Judge Rejects S.D. Plan to Cut Welfare Rolls

A judge Thursday called an immediate halt to San Diego County’s effort to slash nearly 2,000 able-bodied adults from a last-resort welfare program, ruling that the plan flies in the face of the law.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Judith Haller said she is sympathetic to the financially strapped county’s budget concerns. But state law just doesn’t permit the county to save cash by cutting “employable” adults from the General Relief welfare rolls after three months, she said.

Haller ordered another hearing for Feb. 14, to determine whether there is any reason she should not permanently block the county plan, apparently the first of its kind in California.

Attorneys for the Legal Aid Society of San Diego, which filed a class-action suit on behalf of 10 welfare recipients challenging the County Board of Supervisors’ action, said after the hearing that they are gratified. The suit claims that most--if not all--the recipients would become homeless if their $291 monthly stipend was cut off.

Legal Aid lawyer Anson B. Levitan said he understands the county needs to save money. “But (the supervisors) have to operate within the rule of law,” and the county board is legally obligated to provide the General Relief program, he said.

County lawyers said there is no glee in urging a cutoff of General Relief payments. But the county could start trimming the program by 60 people a day, which would immediately free hundreds of thousands of dollars a week, Deputy County Counsel Ian Fan said.

“It becomes a question of what you and I believe county government should be,” Fan said, noting that the county must also fund hospitals, courts, jails and more.

County Supervisor Susan Golding added in an interview later Thursday that Haller’s decision “was somewhat expected.”

But she defended the plan, saying the county has to make the most of the limited dollars it has available.

“If we have a choice between cutting funding for those who are mentally or physically ill, poor and cannot help themselves, I would certainly prefer to help those people than help those who are physically and mentally healthy and capable of getting a job,” Golding said. “Unfortunately, that’s where we are today, with the recession and cuts in (county) revenue.”

The plan is aimed at indigent adults without children who are ineligible for all other welfare programs, except the food stamp program, which provides up to $111 a month in cash. About 20% of the people receiving the $291 monthly check are homeless.

In December, the Board of Supervisors voted to limit General Relief recipients without physical or mental impairments to three months of benefits in every 12-month period.

Golding, who is running for mayor of San Diego, and Supervisor Leon Williams, who represents some of the county’s poorest areas, led the drive for the new regulations, which Supervisor Brian Bilbray had long been advocating.

Under the board’s decision, 1,940 so-called “employables” would have been eliminated from the caseload, which now numbers about 6,000, as their cases came up for review.

The plan was due to begin Feb. 1. County staff members said the plan would save $2.6 million this fiscal year, which ends June 30, and $6.2 million annually.

In recent months, other states--Michigan and Maryland--and the District of Columbia have ended aid for employable adults.

In legal papers filed this week, Legal Aid lawyers said that if San Diego County wants to have the same power, it must seek a change from the Legislature.

In the meantime, a 1971 California Supreme Court ruling says, in plain and simple language, that counties may not deny employable people welfare, the Legal Aid lawyers said in the suit filed Monday seeking to block the county plan.

Haller agreed Thursday that the 1971 ruling directly blocks the county plan. She also warned county lawyers that they face an uphill battle Feb. 14.