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Social Welfare Law Commons™

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Welfare reform

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Institution
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Articles 31 - 49 of 49

Full-Text Articles in Social Welfare Law

The Administration Of Public Assistance, James A. Krauskopf Jan 1995

The Administration Of Public Assistance, James A. Krauskopf

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Essay discusses the problems of implementation and administration of proposed welfare reforms. It gives a brief historical background on such reforms, describes the nature of their administration, discusses current and proposed reforms and the public perceptions of them, and compares welfare to other government expenditures. It concludes by recommending that social services be integrated at the local rather than federal level.

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Disability And Welfare Reform: Keep The Supplemental Security Income Program But Reengineer The Disability Determination Process, Gay Gellhorn Jan 1995

Disability And Welfare Reform: Keep The Supplemental Security Income Program But Reengineer The Disability Determination Process, Gay Gellhorn

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The thesis of this Article is that reform of the Supplemental Security Income disability program is properly on the welfare reform agenda, but not in the terms cast by proposed legislation. Procedural reform targeting identified problems should be the first step, rather than the termination of the federal entitlement program or the re-writing of the eligibility criteria. Substantive reform should follow such procedural reform. Therefore, this Article will focus particularly on procedural reform, although it will place that discussion in the context of the current legislative climate. Part II of this Article describes the current disability determination process and why …

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The Failures Of Litigation As A Tool For The Development Of Social Welfare Policy, Susan V. Demers Jan 1995

The Failures Of Litigation As A Tool For The Development Of Social Welfare Policy, Susan V. Demers

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article argues that litigation is largely counterproductive to the development of a coherent and feasible social welfare policy and interferes with the constitutionally-derived separation of powers. It describes the proper role of the courts when evaluating government actions and the proper procedures for doing so. It then discusses several cases brought against the New York State Department of Social Services and local governments, arguing that the courts have abandoned their appropriate role, and using these decisions to illustrate its thesis.

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Is There A Doctrine In The House? Welfare Reform And The Unconstitutional Conditions Doctrine, Jonathan Romberg Jan 1995

Is There A Doctrine In The House? Welfare Reform And The Unconstitutional Conditions Doctrine, Jonathan Romberg

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article proposes that courts should subject unconstitutional conditions cases to intermediate scrutiny rather than presuming that a conditioned benefit is either valid or invalid based on its formal attributes. In conducting intermediate scrutiny, courts should consider: (i) the degree of equality or neutrality demanded by the underlying constitutional right; (ii) the importance of the benefit to the recipient; (iii) the germaneness of the condition to the reason the government may legitimately deny the benefit in the absence of the condition, and thus whether the government is attempting to use its economic and regulatory powers to gain leverage over a …

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Changing Legal Contexts For Affirmative Welfare Reform, Melville D. Miller, Jr. Jan 1995

Changing Legal Contexts For Affirmative Welfare Reform, Melville D. Miller, Jr.

Fordham Urban Law Journal

To test whether the block grant approach currently under consideration in Congress actually achieves the goal of providing states with the flexibility necessary to effect meaningful policy changes, this Essay contrasts the way two different reform proposals would be treated in the current legal and regulatory environment to the way they would likely fare under the proposed legislation. One proposal used in this analysis is a comprehensive welfare reform program, self-described as "progressive," that was developed by a community-based, grass roots coalition in New Jersey. The New Jersey reform proposal aims to improve outcomes for recipients, rather than simply to …

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The Implications Of Current Welfare Reform Proposals For The Housing Assistance System, Sandra J. Newman Jan 1995

The Implications Of Current Welfare Reform Proposals For The Housing Assistance System, Sandra J. Newman

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Essay assesses proposals to reform welfare from the perspective of effects on housing assistance. The focus is on the two welfare reform proposals that have received the most attention during late 1994 and early 1995: the Clinton Administration's Work and Responsibility Act (WRA and the Republican Party's Personal Responsibility Act (PRA). This analysis is limited to the provisions in each bill regarding time limits, eligibility restrictions, and work requirements for AFDC recipients, and estimates how the housing assistance system would be affected if these provisions were in effect today. This analysis focuses on two types of impacts: effects on …

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Urban Welfare Reform: A Community-Based Perspective, Margo D. Butts Jan 1995

Urban Welfare Reform: A Community-Based Perspective, Margo D. Butts

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Essay advocates for community-based efforts to redeem the welfare system. It first discusses the causes of welfare dependency, and the adverse effects of current reform proposals. It then outlines goals for effective welfare reform, and describes the welfare reform program being implemented by the Bedford-Stuyvesant community. It concludes that effective welfare reform requires community initiated programs that focus on remedying factors leading to poverty, best identified and dealt with on a local level.

