Oklahoma Welfare Reform

[Gaspar]

Passed and signed today!

House Bill 1909 requires able able-bodied individuals, ages 18 to 50 who are not disabled or raising a child, to perform at least 20 hours of work activities as a condition of receiving food stamps.

Thank you speaker Shannon.  Oklahoma just got a little better today.

[Conan71]

Wait?!?!?! House Speaker Shannon is...b-b-b-black?!?!?

Not possible! Remember the Oklahoma House is full of racist, homophobic, xenophobes!

[RecycleMichael]

Wait?!?!?! House Speaker Shannon is...b-b-b-black?!?!?

Why do you go there?

[Gaspar]

Looks Oklahoman to me.

[takemebacktotulsa]

I was on food stamps a couple of years ago, and I was working 40+ hours per week. They helped me out tremendously.

A lot of people don't realize that someone can work 40-50 hours per week at minimum wage and STILL qualify for food stamps.

What the state needs to (but they never will) is raise the minimum wage to a humane number. AKA a living wage.

[Gaspar]

I was on food stamps a couple of years ago, and I was working 40+ hours per week. They helped me out tremendously.

A lot of people don't realize that someone can work 40-50 hours per week at minimum wage and STILL qualify for food stamps.

What the state needs to (but they never will) is raise the minimum wage to a humane number. AKA a living wage.

On the contrary, I think everyone realizes that.  Food stamps are designed to be temporary, just as a minimum wage job is. 

This law ensures that people like you have the availability of food stamps when you need them, and the other people, those unwilling to lift a finger to help themselves, are given a bit more encouragement.  Necessity is an effective teacher.  Being poor sucks by design.  As a result of the discomfort of being poor, people like you strive to improve themselves, their skill-sets and seek better employment with higher income.

If we guaranteed everyone a "living wage," then more productive workers would be comfortable just working a "living wage" and the unskilled would simply end up being chronically unemployed. 

[Conan71]

Looks Oklahoman to me.

Actually looks like he and Tiger Woods were separated at birth.  Uncanny resemblance.

[cannon_fodder]

homophobic, xenophobes. . .

Well, that part is true.  Luckily the xenophobia is currently reserves for non-Christians/non-Jews (especially Muslims) and Hispanics.  The homophobia is also creeping away, but still very common even in the State House.


Overall this looks like a good bill:

http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2013-14%20ENR/hB/HB1909%20ENR.PDF

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 56 O.S. 2011, Section 241.3, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 241.3 A. Except as otherwise provided by law or
waiver, all able-bodied recipients eighteen (18) years of age to
fifty (50) years of age, who are not disabled or raising minor
children, may receive food stamps for only three (3) months in each
thirty-six-month period except in months in which such recipients
are employed for at least twenty (20) or more hours per week. The
Department of Human Services shall enforce the provisions of this
section and any approved waivers or other provisions pursuant to law
in effect for this state as of the effective date of this act in
designated areas and populations.

B. 1. A family applying for food stamps after the fifteenth
(15th) day of each month shall be eligible to receive the total
amount of their initial allotment and their regular first allotment.

2. A household allotment of food stamps may be reduced by up to
twenty-five percent (25%) if a family is sanctioned in another
program established pursuant to the Statewide Temporary Assistance
Responsibility System.

3. An individual in a treatment center shall designate the
treatment center as the recipient of such individual's food stamp
allotment.

4. Operating procedures for the food stamp programs in local
offices may vary to reflect local differences.

5. The Department is authorized to use the amount of a
household food stamp allotment to subsidize a job under a work
supplementation or support program.

C. Beginning October 1, 2013, the Department of Human Services
shall not request a waiver to provide Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program services to able-bodied adults without
dependents. [underlined in the original]

SECTION 2. This act shall become effective September 1, 2013.

It appears there is a waiver provision is something strange is going on, I wonder what the definition of "abled bodied" means, and section "C" leaves me a bit confused...  but the intent seem sound.

Entitlement reform HAS to happen.  This is a reasonable attempt at entitlement reform while protecting the purpose of the benefit and not wasting taxpayer money on either lazy people, scammers, or on worthless "controls" to make legislators feel tough.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Luckily the xenophobia is currently reserves for non-Christians/non-Jews (especially Muslims) and Hispanics.  The homophobia is also creeping away, but still very common even in the State House.

Love the satire!

Not sure the homophobia is creeping away.  It is common just about everywhere I go.  The rednecks and 'good ole boys' just can't seem to let it go - no matter how irrelevant it is to their lives.

[Conan71]

Love the satire!

Not sure the homophobia is creeping away.  It is common just about everywhere I go.  The rednecks and 'good ole boys' just can't seem to let it go - no matter how irrelevant it is to their lives.

Probably helps them divert focus from their relationship with the sheep herd. Baaaaahhh!

[Gaspar]

Love the satire!

Not sure the homophobia is creeping away.  It is common just about everywhere I go.  The rednecks and 'good ole boys' just can't seem to let it go - no matter how irrelevant it is to their lives.

Don't forget Alektorophobia.  I hear it's big in Oklahoma.  Not so much in Arkansas.

[Gaspar]

Well, that part is true.  Luckily the xenophobia is currently reserves for non-Christians/non-Jews (especially Muslims) and Hispanics.  The homophobia is also creeping away, but still very common even in the State House.


Overall this looks like a good bill:

http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2013-14%20ENR/hB/HB1909%20ENR.PDF

It appears there is a waiver provision is something strange is going on, I wonder what the definition of "abled bodied" means, and section "C" leaves me a bit confused...  but the intent seem sound.

Entitlement reform HAS to happen.  This is a reasonable attempt at entitlement reform while protecting the purpose of the benefit and not wasting taxpayer money on either lazy people, scammers, or on worthless "controls" to make legislators feel tough.

My only concern is that the bill is only 3 pages long which may anger some people used to larger page counts for legislation, and there is no mention of funding for a coyote insemination facility in Sallisaw.

[Red Arrow]

and there is no mention of funding for a coyote insemination facility in Sallisaw.

That's because they moved it to Muldrow to keep it out of the public's eye.

[Conan71]

That's because they moved it to Muldrow to keep it out of the public's eye.

[DTowner]

It appears there is a waiver provision is something strange is going on, I wonder what the definition of "abled bodied" means, and section "C" leaves me a bit confused...  but the intent seem sound.

Entitlement reform HAS to happen.  This is a reasonable attempt at entitlement reform while protecting the purpose of the benefit and not wasting taxpayer money on either lazy people, scammers, or on worthless "controls" to make legislators feel tough.

The phrase "able bodied" is from the Food Stamp Act as it was reformed as part of welfare reform act of 1996 and was defined by the food stamp regulations. The 1996 reform placed a time limit for benefits to any able bodied person between the ages of 18-50 with no dependents (among many other changes).  Many of the reforms in the 1996 act have been seriously eroded since its enactment.

To implement this new provision, Oklahoma will have to get a waiver from the feds.