Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 2, 1995 TAG: 9507030081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
President Clinton said during his weekly radio address that he had approved the necessary waivers for the program to begin. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has conducted a three-month review of Virginia's application for welfare waivers.
"Virginia has a good plan and I am proud to support it," Clinton said.
Clinton's approval came the day the new welfare regulations were scheduled to become law in Virginia. The state now has the go-ahead to implement the plan - called the Virginia Independence Program - that will require two-thirds of the state's 74,000 welfare recipients to begin working for their benefits and will limit most payments to two years.
"For centuries, both the ideas and activities of independence and liberty were born here in Virginia," Gov. George Allen said in a news release. "It is fitting that the Virginia Independence Program, which we designed to break the debilitating trap of dependency in our current failed welfare system, would become law and be approved at the same time that we commemorate Independence Day."
Under the plan, Aid to Families with Dependent Children - a primary form of welfare and the plan's targeted benefits program - will be cut off to recipients after two years.
Recipients can choose to receive a third year of transitional aid in the form of child care, transportation and medical coverage. After that third year, however, AFDC cannot be reinstated for another three years.
Most of the plan's components will become effective statewide immediately. Among them:
Extra AFDC benefits will be denied to welfare recipients who get pregnant after the plan is implemented;
Unmarried mothers under 18 will be required to stay in school and live with a parent or adult relative in order to receive benefits;
Unmarried fathers will be required to stay in school or be held liable for child support.
The plan's work component, called "VIEW - Virginia Initiative for Employment Not Welfare," will be phased in over four years. About 30 localities were selected for the first year of the phase-in. The state has allocated $7.8 million to help those localities cover the extra costs of the program.
That money will be used to pay day-care costs for the children of working welfare recipients, job training and education, and programs to find jobs and place recipients in them, said Martin Brown, a spokesman for state Secretary of Human Resources Kay Coles James.
The city and county of Culpeper, and Fauquier, Rappahannock, Orange and Madison counties will enter the program Wednesday. Bedford, Campbell, Amherst and Appomattox counties, and Lynchburg and Bedford will enter the program Oct. 1.
Every 90 days after that, several new localities will be added. Phase-in for localities in the Roanoke and New River valleys has not yet been scheduled.
"VIEW" requires able-bodied recipients to begin working for their benefits 90 days after their locality enters the program. Recipients must sign an agreement of personal responsibility. Failure to sign the agreement can result in termination of AFDC benefits.
Earned income will be disregarded as long as earnings plus the AFDC allotment do not exceed federal poverty guidelines.
Under final terms of the waiver, the state agreed to make exceptions for hardship cases.
The federal government wanted to ensure "that there would be exceptions for people ... that they would be able to argue that if circumstances prevented them from being able to find jobs, the state could grant them extension in cash benefits," said Michael Kharfen, Health and Human Services spokesman.
The plan would shift many of the program's costs to localities. Critics charge the state has not prepared an adequate pool of jobs for those who will be asked to work for their benefits.
State officials admit they are not sure where they will find all the jobs necessary for the program.
"Much of this we're making up as we go along," said Clarence H. Carter, executive director of the Governor's Employment and Training Council, who will oversee the jobs portion of welfare reform.
State officials point to estimates that the Virginia economy created some 87,000 new jobs last year. The challenge will be to match thousands of people - many with few skills and little training - with job vacancies, many of which require training and skills.
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.
by CNB