FLASHREPORT

CALIFORNIA'S BROKEN WELFARE SYSTEM

An exclusive column penned by Ventura County Supervisor Peter Foy.

Spending on health and human services has increased in California by $6.5 billion in the past five years, far outpacing inflation and population growth. This is a monumental number, one that demands attention, especially due to our $16 billion deficit and the fact that California has only 12 percent of the nation’s population, but a 29 percent share of total welfare recipients.

Do 29 percent of the nation’s poor really live in California, or could it be that our state system allows able-bodied men and women to sit at home and collect benefits from your hard earned tax dollars?

This is not to say that people unable to work due to paralysis, mental illness or other handicaps should not receive our compassion and financial support. Food stamps or welfare programs should be utilized to help single working mothers and fathers feed their children, and welfare should be utilized to help hard working men and women who are struggling or in between jobs. In fact, I applaud the health and human services for the part they play in helping the deserving poor in our great state.

However, by allowing those people who are taking advantage of the system to live off your tax dollars, we are creating a society that believes they don’t have to work. People must understand they are responsible to work and provide for themselves.

The bottom line is that despite increased spending on welfare, California’s welfare recipients  continually fail to meet federal work participation requirements.  Since 2006 the welfare-to- work participation rate has dropped to 22 percent from 50 percent in 2002-2005. Basically, we see a 27 percent decrease in the welfare-to-work participation rate, while simultaneously increasing welfare funding by billions of dollars. We are spending more money we do not have, and seeing less improvement. Concrete changes must be made to replace temporary ones that can fluctuate due to the motivation of the welfare recipients. We are allowing people to remain in a situation that does not promote individual responsibility and growth.

Politicians have been trying to find ways to solve this problem for years. Governor Schwarzenegger proposed to redesign the Aid for Families with Dependent Children and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs by reducing benefits according to specified time limits, implementing a work/education/training requirement, adding modifications to the criteria used to determine grants, and utilizing paternity establishment requirements and penalties.

In 2003 President Bush began a welfare reform plan designed to help welfare recipients achieve independence through work, increase the welfare-to-work resources available for families, and protect children and strengthen families.

Recently, the state has made some progress through the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Program which provides cash aid to needy families with dependent children in order to meet basic needs. Welfare-to-work services are also provided to assist CalWork’s adults in securing work and moving toward self-sufficiency. These truly are good programs, the problem is that this move toward self-sufficiency should be required, not simply made available and recommended.

Current law requires 50 percent of all families and 90 percent of two-parent families in the assistance caseload to meet federal work participation requirements. California’s projected WPR for 2007 is 21.19 percent for all families, and approximately 35 percent for two-parent families. This is not acceptable especially when the state is required to match funding equal to 80 percent of the state’s 1994 base year expenditure, 9.9 billion (unless we meet 50 percent and 90 percent WPR requirements, then the match is reduced to 75 percent).

According to the Department of Human Services, Department of Social Services and the Welfare to Work Division, it is costing the state $330 million for their failure to meet requirements. Welfare reform is no longer an option.

We must go back to the original purpose of welfare, and change the current system—a system that in too many cases takes money from hard working individuals and gives it to men and women who don’t need assistance. We must stop thinking it is the government’s job to rescue all struggling Americans. I believe we all have a role in trying to help our neighbors prosper and find success.

It is time we realize we cannot keep spending money we do not have on people who do have the capacity to work. This is true not only because of our current fiscal challenges, but also because we need to ensure that those in real need are taken care of.

This is not a state problem, it is our problem. We must hold our elected officials accountable. California is a state made up of great people with great ideas. We need to have the people and the ideas come together to ensure California’s bright and prosperous future.

Peter Foy is California Chairman of Americans for Prosperity, a Ventura County Supervisor and a successful business owner.