Sen. Paul Gazelka, R-Brainerd, Tuesday placed his bill to double the waiting period to qualify for welfare benefits in Minnesota on hold. The bill also would have required that debit-style benefit cards include a recipient’s photograph.
The lawmaker said he hopes to clarify conflicting reports as to whether a Wisconsin law calls for a 60-day waiting period, as he had heard was the case. He said courts have previously ruled that longer waiting periods such as six months or a year are problematic.
“I want it to be further out, (than the current 30 days),” he said.
Gazelka said officials testified Monday that 5 to 13 percent of welfare applicants are people moving here from another state.
The fiscal note accompanying the stipulation for a photo ID estimated the amount that requirement would cost the state about $500,000, which was more than Gazelka anticipated.
Gazelka said the bill could either be brought up again or combined with other bills.
Gazelka’s bill would have set a 60-day residency requirement before someone could access welfare assistance, up from 30 days now.
It also would have required that debit-style benefit cards include a recipient’s photograph. He argued the measures would save money by cutting down on fraud and discouraging people from moving to the state primarily to access welfare benefits.
Advocates of welfare recipients said concerns over migration were unfounded. They also pointed to court cases that found some waiting limits to be unconstitutional because of hardships caused.
The bill is one of several in play this year to stiffen welfare requirements or hold recipients to tougher accountability standards. Republicans are pushing the changes, they say, as cost-saving and fraud-prevention measures but Democratic lawmakers are resisting them as degrading to society’s poorest.
Gazelka agreed to placing the waiting-period legislation on hold after a spirited back-and-forth with opponents about its practicality. The bill was under consideration by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
“I do want to prevent those coming to Minnesota getting that benefit automatically that we have reserved for Minnesotans,” he said.
Two decades ago, Minnesota tried to impose a six-month waiting period but that was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court as unconstitutional. In that case and others, the court frowned on durational residency requirements so long that they inhibited travel or ran afoul of equal protection standards. A 60-day period once adopted by Wisconsin lawmakers withstood a state court challenge there.
Sen. Jeffrey Hayden, a Minneapolis Democrat, said lawmakers need more than anecdotal evidence about people moving to the state simply for welfare before making requirements more rigid. Other Democrats said the waiting period could be particularly troubling to those living in temporary housing or shelters who need extra time to establish residency.
Mark Toogood, an official with the Minnesota Department of Human Services, told committee members that Minnesota’s monthly benefits were on par or slightly worse than neighboring states.
Debra Howze of the Welfare Rights Committee said the various bills restricting state assistance stigmatized poor people and come off as mean-spirited toward the most vulnerable.
“It’s not like applying for a fishing license,” said Howze, a past welfare recipient herself. “We apply for these programs for survival.”
Another welfare proposal that has yet to get a hearing would require drug screening for program applicants and allow counties to do random testing. Those who test positive would be temporarily denied benefits.
Meanwhile, the House Public Safety and Finance Committee advanced a bill Thursday requiring law enforcement officers to report when a person arrested for a crime possesses more than one electronic benefit card.
Bill sponsor Rep. Sarah Anderson, R-Plymouth, said the legislation was a crackdown on potential welfare fraud. Department of Human Services officials said they have encountered cases where a person was caught with more than one card.
“This is just an attempt to make sure that we are not operating in silos but instead communicating with one another so that we make sure that fraud is not being committed and that those precious resources that we have can be dedicated to those that need the help,” Anderson said.
Democrats on the committee said they worried such a law would target people carrying cards for family members or dependents who cannot do their own shopping.
“It clearly, clearly, targets people who are struggling to get by as it is,” said Rep. Kerry Gauthier of Duluth.
Comments (58)
Add commentActions speak volumes
Man, this cold and heartless, targeting those who are the poorest and neediest. How are people supposed to survive 60 days ??? If they had resources they would not be asking for assistance. Talk about politicians haveing a disconnect with reality. Makes me think af Marie Antoinette and her famous "let them eat cake" statement. Wonder if these politicians have ever been in the shoes of those they want to make wait 60 days??? Actions speak a lot lot louder than campaign rhetoric. You who are poor, unemployed, or through misfortune have had to utilize some type of assistance, I hope you vote in November.
hmm, merlyn
Well, we all know what happened to the cake queen, Marie.
She was tried, convicted of treason and executed by guillotine on October 1793. Methinks that might be rather karmic.