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Race, Rat Bites And Unfit Mothers: How Media Discourse Informs Welfare Legislation Debate, Lucy A. Williams Jan 1995

Race, Rat Bites And Unfit Mothers: How Media Discourse Informs Welfare Legislation Debate, Lucy A. Williams

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The goal of this article is to expose and critique the media images of poor women that drive legislative debate in AFDC public policy issues. Part II discusses the media image and its centrality in shaping social perceptions of welfare. Part III explores the impact of media images on law-making by focusing on three statutory time periods: 1935, when the AFDC program was initially enacted as part of the Social Security Act; 1967, when the first mandatory work requirements were, added to the AFDC statute; and the present, when states are implementing widely divergent categorical eligibility requirements that restrict AFDC …

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Note: Finger Imaging: A 21st Century Solution To Welfare Fraud At Our Fingertips, James J. Killerlane Iii Jan 1995

Note: Finger Imaging: A 21st Century Solution To Welfare Fraud At Our Fingertips, James J. Killerlane Iii

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Note describes the finger imaging process and summarizes the current New York Social Services law regarding public assistance. It also outlines the current finger imaging bill before the New York State Legislature. Part III examines and considers the two major policy arguments against the implementation of the program. Part IV outlines the legal controversy regarding finger imaging and addresses each express concern as well as constitutional issues. Part V compares New York's finger imaging legislation with similar legislation already in place in California and argues that the New York program will be as effective as California's. In conclusion, this …

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Welfare Reform, Child Care Costs, And Taxes: Delivering Increased Work-Related Child Care Benefits To Low-Income Families, Mary L. Heen Jan 1995

Welfare Reform, Child Care Costs, And Taxes: Delivering Increased Work-Related Child Care Benefits To Low-Income Families, Mary L. Heen

Law Faculty Publications

This Article focuses specifically on.tax-transfer integration of work-related child care assistance. Part I discusses the current child care assistance available to low-income workers through direct transfer programs and through the income tax system. Part II describes the need for increased child care funding and the failure of current welfare reform proposals to meet that need. Part III examines the theoretical and practical issues that must be addressed before the tax system is used as a mechanism for delivering increased child care assistance. to low-income families. Part IV critiques a proposed funding mechanism that would redirect tax benefits to lower income …

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The Income Tax Treatment Of Social Welfare Benefits, Jonathan Barry Forman Jul 1993

The Income Tax Treatment Of Social Welfare Benefits, Jonathan Barry Forman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Part I of this Article describes the major social welfare programs in the United States. Part II outlines the basic structure of the federal income tax and describes how social welfare benefits are treated by the income tax system. Finally, Part III surveys some recent proposals to tax particular social welfare benefits and considers the arguments for and against taxing such benefits. The Article concludes that the need for new revenue sources will push the federal government to reconsider the tax treatment of social welfare benefits.

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Disentitling The Poor: Waivers And Welfare "Reform", Susan Bennett, Kathleen A. Sullivan Jul 1993

Disentitling The Poor: Waivers And Welfare "Reform", Susan Bennett, Kathleen A. Sullivan

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article examines the purposes underlying the statutory grant of authority to Health and Human Services (HHS) to exempt states from the requirements of the statute, the important role that the Social Security Act has played as a source of rights for welfare recipients, the current wave of exemptions granted by HHS, and the lack of standards for review of state waiver proposals. Finally, this Article recommends the development of procedures and standards for review by HHS and urges that adherence to the core values of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program is essential in evaluating the …

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Reforming Welfare Through Social Security, Stephen D. Sugarman Jul 1993

Reforming Welfare Through Social Security, Stephen D. Sugarman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In this Article, I first want to illustrate the connection between Social Security and AFDC-to explain the Social Security program and to demonstrate how it contributes to the welfare problem. More importantly, I then want to offer a reform proposal that builds on Social Security as a way to begin to eliminate AFDC and the current welfare problem. Simply put, I propose that Social Security should provide benefits to children with absent parents on the same basic terms on which it now provides benefits to children with deceased, disabled, or retired parents.

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Foreword: The Many Contexts Of Welfare Reform, Jeffrey S. Lehman Jul 1993

Foreword: The Many Contexts Of Welfare Reform, Jeffrey S. Lehman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

To nourish the ongoing debate, the editors of the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform have drawn together contributions from four law professors who have substantial expertise concerning the American welfare state. All of the Articles that compose this Symposium are animated by a desire to broaden our frame of reference for evaluating welfare reform. I believe that their shared project is important. Efforts to change AFDC will send ripples through the multiple legal structures that buoy our public systems of income support and wealth redistribution.

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The Many Contexts Of Welfare Reform, Jeffrey S. Lehman Jul 1993

The Many Contexts Of Welfare Reform, Jeffrey S. Lehman

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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Welfare Reform: A Summary And Analysis Of Current U.S. Congressional Debate Over The Family Security Act Of 1988, Bette Woody Mar 1989

Welfare Reform: A Summary And Analysis Of Current U.S. Congressional Debate Over The Family Security Act Of 1988, Bette Woody

Trotter Review

Following a lengthy and protracted debate, the 100th U.S. Congress passed PL 100-485, the Family Security Act of 1988, the first major public assistance legislative reform package since passage of the Social Security Act of the late 1930s. The debate over welfare is a long and continuing one which is not expected to end with the current reform. This article presents a brief review of competing perspectives on current legislative reforms related to current law. It does not attempt to tackle the more fundamental debate over the validity or the objectives of welfare, nor does it tackle the complex set …

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The Politics Of Welfare: The New York City Experience, Michigan Law Review Feb 1984

The Politics Of Welfare: The New York City Experience, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Politics of Welfare: The New York City Experience by Blanche Bernstein

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Public Assurance Of An Adequate Minimum Income In Old Age: The Erratic Partnership Between Social Insurance And Public Assistance, Peter W. Martin Mar 1979

Public Assurance Of An Adequate Minimum Income In Old Age: The Erratic Partnership Between Social Insurance And Public Assistance, Peter W. Martin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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Welfare Law: A Challenging Field For Lawyers, Peter W. Martin Aug 1978

Welfare Law: A Challenging Field For Lawyers, Peter W. Martin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The profusion of welfare laws has created a legitimate demand for more welfare lawyers with a broad view of the programs.

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