(1) The certified professional guardianship board must resolve grievances against professional guardians and/or conservators within a reasonable time for alleged violations of the certified professional guardianship board's standards of practice, statutes, regulations, or rules, that relate to the conduct of a certified professional guardian or conservator.

(a) All grievances must initially be reviewed within thirty days by certified professional guardianship board members, or a subset thereof, to determine if the grievance is complete, states facts that describe a violation of the standards of practice, statutes, regulations, or rules, and relates to the conduct of a professional guardian and/or conservator, before investigating, requesting a response from the professional guardian or conservator, or forwarding to the superior courts. To be complete, grievances must provide sufficient details of the alleged conduct to demonstrate that a violation of the statute, regulation, standard of practice, or rule, relating to the conduct of a certified professional guardian or conservator could have occurred, the dates the alleged conduct occurred, and must be signed and dated by the person filing the grievance. Grievance investigations by the board are limited to the allegations contained in the grievance unless, after review by a majority of the members of the certified professional guardianship board, further investigation is justified.

(b) If the certified professional guardianship board determines the grievance is complete, states facts that allege a violation of the certified professional guardianship board's standards of practice, and relates to the conduct of a professional guardian and/or conservator, the certified professional guardianship board must forward that grievance within ten days to the superior court for that guardianship or conservatorship and to the professional guardian and/or conservator. The court must review the matter as set forth in RCW 11.130.140, and must direct the clerk of the court to send a copy of the order entered under this section to the certified professional guardianship board. The certified professional guardianship board must accept as facts any finding of fact contained in the order. The certified professional guardianship board must act consistently with any finding of fact issued in that order.

(2) Grievances received by the certified professional guardianship board must be investigated and the resolution determined and in process within one hundred eighty days of receipt. The one hundred eighty days is tolled during any period of time when:

(a) The certified professional guardianship board has provided a certified professional guardian or conservator an opportunity to respond to a grievance against the certified professional guardian or conservator and the certified professional guardianship board is awaiting the certified professional guardian or conservator's response;

(b) The certified professional guardianship board has forwarded a grievance to the superior court for review under subsection (1)(b) of this section and is awaiting receipt of the court's entered order with findings; or

(c) A certified professional guardianship board disciplinary hearing has been requested or is in process and during the time of posthearing board review of the hearing officer's recommendations through issuance of a final certified professional guardianship board's order on the matter.

(3) If the grievance cannot be resolved within one hundred eighty days, the certified professional guardianship board must notify the professional guardian and/or conservator. The professional guardian or conservator may propose a resolution of the grievance with facts and/or arguments. The certified professional guardianship board may accept the proposed resolution or determine that an additional ninety days are needed to review the grievance. If the certified professional guardianship board has not resolved the grievance within the additional ninety days the professional guardian or conservator may:

(a) File a motion for a court order to compel the certified professional guardianship board to resolve the grievance within a reasonable time; or

(b) Move for the superior court to resolve the grievance instead of being resolved by the certified professional guardianship board.

(4) The superior court has authority to enforce the certified professional guardianship board's standards of practice in this article to the extent those standards are related to statutory or fiduciary duties of guardians and conservators.

(5) Any unresolved grievances filed with the certified professional guardianship board one year or more before January 1, 2022, must be forwarded to the superior court for that guardianship or conservatorship for review by the superior court as set forth in RCW 11.130.140 if the grievance is not in process of a hearing or final resolution.

Effective date—2021 c 65 ss 106 and 107: "Sections 106 and 107 of this act take effect January 1, 2022." [ 2021 c 65 s 108.]

Explanatory statement—2021 c 65: See note following RCW 53.54.030.

Effective dates—2020 c 312: See note following RCW 11.130.915.