MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
JEFFERSON CITY - A standing-room only crowd packed a state capitol hearing room Tuesday night to hear Sen. Joe Maxwell, D-Mexico, present the Senate version of welfare reform that would eliminate guaranteed support for the 76,000 families in Missouri currently on welfare.
The House Social Services Committee listened for more an hour as Maxwell, the sponsor of the Senate legislation, explained section by section how his bill proposes changing Missouri's welfare system.
The bill implements federal law that limits welfare recipients to five years of total lifetime benefits and would require them to be in a work activity within two year. Exemptions from the two-year work requirement would be given to those who are physically or mentally incapacitated and to the elderly.
It also provides a triage program that would allow the state to make a one-time, non-recurring payment to help someone with items like transportation, child care and medical payments.
"This is the heart and soul of keeping people off of programs," Maxwell said. "In the long run this may be the best part of the bill."
The Senate bill would only earmark for welfare programs 80 percent of what the state previously spent.
Federal law requires the state to spend at least 80 percent of what it spent in 1994 on welfare in order to receive the maximum amount of federal funds. In order to encourage states to keep a maintenance of effort of 100 percent, the federal government will provide access to extra money to those states if the economy worsens.
The bill puts the entire 100 percent of funds, or $147 million, into a specific account in the state treasury, but only earmarks 80 percent, or $117 million, to be expended on welfare-related items. The remaining 20 percent is subject to appropriations at the sole discretion of the General Assembly.
Maxwell said he will push hard for the General Assembly to continue to spend 100 percent of its welfare dollars.
"I think for the first two years it is going to be very hard not to spend 100 percent," he said. "After two years we may have more options."
Several people spoke in opposition to specific portions of the bill, especially areas that are punitive for welfare recipients. One provision will allow the department to conduct random drug tests of welfare recipients and sanction benefits if they test positive.
"The punitive language casts a shadow of suspicion on people who are of one group," said Richard Young of the Missouri Association for Social Welfare. "We are opposed to the whole notion of turning the Social Services Department into a police substation."