Democrats to Chart Own Plan on Welfare

SACRAMENTO — Senate Democrats, calling on Gov. Pete Wilson to stop “trashing” welfare recipients and start helping them, declared Thursday that they will chart their own course on welfare reform with greater attention to job creation and job training.

They vowed to stay firm on certain core issues even if it leads to a standoff with the Republican chief executive.

“I will go to the wall and I will ask my colleagues to go to the wall,” said Health and Human Services Committee Chairwoman Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles). “In representing our people we will have to do whatever is necessary.”

Watson, who has more welfare recipients in her district than any other state lawmaker, labeled Wilson’s welfare proposals as being too harsh and said Democrats will put forth a plan for implementing federal legislation that is less punitive and more employment-oriented.

Wilson unveiled his plan last week for overhauling the welfare system as part of his proposal for a $66.6-billion state budget to finance government programs in the next fiscal year. More restrictive in many instances than the federal welfare legislation, it proposed that new adult recipients be dropped from the rolls if they fail to find work in 12 months, that those who do not get jobs in six months have their benefits cut by 15%, and that aid be reduced for families when paternity of the children has not been established.

Watson is expected to play a big role in Senate consideration of welfare reform. She made her remarks at a news conference in Sacramento, and was joined by Sens. Hilda Solis (D-El Monte) and Barbara Lee (D-Oakland).

“I am concerned about the punitive tone the governor’s proposal has taken,” Solis said.

Although all the details of the Democratic plans have not been formulated, she said a key area of disagreement with the governor will be taxes.

Wilson is proposing a 10% tax cut over two years on corporate and banking profits on the theory that it will encourage more businesses to locate in California and therefore create jobs.

Solis said that Democrats believe that tax breaks are better targeted for the poor and they would like to see legislation that allows low-income working families to keep more of their earnings. She said she will propose the establishment of a state earned income tax credit, a measure patterned after federal law that would provide for an annual lump sum payment to poor families that report earnings below certain amounts.

Lisa Kalustian, a spokeswoman for the governor, conceded that taxes were likely to be a sticking point between the governor and the Democratic leaders who control the state Assembly and Senate.

“Our plans are to give the tax breaks that are going to generate the most jobs,” she said. “That has been studied very carefully. We have talked with the business community and we believe our plan is the one that is going to work best.”

She said the Democrats had given too few details on other portions of their proposals to determine if there is any room for compromise with the governor, but she expressed hope for cooperation and compromise.

Lee, who also represents an Oakland district with a large welfare population, said the governor’s plan showed a lack of understanding of the reasons people are forced to resort to welfare.

Solis said many women go on welfare to escape domestic violence and Democrats will be proposing some kind of exemptions that will allow battered women to continue receiving benefits even if they cannot meet all the work requirements of the new welfare laws. Otherwise, Solis said, she fears that women will be forced to move back with the husband or boyfriend who abused them.

She said Democrats would also propose exemptions from the work requirements for grandparents who have had to raise grandchildren after their parents abandoned them.

Watson said Democrats do believe more welfare recipients should be moved into the work force and she said their plan would meet the federal goals that put a five-year lifetime limit on welfare.

She said Democrats also believe that any welfare savings generated by cuts in benefits should be reinvested in social services or job programs for the poor. She said the governor has proposed investing some of those savings in other programs.

Watson said she will push for the creation of community service jobs for adult recipients who are willing to work but have found no available private sector jobs.

A spokesman for the Health and Welfare Agency said that is one proposal the Wilson administration will fight, believing it to be too costly.