Annie Pennucci - January 2016

The 2015 Washington State Legislature reduced public resident undergraduate tuition in 2015 and limited future tuition increases to no more than the average annual percentage growth in Washington’s median hourly wage. The legislature also directed WSIPP to examine how this median hourly wage “growth factor” will affect tuition at the state’s public colleges and universities and to study alternative metrics for limiting tuition increases. This report describes alternative tuition growth factors including hourly wages, total income, and inflation indices. We also discuss a potential growth factor related to student affordability as directed in legislation.

This report was revised in April 2016 to correct community and technical college tuition data.

Marna Miller, Danielle Fumia, Lijian He - December 2015

Education and Employment Training (EET) is a program, currently operating exclusively in King County, for juvenile offenders at moderate- to high-risk to re-offend.

In 2010, EET was designated a “promising program” by the Community Juvenile Accountability Act oversight committee. At that time, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy agreed to evaluate the program when enough time had passed to measure the program’s effect on recidivism. This study compares recidivism rates for youth served by EET to that of similar juvenile offenders served by other court programs in Pierce and Snohomish Counties.

John Bauer, Madeline Barch, Noa Kay, Matt Lemon, Steve Aos, Mason Burley, Michael Hirsch, Stephanie Lee - December 2015

The Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) Board of Directors authorized WSIPP to work on a joint project with the MacArthur Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts to extend WSIPP’s benefit-cost analysis to certain health care topics.

We present findings for four new topics: 1) hospital–based programs to reduce Cesarean sections; 2) school-, workplace-, and community-based obesity prevention programs; 3) accountable care organizations; and 4) patient cost sharing. We also summarize prior findings for six topics: 1) “lifestyle” programs designed to prevent diabetes; 2) behavioral interventions to reduce obesity in adults and children; 3) transitional care to prevent hospital readmissions; 4) patient-centered medical homes to reduce health care costs; 5) programs to reduce avoidable emergency department visits; and 6) smoking cessation programs in pregnancy.

John Bauer, Madeline Barch - December 2015

The Washington State Legislature directed the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) to “calculate the return on investment to taxpayers from evidence-based prevention and intervention programs and policies." Additionally, WSIPP’s Board of Directors authorized WSIPP to work on a joint project with the MacArthur Foundation and Pew Charitable Trusts to extend WSIPP’s benefit-cost analysis to certain health care topics.

We provide extensive discussions of interventions, methodological issues, and meta-analytic findings for six topics in this appendix. These topics include: 1) diabetes prevention, 2) Cesarean section reduction, 3) transitional care, 4) patient-centered medical homes, 5) accountable care organizations, and 6) patient cost sharing.

Neil Bania, Mia Nafziger - December 2015

The Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) Board of Directors authorized WSIPP to work on a joint project with the MacArthur Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts to extend WSIPP's benefit-cost analysis to workforce development programs.

This report reviews the evidence on workforce programs in three broad program categories: 1) job training and work experience, 2) job search and placement assistance, and 3) case management.

Mason Burley, Catherine Nicolai, Marna Miller - December 2015

Washington State’s Involuntary Treatment Act establishes a process under which individuals may be committed by the courts for mental health evaluation and treatment. An involuntary treatment detention may be initiated if an individual is determined by a designated official to be gravely disabled or poses a danger to self or others as a result of a mental illness.

The 2015 Washington State Legislature directed the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) to examine two aspects of Washington State's involuntary commitment process: the use of non-emergent petitions for initial detention and less restrictive alternative orders for outpatient treatment. Our findings are based on a review of available data and an online survey of legal and treatment professionals.

Mason Burley, Elizabeth Drake - October 2015

The 2013 Washington State Legislature directed WSIPP to develop a risk assessment for patients in the state’s involuntary mental health treatment system.

In Washington State, formal risk assessments have been used to predict the risk of criminal recidivism among juvenile and adult offenders. This report finds that the existing Static Risk Assessment (SRA), used by courts and corrections in Washington for criminal populations, can also serve as a valid tool for determining the level of risk for adults with involuntary civil commitments and forensic competency evaluations. Results indicate that the adapted SRA described in this report has reasonable predictive accuracy for both the civil and forensic populations.

Danielle Fumia, Elizabeth Drake, Lijian He - September 2015

Coordination of Services (COS) is an educational program for low-risk juvenile offenders that provides information about services available in the community. The program is designed to help juvenile offenders avoid further involvement with the criminal justice system. COS currently serves about 600 youth per year in Washington State.

The Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) first evaluated COS in 2004 following its first year of implementation. As part of ongoing work to identify research- and evidence-based programming in juvenile justice, WSIPP re-evaluated COS to determine its current impact on recidivism.

Based on the results from both of WSIPP’s evaluations of COS, we estimate that the program reduces recidivism by about 3.5 percentage points (from 20% to 16.5%).

Adam Darnell - September 2015

Initiative 502, passed by Washington voters in November 2012, legalized the limited adult possession and private consumption of cannabis, as well as its licensed production and sale. The initiative directs WSIPP to evaluate the impact of the law in a series of reports between 2015 and 2032.

It is too early in the history of I-502 to evaluate outcomes. This first required report describes the research plan for the overall study and presents preliminary data on the status of implementation of the law as of June 30, 2015. Ultimately, WSIPP’s evaluation will include a full descriptive study of implementation; an outcome study to identify causal effects of the law on a range of outcomes (e.g., substance use and abuse, health, criminal justice, traffic safety); and a benefit-cost analysis of the net economic impact of the law.

Mason Burley, Megan Morris - July 2015

The 2014 Washington State Legislature directed the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to investigate state practices regarding different aspects of the involuntary commitment process. This paper discusses common questions related to civil commitments and includes detail on commitment laws in each state.