Bill Would Fine-Tune Workfirst Welfare-To-Work Reforms Targeted By Family Advocates

In the three years since Washington’s welfare-to-work reforms were adopted, caseloads across the state have dropped 39 percent.

But in the same period, family advocates and some legislators have argued that WorkFirst - the program intended to fix welfare - needs fixing itself.

The House Committee on Children and Family Services will discuss a Senate-approved bill today that would tell the Department of Social and Health Services to improve its tracking of people who leave the welfare system.

Sen. Darlene Fairley, D-Lake Forest Park, who sponsored the bill, said it is intended to ensure that former welfare recipients earn a living wage and are informed of continuing medical, financial and child-care assistance.

“Some people go hungry when they’re earning a `living,”’ Fairley said.

Critics say the proposal is unnecessarily cumbersome, and that DSHS is already improving its tracking of people leaving WorkFirst’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Fairley’s proposal sets specific goals for how much WorkFirst recipients should earn after they leave the program. Under the bill, median earnings should increase 15 percent after the first year, 20 percent after the second year and 25 percent the following year.

It also directs DSHS to step up its efforts to make former WorkFirst recipients aware of the benefits they can continue to receive. Many former recipients are still eligible for Medicaid, child-care subsidies and food stamps. Under the bill, DSHS would track how many families access these benefits.

If 95 percent of those eligible for benefits did not use them, or if access to these benefits does not increase by 10 percent each year, DSHS would have to expand efforts to inform eligible families about their options.

In addition, Fairley’s bill would require DSHS to form a work group charged with improving customer service at public assistance offices. As it passed through the Senate earlier this week, the proposal received opposition from some Republican senators, as well as DSHS officials.

Sen. Harold Hochstatter, R-Moses Lake, said added performance measures are unnecessary and would distract WorkFirst administrators from focusing their attention on getting jobs for people.

“This bill makes it more difficult to get people in the workforce,” he said.

Fairley accused DSHS of trying to kill the bill by estimating a higher-than-necessary cost for implementing the measures.

The original figure for the bill was $2.4 million, which was whittled down to $500,000 - though that figure is not concrete at this point.

Ken Miller, Gov. Gary Locke’s welfare policy adviser, said DSHS and the governor’s office share some concerns about the measure.

He said sections of the bill are “technically flawed and confusing,” specifically portions that relate to wage monitoring.

Miller also said this portion of Fairley’s proposal would duplicate existing practices.

“There is a measurement of performance of WorkFirst that’s been used and is being used today that includes specific targets on how well they’re doing,” Miller said.

DSHS has recently replaced its random, one-shot exit surveys with a survey that follows up with families for several years after they’ve left welfare, Miller said.

Jon Gould, community action director for the Children’s Alliance, wants more specific goals in place.

“The jobs that people are getting are very low-wage jobs with little chance for advancement,” he said.

Mike Masten, WorkFirst director, disagrees: “There are many ways to move ahead in this program.”

Areas of WorkFirst Masten and Miller agreed could use improvement include education about services available to former welfare recipients and customer service.

In October of 1998, 23 percent of former WorkFirst participants said they didn’t know they could continue to receive Medicaid. DSHS is working on getting the information out, Miller said.

Eligibility for child-care subsidies, Medicaid and food stamps can determine whether families are able to stay off welfare, Gould said.

Last year the agency started mailing out information to former welfare recipients to alert them about Medicaid benefits. Now a call center is in place to distribute follow-up information about additional benefits by telephone.

Customer service in Welfare offices is also an area that needs work, some say. Gould cited an example of one welfare office that would only take food stamp applications on certain days of the week.

The problem, Miller said, is that no customer service policy has been formalized for the entire agency.

Masten would like to work on extending office hours, reducing wait times and making sure people know about the job-training services that are available.

There is, however, disagreement over who should create the policy and who should make sure it is carried out.

Miller said legislators should determine goals for the WorkFirst program, but should leave the specifics to the executive branch.

Fairley disagrees.

“We (legislators) are the policy makers,” she said. “He (Gov. Locke) is supposed to direct the policy.”

Rep. Duane Sommers, R-Spokane, co-chairman of the House Committee on Children and Family Services, said his committee is likely to change the bill to make it less specific at today’s hearing.

He said that the bill’s request for quarterly tracking of wage progression would be too difficult to carry out.

“Who’s to say it should progress so much?” he said.

He said the bill should just establish better tracking of former WorkFirst recipients.

“It will make DSHS keep records on things,” Sommers said.