Legislature OKs Bill to Delay Welfare Cuts

A bill that would buy time for negotiations instead of wiping out $1.2 billion in pending welfare increases was sent to Gov. Pete Wilson on Thursday after a caustic Senate debate about how to help the poor.

The measure started out as a Wilson administration bill to eliminate automatic annual cost-of-living welfare increases and to make permanent temporary welfare cuts enacted in 1992 and 1995.

The annual increases were suspended in 1991 as part of a budget-balancing plan that also included a temporary tax increase on the rich. The suspension and the temporary cuts are scheduled to expire July 1.

The Republican-controlled Assembly approved the bill March 14, but it was amended in the Democratic-controlled Senate to continue the suspension and temporary cuts of 5.8% and 4.9% until Nov. 1. The 4.9% cut has not yet taken effect.

The Senate approved its version of the bill Thursday by a 27-9 vote. The Assembly quickly followed by passing the same measure 47 to 19 as Assemblyman Tom J. Bordonaro Jr. (R-Paso Robles) complained that Senate Democrats were “holding taxpayers hostage” with the amendments.

A Wilson aide said the governor probably would sign the bill Friday, giving federal workers time to reprogram computers that print welfare checks.

Supporters of the delay said it would give lawmakers and the Republican governor time to negotiate grant levels.

“We’re not going to start by surrendering on a basic issue,” said Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward), explaining why Senate Democrats refused to go along with the original bill.

Supporters of the original measure said it would help take the state off budget “autopilot,” but Lockyer said that welfare recipients would have difficulty getting any increases without the cost-of-living adjustment, which is intended to prevent inflation from eating away at welfare grants.

“We all know that Republicans care less about that constituency or think there are higher priorities for state spending,” he said.

Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) said the 1 million aged, blind or disabled Californians and 2.6 million parents and children on welfare have endured a series of grant cuts over the last five years.

Since 1990, monthly grants for a family of three on Aid to Families With Dependent Children, the state’s largest welfare program, have dropped to $607 from $694 and are expected to dip to $594 in May, according to a Senate analysis of the welfare bill. Such a family’s purchasing power has dropped about 25% in the same period, the analysis indicated.