ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, October 4, 1996 TAG: 9610040041
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
ONE VINTON FAMILY says the old system wasn't fair - at least regarding food stamps - and the changes don't sound any better.
This week Virginia began enforcing tougher federal food stamp regulations. But to Beth Hartsook of Vinton, the new rules make little difference.
She still can't get food stamps as long as her 19-year-old son, Jeremy, is working and living at home. The money he earns delivering pizzas will be calculated as part of her household income under the new rules, just as it was under the old ones.
"They shouldn't count his income at all," said Hartsook, who also has a daughter, 13, and a 5-year-old son. "Do I have to tell my oldest son to get a place of his own? He can't afford to."
What Hartsook wants is for Jeremy to be able to work and live at home without the family being penalized in food stamp assistance. The chances of regulations changing to satisfy her concerns seem more remote than ever.
Food stamp regulations were toughened as part of the federal welfare measure, which was signed into law in August. In part, it lowered from 21 to 18 the age when earnings of elementary and secondary school students living at home with parents are counted as household income.
Jeremy has worked since he was 16, usually minimum-wage jobs at fast-food restaurants. As long as he was in high school, his earnings weren't counted as part of household income.
But once he turned 18 and dropped out of high school in his senior year, the money he made became part of the household. His earnings made the family ineligible for food stamps, Hartsook said.
Now, Jeremy quits work whenever times get tough, she said. The family is eligible for food stamps when he does. When he goes back to work, the food stamps stop.
"It gets to where he feels so bad and knows it's hurting me, that he'll quit working to help me," said Hartsook, a former security guard who is divorced and has been living on disability. "It's never-ending stress.
"I thank God my son has not stooped so low and sold drugs and is in a gang. So many kids are trying their best to get somewhere in life. Parents can't help them the way the system's set up."
Tuesday, Virginia and other states began phasing in portions of a federal welfare law that ends the federal guarantee of cash assistance to the poor and turns welfare programs over to the states. States have until July 1 of next year to let the federal government know how they plan to implement what was welfare but now is termed "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families."
The law imposes a five-year limit on welfare benefits, requires recipients to work within two years, provides $4 billion extra for child care and gives states the freedom to convert welfare checks into wage subsidies, thereby encouraging employers to hire welfare recipients.
Virginia was ahead of the federal welfare curve by about 15 months. In July of last year, a state plan became law that cuts off Aid to Families with Dependent Children - the nation's primary form of welfare - after two years and requires recipients to begin working for their benefits after 90 days.
Getting a jump on the federal welfare movement means Virginia will be relatively unaffected by the federal welfare changes, said Scott Oostdyk, deputy secretary of the Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.
"We already had a comprehensive program in place," he said. "There are a few things where the federal government said they weren't going to let states do things. But by and large, our main central welfare reform is unaffected."
The federal food stamp program is one area where states have no power in determining eligibility rules or benefits, Oostdyk said.
"Whatever the federal government says are the rules, those are the rules," he said.
Bruce Stultz, chief eligibility supervisor for the Roanoke Department of Social Services, scanned a 20-page summary of federal welfare changes earlier this week - changes in AFDC policy and in food stamp regulations.
"I have no idea how it's going to hit us yet," he said. "We'll have to shift gears and brains to see what's new and what's old."
About 14,300 households - 32,200 people - receive food stamps in the Roanoke and New River Valleys.
Among the changes in food stamp regulations:
*The penalties for food stamp program violation - failure to disclose income or notify caseworker about employment - will stiffen. Under the new law, a food stamp recipient will lose food stamps for one year on first violation, up from six months. The second violation will mean two years without food stamps, up from one year. The third violation will result in permanent disqualification from the food stamp program, just as it did under the old law.
*Legal immigrants - except those who qualify for exemptions, such as veterans or refugees - cannot receive food stamps.
*Expedited - or speedy - processing of food stamps is now done within seven calendar days, rather than five.
*Homelessness is no longer a criterion for speedy processing of food stamps.
*People under the age of 22 who live at home with parents and have been receiving their own food stamps no longer have separate household status.
Combining generally has the effect of reducing total benefits going into a household, said Pat Duva, acting food stamp program manager for the Virginia Department of Social Services.
*In establishing paternity for AFDC benefits, blood tests will be given to a maximum of two people. If neither pans out and both are disqualified, the AFDC recipient will lose benefits. Pursuit of other people may continue, but the recipient will not receive benefits until paternity is established.
One change in food stamp regulations will not become effective until Nov. 22, Duva said. Under that regulation, able-bodied people between the ages of 18 and 50 who have no dependents will qualify for food stamps for only three months of every three years unless they work or participate in a job-training program at least 20 hours a week.
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff. Beth Hartsook of Vinton says herby CNBfamily can't get food stamps when her son earns money delivering
pizzas. color.