MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Alabama has enacted new laws setting stricter requirements for welfare, including requiring applicants to apply for three jobs before getting aid.
Gov. Robert Bentley signed four bills Thursday that were passed by legislators at the end of their 2014 session.
One of the bills, sponsored by Republican Sen. Arthur Orr of Decatur, requires applicants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families to submit three job applications before receiving benefits. People who quit a job or refuse to accept a job without good cause would be ineligible for TANF. The bill also requires welfare officials to count the income of someone married to or living with the applicant when determining welfare benefits.
Opponents in the Legislature said the law will be difficult on needy people who live in rural counties with high unemployment rates and few job openings.
At Alabama Arise, a Montgomery organization that represents the poor, policy analyst Carol Gundlach said she’s concerned that a woman who quit a job because of sexual harassment or a woman who refused an overnight job because of a lack of child care could lose TANF benefits forever. She said it will depend on how state officials interpret “good cause” in the law.
Orr also sponsored two of the other new laws, which increase penalties for welfare fraud and prohibit spending welfare benefits at casinos and strip clubs and for alcohol and tobacco.
“We have an obligation to the hardworking taxpayers of Alabama to ensure these programs are working as intended, which is to support those truly in need of public assistance,” Orr said Friday.
The last new law, sponsored by Republican Sen. Trip Pittman of Montrose, requires drug testing for TANF applicants who have had a drug conviction in the past five years. Applicants who fail three tests would be denied benefits, but their other family members could still receive them.
“This check in the welfare application process will serve as an incentive for those who have a drug problem and are also in need of assistance to get help, and it protects hard-earned taxpayer dollars from enabling a dangerous habit,” Pittman said Friday.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, nine other states had passed drug testing laws through late March.
The new law primarily affects misdemeanor convictions because the state welfare agency, the Department of Human Resources, already bans welfare benefits for those with felony drug convictions. Their family members can still receive benefits, though. The typical drop in benefits for a household with a felony drug offender is $25 per month, department spokesman Barry Spear said Friday.
The TANF program provides cash assistance to needy families and is much smaller than the food stamp program. In February, the most recent month available, TANF was serving 17,919 households with an average monthly benefit of $191, according to the Department of Human Resources. The total number of people served was 42,439.
By comparison, the food stamp program was serving 417,559 households.
The drug testing and job application bills don’t apply to the federally funded food stamp program.
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