Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 Block Grants For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

Social Problem/Issue Previous federal program to prevent destitution among families with children was seriously flawed Need to promote self reliance (work), not dependence Immigrants should come to America to work, not to receive welfare

Felons fleeing prosecution or violating parole and persons convicted of felony drug possession should receive no help Federal policies should discourage illegitimacy rates and require child support payments States should have considerable flexibility in administering programs to meet local needs American welfare system should be more consistent with American values

Goals (Ellwood) Work-oriented reformers wanted to strengthen work requirements Ideological critics wanted to reduce immorality and dependency Budget cutters wanted to reduce costs Devolvers wanted to reduce federal control and increase state flexibility

Goals Keep children from destitution, while Getting parents to work and complete school Reducing out of wedlock births Removing an incentive for illegal immigration Giving power to state policy-makers

Implementation Block grants to states for aid and JOBS Entitlement gone – fixed amount to states Maintenance of effort required Considerable flexibility to states in implementation of federal law

Alabama Implementation of Family Assistance Administered by Department of Human Resources Benefit levels same throughout state No family cap No residency requirement Personal Responsibility Plan 5 year maximum (20% hardship exemption)

JOBS Participation required for parents receiving FA hours/week of work or work activity unless deferred (employment, community work, OJT, job search, job readiness, voc ed for 12 months or less)

Supportive services (day care, transportation) Non-cooperation results in 25% aid cut 3 months of non-cooperation results in 1 month disqualification After 24 months, if not employed or in compliance, family is disqualified

If you refuse to accept a valid offer of a job or quit without good cause, the family will be disqualified Short term employment services for families within one year of termination Transitional child care Family coaches (volunteer mentors)

Intended Impact Reduce caseload; discourage application Move poor people to self-sufficiency More child support collected Less “immoral” and “irresponsible” behavior: out of wedlock births Fewer “undesirables” on rolls More state discretion in program operation

Actual Impact Study of case closures in Alabama between July- November 1998: 54% working for pay; 46% not employed Working persons worked 33.9 hours/week for average of $ % no health insurance, 41.1% had any sort of vacation or sick day benefits, 29.5% got a raise, 34.4% saw upward mobility

51% of those not working were looking for work 45% said families ‘about the same,” while 42.3% said they were better off and 11.1% said they were worse off

Charitable Choice Charitable Choice was an initiative tacked on to the end of the PWOWR bill. It passed and was enacted with this bill in 1996, and was subsequently expanded and altered through executive orders through the Clinton and Bush administrations.