Participation in a work crew is conditioned upon the offender's acceptance into the program, abstinence from alcohol and controlled substances as demonstrated by urinalysis and breathalyzer monitoring, with the cost of monitoring to be paid by the offender, unless indigent; and upon compliance with the rules of the program, which rules require the offender to work to the best of his or her abilities and provide the program with accurate, verified residence information. Work crew may be imposed simultaneously with electronic home detention.

Where work crew is imposed as part of a sentence of nine months or more, the offender must serve a minimum of thirty days of total confinement before being eligible for work crew.

Work crew tasks shall be performed for a minimum of thirty-five hours per week. Only those offenders sentenced to a facility operated or utilized under contract by a county or the state, or sanctioned under RCW 9.94A.737, are eligible to participate on a work crew. Offenders sentenced for a sex offense are not eligible for the work crew program.

An offender who has successfully completed four weeks of work crew at thirty-five hours per week shall thereafter receive credit toward the work crew sentence for hours worked at approved, verified employment. Such employment credit may be earned for up to twenty-four hours actual employment per week provided, however, that every such offender shall continue active participation in work crew projects according to a schedule approved by a work crew supervisor until the work crew sentence has been served.

The hours served as part of a work crew sentence may include substance abuse counseling and/or job skills training.

The civic improvement tasks performed by offenders on work crew shall be unskilled labor for the benefit of the community as determined by the head of the county executive branch or his or her designee. Civic improvement tasks shall not be done on private property unless it is owned or operated by a nonprofit entity, except that, for emergency purposes only, work crews may perform snow removal on any private property. The civic improvement tasks shall have minimal negative impact on existing private industries or the labor force in the county where the service or labor is performed. The civic improvement tasks shall not affect employment opportunities for people with developmental disabilities contracted through sheltered workshops as defined in RCW 82.04.385. In case any dispute arises as to a civic improvement task having more than minimum negative impact on existing private industries or labor force in the county where their service or labor is performed, the matter shall be referred by an interested party, as defined in RCW 39.12.010(4), for arbitration to the director of the department of labor and industries of the state.

Whenever an offender receives credit against a work crew sentence for hours of approved, verified employment, the offender shall pay to the agency administering the program the monthly assessment of an amount not less than ten dollars per month nor more than fifty dollars per month. This assessment shall be considered payment of the costs of providing the work crew program to an offender. The court may exempt a person from the payment of all or any part of the assessment based upon any of the following factors:

(1) The offender has diligently attempted but has been unable to obtain employment that provides the offender sufficient income to make such payment.

(2) The offender is a student in a school, college, university, or a course of vocational or technical training designed to fit the student for gainful employment.

(3) The offender has an employment handicap, as determined by an examination acceptable to or ordered by the court.

(4) The offender is responsible for the support of dependents and the payment of the assessment constitutes an undue hardship.

(5) Other extenuating circumstances as determined by the court.

Technical correction bill—2000 c 28: See note following RCW 9.94A.015.