Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 15, 1993 TAG: 9301150285
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
WILDER'S WELFARE PLAN NOT NEW
Gov. Douglas Wilder's call for welfare reform surprised many lawmakers Wednesday night, but plans for a Virginia project to cycle families off welfare and into good jobs have been in the works for months, administration officials said Thursday.Wilder acknowledged that he will need federal help to get the program off the ground but recalled that President-elect Clinton "campaigned on this."
"I don't have any question about his commitment. He wants to see it done," Wilder added.
Wilder's proposal essentially mirrors that of a state anti-poverty commission headed by Lt. Gov. Don Beyer. That group has spent six months studying poverty issues in Virginia, taking testimony from welfare mothers, pregnant teens, ailing retirees, housing experts and underpaid workers.
Under the commission's "Virginia Individual Work Account System," now adopted by Wilder, the traditional strategy of training welfare recipients and then sending them out to find jobs would be reversed. The program first would identify specific private sector jobs and then match welfare recipients to them.
Participants' welfare benefits, including several million dollars for Aid to Dependent Children, food stamps, child care and transportation, would go into a trust fund. The fund would provide participants with a salary for up to two years while they learned the skills employers considered necessary.
The job's permanent salary would have to be at least 175 percent of the federal poverty level, giving the participant an income well above welfare benefits formerly received.
Once the participant was working full time, he or she would repay the trust fund from state and federal taxes. The money thus would be recycled to train others. Tax credits would encourage companies to hire former welfare recipients.
Administration officials hope that with federal approval, a pilot project could begin this summer. By year's end, up to 300 welfare recipients could be involved, officials said. More than 74,000 people are on Virginia's welfare rolls.
"We're talking about identifying a job at a decent wage - not a burger-flip job," said the plan's architect, Howard Cullum, state secretary of health and human resources.
Hearing about the proposal for the first time during the governor's State of the Commonwealth address Wednesday night, some lawmakers were skeptical that such sweeping changes could be made during a 46-day session of the legislature.
However, the lawmakers need only approve Wilder's budget amendments to set up transfers of money needed to finance the program. The major hurdle would be at the federal level, where waivers from various departments would be needed.
Wilder said he plans to talk personally with Clinton in Charlottesville on Sunday about the waivers. Clinton is beginning his inaugural celebration at Thomas Jefferson's mountaintop home, Monticello.
"The money is already there," Wilder said. "All we're asking for is for the money to be collated, pulled together . . ."
Beyer's commission had recommended that an additional $2.6 million in state funds be added to start the trust fund; Wilder said there isn't enough money in state coffers to do that. Cullum said some details remain to be worked out. But as planned, the pilot projects would start with ADC recipients who volunteer. He said the demonstration projects also must be located in places where jobs are abundant.
Participants would keep their current Medicaid health benefits until they are in full-time jobs where health insurance is available, Cullum said.
ADC recipients who are physically or mentally unable to work would not be expected to participate, Cullum said.
"We're not intending to totally wipe out the safety net," said Judy Divers, Cullum's special assistant who served as staff director to Beyer's poverty commission. "The intent is for all able-bodied people who can work to have jobs."
In proposing the reforms in his televised address Wednesday, Wilder failed to credit the commission or Beyer for the package.
Beyer ignored the omission, saying that he was "thrilled" by Wilder's endorsement. "With his leadership and courage, it is all the more likely it will happen," he said.