Beware what you wish for Gazelka and other gopers. You may end up unemployed in November. But I suppose you have other jobs to return to. Good, I won't feel so bad then.
I'm not a lover of Democrats
I'm not a lover of Democrats way of thinking , and I am not a Republican, Id say I am conservative...that aside, where do these politicians get off thinking they are some kind of god? Instead of making a person or family starve to death for 60 days perhaps these politicians should do us all a favor and go back to the private sector. Where does Gazellka or any politician think starving out a family in hard times created by the very people trying to starve them out is somehow good for the people of this country? Does a family who has come on hard times deserve to be ignored? I am willing to bet that same person being denied food has paid many years of taxes, yet starved out by the fat #$%$# in Washington who is making 165k plus a year eating like a f#$%^T king. I am so f^%$$ tired of this [filtered word], when, WHEN will we as a nation get rid of these self riotous pieces of #$%@#$? All of them, Democrat, Republican, they are all the same! They have not and do not work for the country anymore, once they are in office it is all personal, they disregard the very people who voted them into office, at which point personal gain is all they seek. Wow, the 100k a year thief deciding people they ultimately laid off should be skirted to the side and left to fend for themselves, un f%^&^%$ believable. Politicians have completely forgotten who they work for! They think we work for them, disgusted, just plain disgusted , this country is so screwed its almost funny.
Am i wrong in reading this?
Am i wrong in reading this? It's extending the residency qualifications to 60 days. It's not affecting you if you are a resident already.
another solution in search of a problem
The idea that massive amounts of poor people are flooding into Minnesota to live high off the hog on our welfare. (There are billboards in Chicago advertising to come to MN for freebies according to the GOP who appears to be failing to do their homework- see article above.)
Sort of like tons of voter fraud so we need Voter ID which may disqualify up to 11% of legal voters. The ACLU just posted a reward for anyone proving voter fraud that a picture ID would 'fix.'
Paul Gazelka, move to Wisconsin where you might be welcomed -- until their Governor Walker is recalled that is.
Paul attended Oral Roberts University where he learned that Jesus taught to stone the poor.
Be nice now...
Michele Bachmann is also an alumnus of Oral Roberts University...
I have no problem with the
I have no problem with the sixty day RESIDENCY until you get welfare. Heck a person could be collecting a check in Wisconsin move and then collect a check in Minnesota without missing a beat. If you are going to make a move from one state to another I would think you would have a job lined up.
Unless something has changed,
Unless something has changed, applications for government welfare in MN are 100% voluntary. There are other sources for assistance outside of the political machine. Paul Gazelka is not the problem. Taxes are not a substitute for charity and personal responsibility. Though I am sure all of you write personal checks to local non-profit assistance organizations, right? If not, quit your whining.
30 verses 60
If you're a minnesota resident you probably have resources to survive 60 days. If you're not a resident coming here just to collect welfare doesn't help anybody. I think the photo ID is a good thing.
Do people read the article before commenting?
Nobody is saying that you have to wait 60 days to get benefits.
YOU HAVE TO BE A MINNESOTA RESIDENT FOR 60 DAYS.
Read the article before crucifying someone for trying to fix a program that is ripe for corruption.
As far as voter ID goes? I need to show my ID to buy cough medicine, drive a car, board an airplane, but not to vote? Yeah, that makes sense!
AH, just don't plan to move before election day
Driver's License, utility bills = may not be in order if you move close to election day. You're outta luck.
Gazelka is being a good steward of our resources
Gazelka is being a good steward of our resources and trying to fix part of the welfare system that is broken. He is trying to make sure that the people that really need help can receive it. The state of MN does not have an unlimited source of funds, their source is our hard earned tax dollars. He is looking for ways to make sure MN actually has the money to give the needy and is not giving it to people that could get a job, but go on welfare instead because it is quicker and easier.
I would be pretty safe to say that the Gazelka's give more to charity in one year than most of you hypocrites combined. And paying your taxes is not giving to charity, it is forced by order of the IRS.
Here's the deal: if you plan
Here's the deal: if you plan on voting in this represented republic, be prepared to prove your identity. It's that simple. If you cannot even do that, stay home.
The Constitution says that voting is a RIGHT
not some exclusive privilege.
Now you right wingers go do your homework again and read this Constitution that you all admire so much.
Living people have rights.
