Braun: Cost of Green Hill fentanyl overdose: $12M and a life changed forever

There’s a lot in common between the security and safety issues at Green Hill School, the harm being done to our state’s children by fentanyl, and the staggering cost of financial judgments and settlements due to mismanagement by the executive branch of state government.

Each is the subject of legislation introduced by Republican senators this year – thoughtful reforms that didn’t get the attention they deserved from the Democrat majority.

But there’s a second connection, found in the tragic story of a young man I’ll call “TA.” The few details I have are enough.

The general-liability claim received by the state on his behalf in April 2024 was for a date of “loss” in November 2022. It alleged that staff at Green Hill School negligently allowed controlled substances onto the premises and failed to properly supervise its residents – one of whom was TA.

The Chehalis juvenile-offender facility has many outstanding staff. But in this case, something went very wrong. TA reportedly suffered a near-fatal overdose of fentanyl that resulted in permanent brain damage and other lifelong injuries.

The claim was settled in June – for $12 million.

I know nothing about TA, like whether he is still a teen or an adult, or the crimes that put him into the juvenile-rehabilitation system, or where he is now. Those are fair questions, yet the answers wouldn’t change anything.
Also, while $12 million is a lot, I don’t know the extent of TA’s injuries or what kind of care he will need. Besides, maybe the state was at risk of paying out much more had the case gone further.

After all, what defense could be offered for such a preventable situation? The harm wasn’t caused by the fists or feet of another offender, but by drugs smuggled past whatever constituted Green Hill’s security process in 2022.

At the time of TA’s fentanyl overdose, the Democrat majority was still clinging to its law that essentially decriminalized the possession of fentanyl and other hard drugs. There is no defense for such a destructive policy, and even though it was changed in 2023, our communities have never been the same.

I introduced Senate Bill 5071 this year to add fentanyl and other synthetic opioids to the state’s child-endangerment law. For the third time in a row, House Democrats rejected this potentially life-saving change. There is no defense for their continued resistance.

Republicans also want to get at the startling increase in lawsuit-related costs, which fall under the heading of “tort liability” but are more accurately viewed as the financial consequences of mismanagement.

Our Senate Bill 5144 would basically force agencies that incur payouts of $1 million or more to come before legislators and explain themselves. This is the minimum we should expect as a consequence for mismanagement.

At the time I co-sponsored that bill, nearly 200 such payouts had been recorded in just the past four years. More than three-fourths of them were related to the state Department of Children, Youth and Families. DCYF is the agency responsible for juvenile rehabilitation, which includes Green Hill.

The efforts to deal with the security and safety issues at Green Hill are built around four bills I introduced. They include legislation to undo the ill-conceived “JR-to-25” law that keeps offenders from going off to adult prison even though they are chronologically adults.

Of those four, one bill had a fighting chance. Senate Bill 5278 would have created a safety valve for overcrowding at Green Hill. The bill was passed by the Senate, then fell victim to a particularly indefensible example of Democrat dishonesty and was left to die in the House.

DCYF may eventually get its act together on juvenile rehabilitation. Unfortunately, it’s already too late for TA.
Like every teen who enters Green Hill or the Echo Glen facility in east King County, he went in with an opportunity to put his life on a better path. Instead of a second chance, he left with the equivalent of a life sentence: permanent brain damage and other injuries from which he apparently will never fully recover.

Although TA’s claim has been closed, there are still 45 open claims related to Green Hill on file with the state, with “loss” dates in 2023, 2024 and this year. That doesn’t mean there will be another multimillion-dollar settlement, but there is always a human cost to state mismanagement that often won’t go away for any amount of money. We must do better.

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Sen. John Braun of Centralia serves the 20th Legislative District, which spans parts of four counties from Yelm to Vancouver. He became Senate Republican leader in 2020.