(The Center Square) – A 2024 settlement over water contamination at the Special Commitment Center for sex offenders on McNeil Island left the state of Washington footing a $7.325 million judgment in a class-action lawsuit brought by hundreds of residents of the center.
Washington state Sen. Chris Gildon, R-Puyallup, said the latest payout by the state is justification for legislation he and other Republican senators filed that would provide legislative oversight and force state agencies to explain themselves when their mismanagement results in a payout of $1 million or more.
“I’ve been talking about tort liability as it relates to the state budget for months now and I dropped a bill prior to session that says the legislature should have oversight on some of these tort payouts,” Gildon said in a Friday interview with The Center Square. “In looking over the last two years alone, we see the state paying out a little over $500 million. That’s a half billion because of bad behavior by state employees.”…