Living people have rights. Yet dead liberals keep resurfacing to vote. (Some even post comments online.)
Freedomist
Gold Star today!! That was good.
Actually...
I don't agree with much of what Gazelka proposes. But this isn't so bad. The welfare system is broken and needs fixing.
We already have a 30 day residency requirement. This just increases it to 60 days. This does not at all target people who already live here or have lived here for years and find themselves upon hard times. They would have no problem showing that they have lived in our state more than 60 days. They would not have to wait 60 days to receive assistance.
What it stops, is people who move here with the intention of signing up for benefits to be a drain on our system. This includes migrant workers who follow the crops and live here for a month or two and then move on. Face it. Our welfare is enticing to some. Let's take steps to make sure that it is here for the real residents of MN, not just transplants from other states who have come here specifically for the free ride.
If waiting 60 days to establish residency will "starve" your family, then the choice is simple....don't move to Minnesota. Stay where you are (where you probably already qualify for welfare) and be a drain on their system.
Prove it
that dead people are voting.
Maybe the ACLU will offer a reward for someone being able to prove this, along with voter fraud.
Stop reading all those e mail forwards that offer no facts.
Thanks for the tip Minnesnowda
If I do plan to move near an election, I will be a responsible adult and make sure that I have a valid ID in order to cast my vote.
And in regards to voting being a RIGHT- I AGREE!! Nobody is telling you that you can't vote- just asking that you prove your RIGHT to vote.
And as far as that goes- would you care to point out the part of the Constitution that allows the federal government to force it's citizens to buy health insurance? Thanks!
bing search, snowda
...More than 1.8 million dead Americans remain listed as active voters, according to a study released Tuesday which described the US voter registration system as "plagued with errors and inefficiencies."
The research conducted by the non-partisan Pew Center on the States also revealed that one in every eight voter records contains inaccuracies, and at least 51 million eligible voters are not registered to take part in elections
Not an E-Mail and in many newspapers.
Snowda,
Fair n Balanced is correct in the information, it was on most of the major news outlets yesterday. Of course if you don't believe you can research it yourself. I was on the fence about voter id but after seeing the data obtained by PEW I feel that we definately have a problem and it seems that it is because all 50 States have different methods of keeping data.
?
?
ACLU Reward
The ACLU Reward is not for finding voter fraud that would have been prevented by the ID law. The reward is for finding a conviction in MN courts that would have been prevented.
I have broken a great number of laws that have gone without conviction. As a matter of fact, I have only been convicted of not wearing a seatbelt a couple times and that's it. According to the ACLU I have never broken any other law ever except for the two times I forgot to wear a seatbelt.
Good logic. Real sound.
The liberal
The liberal thing is exposed in today's Joe Soucheray column in the SPPPress.
Can any of you document major voter fraud in MN?
I didn't think so.
How about those 300 ballots
How about those 300 ballots that magically appeared from someone's trunk? And not one ballot for Coleman. More resurrected dead liberal voters.
Freedomist
Those were absentee ballots being transported to the polling site to be counted the night of the election, a common practice. Coleman's lawyers, after the recount, stated there was no evidence of fraud anywhere in the election. Follow the news much?
chicago and detroit
just ask a local welfare worker where the most new welfare apps are from? ask some of the local diversity-chicago pays 2/3 what mn does.that has been going on for years. if you don't like 60 days to wait bill chicago or detroit for the welfare costs-hehe.
"Can any of you document major voter fraud in MN?"
No, I can't here in MN but in the case of the PEW report it was pointing out that there is no standard practice in how each state handles it voter registration. I simply don't see why, if a photo id isn't the answer, another system of voter registration can't be adopted by all states. Obviously, if there is 1 in 8 mistakes in voter registration then some states have serious problems if you don't feel there is a problem here in MN.
is this what you were talking about? Pew report?
The problems identified in the Pew report are not a question of widespread fraud; rather, the report calls for better use of technology to update voting registration systems. In conjunction with the report, eight states -- Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Virginia and Washington -- said they are working on a centralized data system to help identify people whose registrations may be out of date.
"Voter registration is the gateway to participating in our democracy, but these antiquated, paper-based systems are plagued with errors and inefficiencies," said David Becker, director of election initiatives at the Pew Center on the States. "These problems waste taxpayer dollars, undermine voter confidence and fuel partisan disputes over the integrity of our elections."