Another Run at Welfare : Assembly Democrats say initiative isn’t the only way to reform

Assembly Democrats are finally responding in the statewide debate on welfare expense initiated by Gov. Pete Wilson. A majority have even embraced one of Wilson’s least controversial proposals: a limit on welfare benefits for newcomers to California.

A bill sponsored by Assemblyman Jim Costa (D-Fresno) would impose a two- year cap on welfare benefits for new residents of the state. For example, although California normally gives $633 a month to a poor mother with two children, such a mother who moved to the state from New Jersey would receive no more than that state’s top payment, $424.

Costa argues that a temporary welfare cap would help get the state’s tight budget through the lingering recession. But though the cap is a popular idea, it is no done deal. Even if it makes it through the Senate and to the governor’s desk, the change would require a federal waiver to take effect. Any state limit on benefits for non-residents would probably also have to withstand a legal challenge.

In 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state residency requirements imposed by Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. The waiting period was found to violate equal-protection and due-process guarantees of the U.S. Constitution and also the right to travel.

California pays high welfare benefits because living expenses here, especially housing, are generally high. And despite the popular conception that bigger welfare checks attract poor people, there is no research to prove that the state is a welfare magnet--though there’s little doubt that the Golden State is still a magnet for all sorts of people.

There is great debate over how much of the growing welfare cost is due to the recession and how much is due to more teen-age mothers, migration from other states and international immigration. So, much more discussion of welfare reform is needed in the Legislature, where the issue perhaps can be considered far more calmly and productively than during a campaign for the statewide initiative that Wilson has proposed. Costa’s proposal must begin that process.