Senators are advancing a bill that would expand requirements for work or employment training for able-bodied adults without dependents for benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The bill also extends the age range for people affected to 59. The age range for current procedures is from 18 to 52.
And the bill would establish requirements to report information about how the program is working to a legislative oversight committee. There’s a three-year implementation schedule for the changes.
The Senate Workforce Committee advanced SB 562 on Tuesday afternoon. The bill is also referred to the Senate Finance Committee.
“I think it’s doing something that’s needed to be done for a long time, to be able to help people who are locked into government assistance and have been told ‘if you want to work or volunteer and get trained or educated then you can; however, you don’t have to,'” said Senate Workforce Committee Chairman Rollan Roberts, R-Raleigh.
“This is giving them a hand up, not a hand out only if they will meet 20 hours a week minimum.”
Kent Nowviskie, deputy director for programs and policy at the Bureau for Family Assistance, told the committee that the agency will comply with the changes if the bill becomes law.
“If it’s the will of this body, we will do our best to implement it,” Nowviskie told senators. “We will do our best to make sure we are able to help as many West Virginians who legitimately need our help as we are able.”
He acknowledged there will be some additional cost to implement the requirements.
“There will be some costs for systems development, there will be some programming changes that are necessary,” he said. “We don’t have a firm figure on that.”
The number of affected participants would fluctuate month to month, Nowviskie said. But right now, he said, that would probably be fewer than 8,000 people.
Nowviskie said the agency draws down about $622,000 in federal funding for administrative costs, and that can be stretched a little farther through matches and partnerships. He said it’s possible the agency will need to rededicate a portion of that funding to reprogramming its eligibility systems to reflect the mandatory work requirements.
Scott Centorino, deputy policy director at the Foundation for Government Accountability, praised lawmakers for tackling the work requirements.
“This can be done, and it should be done. This is happening in economically dynamic states across the country,” he testified to senators.
Kelly Allen, executive director of the progressive West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy, said the proposal would undermine effective job training partnerships that are currently operated under West Virginia’s SNAP employment and training program by requiring the state agency to use the same amount of money to serve thousands more participants.
Very few states operate mandatory SNAP employment and training programs like that in SB 562, because they are costly and ineffective, Allen said. She noted a USDA study that found that people removed from SNAP due to non-compliance had lower employment and earnings than those not removed.
“If lawmakers want to truly improve the SNAP Employment and Training program they should increase state funding for the existing job training partnerships and prioritize funding for child care and transportation, rather than extending ineffective work requirements and bureaucratic red tape to older West Virginians,” Allen said after the meeting.