Supervisors Endorse Welfare Strategy

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday endorsed a preliminary welfare reform strategy that calls for the state to beef up funding for social services and softens proposals regarding children and poor families.

Supervisors urged officials to develop a welfare plan that is humane to recipients, but prevents Orange County from becoming a “magnet” for poor people.

“We have to remember that the impact of this is on people, folks and kids,” said Supervisor Thomas W. Wilson. “They are part of this invisible population.”

Only Supervisor Jim Silva voted against the county plan, saying it strayed too far from Gov. Pete Wilson’s welfare proposal and diluted some reforms.

The board action comes a week after a welfare reform committee made up of county officials, law enforcement representatives and community leaders unveiled 27 suggestions on how the county should proceed.

More than 100,000 Orange County residents will be affected by the outcome of changes to the welfare rules. Already more than 20,000 legal immigrants stand to lose food stamps benefits over the coming months.

At least five competing plans are now being debated in Sacramento, and officials said it will be several months before Gov. Wilson and the Legislature will agree on a policy.

Until then, the county won’t know exactly how much the welfare changes will cost its depleted treasury or exactly how many people will be forced off the rolls.

The committee agreed with “the principle of work over welfare” cited when Congress approved the welfare changes last year. But it differed with Wilson on several specific proposals.

The committee, for example, called on the state to drop eligibility rules restricting some types of aid to families where one or both parents are absent, arguing the provisions do little to preserve families.

The county panel also said that disabled people, victims of domestic violence, parents with children younger than a year old and others should have more time than the governor proposed to get off welfare.

County officials said that Wilson’s goal of implementing welfare changes by Jan. 1, 1998, may be unrealistic. They also said the state should pick up the costs of General Relief, a $240 monthly benefit paid to people who don’t qualify for other forms of welfare. Currently, the county funds General Relief.

Silva took issue with a county recommendation that the government provide illegal immigrants with prenatal care. Officials said such preventive care would save the county in emergency medical costs.

But Silva said it sent the wrong message: “I think the word ‘illegal’ has to mean something.”

Supervisor Todd Spitzer said the county should step up efforts to ensure child-support payments are made by parents. Such a program could reduce single parent’s dependency on welfare.

Board chairman William G. Steiner expressed concern about how the reforms would affect children, but said he strongly supports the “values of independence and empowerment” of the policy.