THE WAELA WIRE: Information and Updates from the WAELA Board of Directors

March/April 2022

THE WAELA WIRE

Information and Updates from the WAELA Board of Directors

2022 UNPROGRAM - WE HOPE YOU CAN JOIN US!

The 2022 Unprogram will be held in-person on April 22-24 at Campbell’s Resort in Chelan, Washington. Many past attendees' comment that this conference is the most valuable to their practice, and we are very excited to be gathering again in person. This is your opportunity to discuss your most pressing legal issues with 50+ of your colleagues. The program includes a White Board Session, Legislative and Medicaid updates, and the opportunity to attend five workshops with 18 topics to choose from.

Follow the conference hub today to review the agenda and register for the program.

WAELA MEMBERSHIP PROMOTION

The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) is an organization whose members are attorneys experienced and trained in working with the legal issues of older Americans and individuals of all ages with disabilities. Membership is renewed annually. Member benefits and pricing may be found here.

The Washington Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (WAELA) is one of 31 state chapters of NAELA. Each state chapter has its own governing body and charges its own annual dues in addition to the annual NAELA membership dues. An attorney may only be a WAELA member if he or she also joins NAELA. WAELA focuses on state specific issues and benefits include, but are not limited to, a state chapter listserv, members pricing on state chapter events, inclusion in the state chapter directory, and an advanced website that provides educational materials and resources relevant to elder and special needs law attorneys.

ATTORNEY MEMBERSHIP PROMOTION

An attorney who joins NAELA and WAELA as a new member in 2022 or 2023 or is a NAELA member in 2022 or 2023 and joins WAELA as a new member in 2022 or 2023, will receive a credit from WAELA in the amount of the 2023 annual membership dues of $95.00. Such credit shall be applied to the cost of registration for the 2023 WAELA Unprogram or 2023 Fall Bootcamp and CLE.

NOTE: NAELA offers a onetime $100.00 discount for first time members and a discount for 3 years for new bar admittees.

WAELA LAW STUDENT BENEFITS

WAELA believes it is critically important to our mission to support and encourage law students to learn about Elder and Special Needs Law and have the opportunity to learn from attorneys in this area of practice. For these reasons we offer full and parttime law students significantly reduced registration fees for our educational programs and the opportunity to sign up for our monthly newsletter, the WAELA WIRE, to learn about educational programs and other resources. Please send your email address to Carissa Linnane, WAELA Executive Director, to sign up.

NOTE: NAELA offers full-time law students a significantly reduced fee of $85.00 for a one-year membership, and WAELA encourages such students to join to take advantage of NAELA benefits and begin building their knowledge and expertise in this area of law.

PUBLIC POLICY COMMITTEE UPDATE

By Bryana Cross Bean, Attorney at Law and Committee Chair

The 2022 Washington State legislative session has ended. A lot of the focus was still on the pandemic, so there were not a lot of bills of interest to WAELA. These are the five bills of note:

HB 2083 DID NOT PASS; it was the opinion of WAELA and other elder and disability stakeholders that it would have had a negative impact on surrogate decision making. WAELA wrote a letter in opposition to this legislation.

PASSED:

HB 1732 delays implementation of a payroll tax to fund the Washington Long-Term Care Trust Act.
SB 5268 allows for better services for people with disabilities living in residential care.
SB 5629 prevents an individual who had a Vulnerable Adult Protection Order against them or has committed similar crimes against vulnerable adults from being able to control that adult’s disposition of remains.
HB 1646 allows the Dementia Action Collaborative to continue their important work. You can find information and resources that may be helpful to your practice and your clients at their website.

WAELA IS SMALL BUT MIGHTY! Even though the legislative session is over, your participation in the process remains very important. It is easy to do so at the Washington State Legislature website. Each of the bills above can be found here. Thanks for reading!

As we move into our beautiful northwest springtime, we hope you are safe and healthy, and your practice is thriving. Please contact WAELA if we can be of assistance to you.