A Careful Plan Is Essential Under New Welfare Rules

With the ink barely dry on President Clinton’s signature, California and other states begin the scramble to prepare for the massive changes called for in the 800-page Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, the hard-fought welfare reform bill. After 61 years, America is ending the federal commitment to provide cash assistance to every eligible family with children.

States are now in charge of dismantling and refashioning the safety net. Funds will come from federal block grants. In California, the complex task involves a variety of state departments and the Legislature. But this should be an inclusive process, one that firmly embraces ideas from the state’s 58 counties, its cities and groups representing the needy and poor and immigrants. Some hearings have been held, more are planned.

The temptation in Sacramento is to further politicize welfare reform with opportunistic executive orders and other actions, this being an election year. That could result in sloppy, ill-conceived changes that could compound difficulties in store for the needy 2.7 million Californians whose lives will be dramatically affected by welfare reform. An additional 3.2 million who use food stamps will be affected too.

The urgency now is to develop a careful and methodical plan to mitigate the hit that California takes when it loses billions--estimates range from $6.8 billion to $14 billion--in direct federal welfare aid over the next six years. If the state submits a hastily drawn plan with unsustainable goals for moving recipients from welfare to the working economy, it could be penalized with the loss of federal block grant funds for failing to fulfill that plan.

There is time for thoughtful planning. Federal legislation requires states to submit plans by next July 1 for funding under the block grant regime. Meanwhile, Sacramento has to tackle more immediate changes under the law, including the cutoff in aid to legal immigrants.

The state legislative analyst’s office estimates that the congressional decision to eliminate benefits to legal immigrants will result in as much as two-thirds of the loss of federal funds to California. That could shift the burden of providing assistance to the counties, which under state law are the last-resort providers of aid.

In signing the federal bill on Thursday, President Clinton said the legislation was flawed in some of its approaches, especially on the issue of legal immigrants. He indicated his administration will press for changes after the election, presuming a Democratic victory in the White House and Congress.

California has embarked on some innovative welfare changes before, most notably the GAIN (Greater Avenues for Independence) welfare-to-work program. It is unclear now whether GAIN, under the new federal rules and regulations, will continue in its current form or undergo change along with the rest of the existing programs. It is the many such details that require careful analysis and interpretation. We are just beginning the process of ending welfare as we have known it.