Agencies must adhere to the following reporting requirements identified in 2SSB 5793, which states that:
“An agency exercising its authority to provide stipends under RCW 43.03.220(2) must report to the Washington state office of equity by August 30, 2023 and August 30, 2024, for state fiscal years 2023 and 2024 respectively, the following information:
- A brief description of the groups for which stipends have been made available including:
- Number of members receiving a stipend or allowance (reimbursement and pre-paid expenses)
- Aggregate demographic information of members of class one groups including race, ethnicity, income, and geographic representation by county (see Demographic Data section below for further details)
- The amount of stipends distributed
- The amount of allowances distributed
- An analysis of whether and how the availability of stipends and allowances has reduced barriers to participation and increased the diversity of group participants
- An analysis of whether the provision of stipends and allowances resulted in more applications and willingness to participate.
Please complete this form, after the completion of each workgroup or by June 30th of each fiscal year for ongoing groups, to meet sections 2-5 of the above mandate. See demographic data section below and follow the instructions to meet section 1 of the above mandate.
In addition to the requirements, we recommend agencies identify challenges or make process improvement recommendations. This will help the Office of Equity recommend improvements to the legislation or make improvements to these guidelines. This is optional though.
Demographic Data
2SSB 5793 (RCW 43.03.2705) requires agencies to report demographic data to the Washington State Office of Equity about community member compensation. The required demographics include race, ethnicity, income, and geographic representation by county. The Office of Equity uses this information to meet our mandate to analyze the information and issue a report to the Governor and Legislature.
Please send the link to this form to community members who received stipends and/or reimbursements for their participation in a class one group and ask them to complete it to meet section 1 of the mandate listed in the above section.
The form is voluntary for community members to complete. The form does not request identifying personal information about the community members (no names, addresses, birth dates, SSNs, email addresses, etc). By completing this form, community members will assist the Office of Equity to understand who is benefiting from receiving stipends. We hope 2SSB 5793 has improved access so that more of our community experts can participate in government processes and shape the way our government works, to work for all of us.
If someone does not have access to the technology to complete the electronic form, see the Class One Volunteer Demographic/Geographic Survey Template and Agency Reporting From in the examples and templates section.
By utilizing the above processes, agencies will not have to be concerned about storing this information because it will come directly to the Office of Equity.
If your agency does wish to collect the information and then send it to the Office of Equity to meet section 1 of the mandate above, feel free to use surveys, Microsoft Forms, or other data collection tools to collect this information. We recommend you avoid collecting information like names, addresses, birth dates, and other potentially identifying information.
We created a sample you can use or build from. See the Class One Volunteer Demographic/Geographic Survey Template and Agency Reporting From in the examples and templates section.