the conclusion of service interventions. This monitoring shall include provision for periodic feedback to community networks;

     (b) The legislature intends that this monitoring be used by the Washington state institute for public policy, together with public health data on at-risk behaviors and risk and protective factors, to produce an external evaluation of the effectiveness of the networks and their programs. For this reason, and to conserve public funds, the council shall not conduct or contract for the conduct of control group studies, quasi-experimental design studies, or other analysis efforts to attempt to determine the impact of network programs on at-risk behaviors or risk and protective factors; and

     (9) Review the implementation of chapter 7, Laws of 1994 sp. sess. The report shall use measurable performance standards to evaluate the implementation.

[2009 c 479 § 59; 1998 c 245 § 123; 1994 sp.s. c 7 § 307.]

NOTES:

     Effective date -- 2009 c 479: See note following RCW 2.56.030.

     Finding -- Intent -- Severability--1994 sp.s. c 7: See notes following RCW 43.70.540.