Quick Hits:
• Four bills reforming Alabama’s public assistance programs passed out of committee this week
• Senate Bill 63 allows drug testing of welfare recipients with a prior drug conviction
• Senate Bill 114 makes it a crime to defraud public assistance programs
• Senate Bill 115 requires welfare applicants to prove they’re trying to get a job
• Senate Bill 116 prohibits welfare recipients from spending benefits on alcohol, tobacco, strippers and gambling
A package of bills that will reform many of the state’s public assistance programs were passed out of committee Wednesday with bipartisan support.
The four-bill package includes measures to increase penalties for fraud in taxpayer-funded public assistance programs, prohibit spending of welfare benefits on liquor, tobacco, casinos and strip clubs, require welfare applicants to submit job applications before receiving benefits, and allow for drug testing of welfare applicants with a drug conviction with the past five years.
The bills are being sponsored by the two Alabama Senate Budget Chairmen, Sens. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, and Trip Pittman, R-Montrose.
“With out-of-control spending on the federal level, we have an obligation to taxpayers to ensure the state is taking the necessary steps to protect these programs designed to help those genuinely in need,” Pittman said.
Pittman’s bill allows for drug testing of welfare applicants who have a prior drug conviction.
“Drug addiction is a serious, often life-threatening problem,” Pittman said. “By putting this check in the welfare application process, it will serve as an incentive for those who have a drug problem and are also in need of assistance to get help, and it protects hard-earned taxpayer dollars from enabling a dangerous habit.”
Sen. Orr is sponsoring the other three bills in the reform package.
One of them makes it a crime to defraud many state and federal government-funded assistance programs like Medicaid, Social Security, food assistance and public housing. Studies indicate that Alabama is losing millions of dollars each year to health care fraud and abuse alone.
Another one of Orr’s bills would require welfare applicants to apply for at least three jobs before receiving benefits, a measure he said is intended to encourage applicants to utilize the benefits only as a last resort.
The final bill in the package would prohibit welfare recipients from spending public assistance benefits on alcohol and tobacco, and at strip clubs and gambling facilities. According to reports from other states, millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded public assistance funds have been spent on alcohol, tobacco and at casinos and strip clubs.
“It is a serious exploitation of a well-intended program, and quite frankly a slap in the face to taxpayers, for these public dollars to be used in such a way that is 180 degrees opposite of the program’s intent,” Orr said. “This kind of abuse shows a complete disregard for those who are genuinely in need.”
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