THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 26, 1995 TAG: 9502260079
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 117 lines
The General Assembly ended a divisive session Saturday night by passing a welfare reform plan that will take Virginia further than all but two other states in capping payments from Aid To Families With Dependent Children.
Unlike scores of other votes in the 46-day session, which adjourned around 7:30 p.m., the welfare vote split along racial - not partisan - lines.
GOP Gov. George F. Allen, Democratic Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr. and many white lawmakers in both parties praised the bill as a bipartisan effort to change a decades-old system that encourages illegitimacy and failure to work.
African-American legislators, who voted as a bloc against the measure, said it threatens to bring havoc to the lives of individuals depending on AFDC, which provides monthly cash payments primarily to impoverished single parents. They predicted a rise in homelessness and family breakup.
The House voted 90-9 for the bill. The Senate vote was 33-6.
About two-thirds of the 74,000 individuals receiving AFDC in Virginia are black; nationally, most of the recipients are white.
About 49,000 of Virginia's recipients will be eligible for a welfare-to-work program which, if federal
approval is granted, will begin requiring work in exchange for benefits this October. The program will be phased in statewide over four years, with about 10,000 individuals expected to be enrolled in the first year.
Most benefits for those in the work plan would be cut off after two years and cannot be reinstated for two to three years, depending on the case. Although several states are trying a similar two-year cutoff on a pilot basis, only Wisconsin and Massachusetts have passed laws that so broadly end payments.
Some portions of the plan, including refusal to pay higher benefits for children born while on welfare, will take effect statewide as soon as the bill becomes law. Individuals who are already pregnant will not be affected by the cutoff.
The plan does not change such welfare programs as food stamps or Medicaid. AFDC, which is also the subject of intense congressional scrutiny, accounts for about 8 percent of Virginia's welfare bill; Medicaid accounts for about three-fourths of the sum.
At a press conference immediately after the session, Allen called the bill ``clearly the most constructive and positive thing that has come out of this General Assembly.''
Beyer, who has made welfare reform a personal focus, said it will prod welfare recipients to take more responsibility for their lives. ``I do sincerely believe that culture follows structure. We react to the limits that are set in our lives,'' he said.
In floor speeches, members of the black caucus countered that what is missing is not structure, but jobs.
In a few years, AFDC recipients ``will come looking for you when they have no benefits, they have no jobs . . . they have no place to take their children,'' said Sen. Yvonne B. Miller, D-Norfolk. ``I hope you will have enough guts to say that you have made a mistake.''
The bill that emerged after daylong negotiations closely resembled a proposal unveiled late Friday by Allen and Secretary of Health and Human Resources Kay Coles James. That bill had been the product of intense discussions this week between principal players, including Sen. Clarence A. Holland, D-Virginia Beach; Sen. Mark Earley, R-Chesapeake; and Del. Robert McDonnell, R-Virginia Beach. Democratic Dels. Jerrauld C. Jones and Kenneth R. Melvin of Norfolk were also involved in the negotiations, but voted against the bill.
Four changes were added Saturday, largely at the insistence of the black caucus. Members of the caucus said they were significant. An attorney for the Virginia Poverty Law Center called them ``tinkering.''
One allows AFDC benefits to continue for a third year when an individual is involved in a training or educational program that will be completed in that year. Another guarantees that child care and other support services will be available during a third transitional year if needed for work.
Despite the professed accord, key Democrats and Republicans offered different interpretations of at least two critical sections of the bill. One involves oversight by caseworkers. Democrats had argued that a client-to-social worker ratio of about 45-to-1 was essential to help in the transition to work. Allen opposed any quota.
The final bill says the ratio will be no higher than that in a federal welfare-to-work program called JOBS. Democrats said that ratio is currently about 90-to-1. Secretary James says it's unclear what the current ratio is, and that it may be as high as 120-to-1.
A second disagreement involves hardships exemptions to the two-year cutoff. The final language says the State Board of Social Services ``shall address'' such factors as inability to find a job despite trying.
Key Democrats said they interpret that section to mean that anyone failing to get a job despite an earnest effort will not have their benefits cut off. James said the words mean that the board ``will address it.''
Representatives of several organizations representing the poor said they are dismayed by the agreement and by Democratic acquiescence. Democrats ``have demonstrated that they lack the courage of their convictions over the last four years,'' said Steven Meyers, an attorney with the poverty law center.
He attributed their position to election-year politics.
House Majority Leader C. Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, who voted for the bill, promised future review. ``There is a difference between being tough and being mean.'' If the bill proves to be ``more than tough, we will rectify it,'' he said.
In other final action Saturday:
The General Assembly passed a bill asking Virginia Beach to vote again on whether the city should elect seven council members by individual district or citywide.
The issue was the subject of a referendum once before, but lawmakers in the Senate decided the question was too confusing, and a compromise passed Saturday by the full legislature made it official.
The referendum must be held by the end of the year.
The assembly resolved a few remaining judgeships. Eileen Olds of Chesapeake was named to a new Juvenile and Domestic Relations post in that city. In Suffolk, Robert E. Gillette was appointed to a new judgeship in General District Court. Hampton Circuit Judge Nelson T. Overton was appointed to the Virginia Court of Appeals to replace Lawrence L. Koontz Jr., who was promoted to the state Supreme Court.
And Hampton Commonwealth's Attorney Christopher Hutton was named to replace Overton on the Hampton Circuit bench.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY by CNB