Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WARREN FISKE AND GREG SCHNEIDER STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
A Senate committee had spiked all welfare reform bills last week, but Sen. Mark Earley, R-Chesapeake, managed Tuesday to stitch a modified version of Gov. George Allen's proposal onto another measure.
The Senate approved Earley's amendment 34-6, and it will go on to a murky future in the House.
Delegates resisted an attempt by Del. Robert McDonnell, R-Virginia Beach, to resurrect the governor's plan, hewing to party lines on a 48-52 vote. After that failed, House Minority Leader Vance Wilkins of Amherst urged fellow Republicans to endorse the Democratic plan.
"While I think this is pseudo-welfare reform," Wilkins said, "I think we probably ought to go ahead and approve it to get it outta here."
The Democrat plan then passed 99-0.
What both chambers accomplished "allows them to go home and campaign for re-election, stating, `I have voted for welfare reform,''' observed Del. Jay DeBoer, D-Petersburg.
The Democrat and Republican plans both require welfare recipients to work, and both limit benefits to two years. The Democratic plan, similar to one passed last year, sets up a series of pilot programs around the state and would have to be evaluated and re-enacted every year by the legislature. It would cost an estimated $2.6 million the first year and would save about $101 million over five years, according to the state Department of Planning and Budget.
Sponsored by Del. David Brickley, D-Woodbridge, the plan allows for a year of training or education before requiring a welfare recipient to work. It also provides a number of exceptions in case the recipient can't find a job.
The Republican plan is more sweeping in scope, but it would not go into effect until July 1996. It carries an estimated first-year cost of $3.1 million, and over five years is projected to save the state a total of $89.8 million.
Earley softened some aspects of Allen's original proposal, making it easier for recipients who have trouble finding work to get benefits extended for up to a year. Allen had proposed allowing only a six-month extension in hardship cases.
Earley also dropped a provision that would have required child support payments from parents of unmarried juvenile fathers.
Members of the Legislative Black Caucus supported the Democrat plan in both houses even though they opposed it last year.
Del. Jerrauld Jones, D-Norfolk, said black legislators have concluded that some kind of reform is necessary but that it must be gradual, and that the Democratic plan is suitably cautious. "We don't know if any of it's going to work, and it's the kind of thing where it affects poor women and children so dramatically that we don't have any room for error," Jones said.
In the Senate, all five black members were joined by Sen. Joseph Gartlan Jr., D-Fairfax County, in casting the only votes against the Republican proposal.
"It's too punitive and too restrictive," said Sen. L. Louise Lucas, D-Norfolk. "It's unreasonable to think that we can move everyone who is on welfare off in two years and jobs will be there for them. I'm concerned a lot of children will suffer."
Sen. Clarence Holland, D-Virginia Beach, voted for the Republican plan after his crucial abstention in a Senate committee last Thursday caused the initiative to fail on a tie vote.
Supporters "helped me with some things I was concerned about," Holland said. "This bill shows a little more compassion."
Each bill now crosses to the opposite chamber for consideration. DeBoer said ironing out differences between the two versions may not be the first thing on lawmakers' minds.
"This is, pure and simple, who gets credit. There's no other way to describe it," he said.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995
by CNB