The Alabama Senate passed a package of welfare reform legislation on Wednesday, including two bills that would require applicants to put in some work before receiving their taxpayer-funded check.
Senate Bill 87, sponsored by Sen. Bryan Taylor, R-Prattville, requires able-bodied adult food stamp recipients without dependents to participate in at least 20 hours of work, job training or community service a week within three months of obtaining benefits. Similar requirements were included in the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act passed in 1996, but states have been allowed to apply for waivers under the Obama Administration.
“On the federal level, these requirements were passed in 1996 with the bipartisan support of President Bill Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich,” said Taylor. “While they have been suspended at the federal level, it’s time to reinstate this common-sense provision to ensure we are helping move people from dependency on government to self sufficiency.”
Senate Bill 115, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, would require welfare applicants to apply for at least three jobs before receiving benefits, a measure Orr said is intended to encourage applicants to utilize the benefits only as a last resort.
“Everyone wins when a welfare applicant is able to find a job instead of having to rely on public assistance,” Orr said. He added that the state of Pennsylvania denied as many as eight out of every ten welfare applicants after enacting a similar rule known as the pre-approval work search.
Two other welfare reform bills passed by the Senate on Wednesday including:
• SB63, sponsored by Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, which allows for drug testing in instances where welfare applicants have a prior drug conviction.
• SB116, sponsored by Sen. Orr, which would prohibit welfare recipients from spending public assistance benefits on alcohol and tobacco, and at strip clubs and gambling facilities.
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