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Full-Text Articles in Social Welfare Law
Screening The Poor: The Legality Of Drug Testing For Welfare Benefits, Jacquelyn Bolen
Screening The Poor: The Legality Of Drug Testing For Welfare Benefits, Jacquelyn Bolen
Richmond Public Interest Law Review
On March 8, 2014, at the conclusion of the 2014 Virginia General Assembly regular session, Virginia joined at least 17 other states that, in this year alone, have introduced proposals to screen or test applicants for illegal substances prior to obtaining public assistance. Following the enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, which permitted states to conduct drug testing as part of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, states began proposing drug screenings for applicants of public welfare benefits. Despite a 2003 Sixth Circuit decision holding that suspicionless drug testing is unconstitutional, in …
Giving Voice To The Underserved: A Review Of How Lower-Income Virginians Fared In The 2012 Virginia General Assembly, Christie Marra, H. Timothy Perry
Giving Voice To The Underserved: A Review Of How Lower-Income Virginians Fared In The 2012 Virginia General Assembly, Christie Marra, H. Timothy Perry
Richmond Public Interest Law Review
In 2011, the Census Bureau, after sixteen years of study, released a new, more comprehensive calculus to better gauge poverty in America. This "Supplemental Poverty Measure" (the "SPM") calculates the poverty threshold by estimating not only the cost of food, but also expenses related to clothing, shelter, utilities, and medical costs." Further, the SPM makes adjustment for cost of living, depending upon where the family resides, and also takes into account governmental support, such as food stamps and tax credits, to determine income. Logically, more accurate data on poverty distribution by region, and a more precise measure of the effects …
Keynote Address: Social Justice Week 1997, Peter Edelman
Keynote Address: Social Justice Week 1997, Peter Edelman
Richmond Public Interest Law Review
I am pleased to be here not just to talk about the question of what happens to poor people under the new welfare legislation, but also because you have asked me to speak as part of your Social Justice Week. It is very important that you have Social Justice Week and that so many people are so interested in participating. As I will say in more detail later, it is urgent that we get beyond the debate over welfare at the same time as we pay careful attention to the implementation of the new welfare legislation. Our real effort has …
Welfare Reform And Unitended Consequences: Its Impact On A Local Child Protection Program, Larry Nackerud, Nicole Deets, Curtis Kleem, Alicia Isaac
Welfare Reform And Unitended Consequences: Its Impact On A Local Child Protection Program, Larry Nackerud, Nicole Deets, Curtis Kleem, Alicia Isaac
Richmond Public Interest Law Review
On August 22, 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. The Act represents a fundamental shift in the relationship between the federal government, the fifty states, and persons living in poverty. A shift of this magnitude cannot be analyzed properly without considering the significant impact of unintended consequences that may result from the new policy. Often, unintended consequences occur when two different policies, in this case, public welfare and child protective services, collide. One such possible unintended consequence of this policy shift may be to reduce the effectiveness of a successful child protection …
Virginia As A Model For Other State Welfare - Plans Virginia's Welfare Reform: Current Law And Effects, Laura Piper
Virginia As A Model For Other State Welfare - Plans Virginia's Welfare Reform: Current Law And Effects, Laura Piper
Richmond Public Interest Law Review
In 1995, Virginia became the first state to submit a comprehensive statewide welfare reform plan to the federal government.The crusade for a more effective Virginia welfare system was led by Governor George Allen.The federal government granted Virginia numerous waivers from federal regulations enabling Virginia to implement the Virginia Independence Plan ("VIP") and the Virginia Initiative for Employment not Welfare ("VIEW") component.According to the Virginia Department of Health and Human Resource's 1996 annual report, because of VIP and VIEW the number of welfare recipients decreased, employment rates increased and taxpayers saved 24 million dollars. On February 1, 1997, in response to …
Welfare Reform, Work-Related Child Care, And Tax Policy: The "Family Values" Double Standard, Mary L. Heen
Welfare Reform, Work-Related Child Care, And Tax Policy: The "Family Values" Double Standard, Mary L. Heen
Richmond Public Interest Law Review
The welfare reform legislation signed into law last year repeals the entitlement to welfare and imposes strict time limits on the receipt of benefits. Although federal work requirements have been in effect for nearly thirty years, the new law requires the states to meet more stringent work participation levels and makes the work requirements applicable to mothers with younger children.The shift in the welfare paradigm toward mandatory wage work for mothers with young children has not been accompanied, however, by a corresponding policy shift toward universal or affordable child care.
The Earned Income Tax Credit And Welfare Reform, James Williams
The Earned Income Tax Credit And Welfare Reform, James Williams
Richmond Public Interest Law Review
The focus of this paper is the EITC and its important role in welfare reform. The current welfare system has been criticized on the grounds that it does not promote and encourage work. Critics also claim that welfare welfare is ineffective in reducing poverty, especially among children. The EITC addresses several of these complaints. First, the EITC "[i]s strongly pro-work. Only working families qualify for it. In addition, unlike welfare benefits, EITC payments rise rather than fall with earnings across that critical low-income range where we want to encourage work effort." Proponents of the EITC, such as Senator Bill Bradley …
Rethinking Welfare In The Age Of Devolution, David Tuerck Ph.D., William F. O'Brien Jr., Ph.D.
Rethinking Welfare In The Age Of Devolution, David Tuerck Ph.D., William F. O'Brien Jr., Ph.D.
Richmond Public Interest Law Review
In August 1996, President Clinton signed the "Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), landmark welfare-reform legislation that curtails benefits and shifts the responsibility for distributing welfare benefits from the federal government to the states. The new law reflects the public's dissatisfaction with the federal administration of welfare entitlements and, indeed, with the very idea of welfare entitlements. PRWORA embodies the concept of devolution: Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and child care block grants replace Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) entitlements and a host of other aid programs. Under the law, "[e]xcept as expressly provided …
Charitable Choice: Will This Provision Of Welfare Reform Survive Constitutional Scrutiny?, Joel Weaver
Charitable Choice: Will This Provision Of Welfare Reform Survive Constitutional Scrutiny?, Joel Weaver
Richmond Public Interest Law Review
This article explores the controversy that may arise as states and local governments begin to forge business relationships with religious organizations. Specifically, this article analyzes the continuing attempt by the Supreme Court to define policy concerning these relationships. Section II begins with a discussion of Establishment Clause jurisprudence. This part traces the Supreme Court s movement from a policy of strict separation of church and state towards one based more on neutrality. Section III examines the impact of this standard on interpretation of the "charitable choice" provision. Section IV concludes by suggesting that state legislatures proceed cautiously when enacting laws …
Reinventing Human Services In America, David Stoesz
Reinventing Human Services In America, David Stoesz
Richmond Public Interest Law Review
Passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWOA) of 1996 presents an opportunity to reinvent human services in America. For more than a decade, the welfare bureaucracy and public assistance programs of state welfare have been in crisis. The clients who depend on welfare detest it, finding and keeping qualified professionals to work in the public social services has become an administrative headache, and taxpayers perceive welfare as a fiscal black hole that perpetuates immorality. The recent decision to "devolve" welfare in a block grant to states underscores the urgency to rethink public assistance to poor families. There …