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State program choices and regulations

Do states provide public assistance benefits to individuals convicted of drug-related offenses?

What have states done to provide for the needs of low-income immigrant families who are ineligible for public assistance?

What is a "family cap" and how many states have implemented it?

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act denies eligibility for TANF and Food Stamps to anyone convicted of a drug-related felony after August 22, 1996, however, the federal law authorizes states to opt out of this provision or modify it. Common modification policies include;

• A freeze out period rather than a permanent ban
• Exemptions for those in treatment, rehabilitation or aftercare programs
• Exemptions for those following the terms of their sentence, probation or parole
• Targeting the ban only to the worst felony categories (dealing or trafficking) or to repeat offenders
• Some states require a negative drug test to continue eligibility
• A few states continue benefits but pay them to a third-party protective payee

State-specific policies:

State denies benefits to individuals who have been convicted of a drug-related offense: AK, AZ, CA, DE, GA, IN, KS, MS, MO, NE, ND, PA, SD, TX, VA, WV, WY

State subjects recipient to a "freeze-out" period on benefits, benefits are conditioned on participation on drug treatment or provides benefits under certain circumstances: AR, CO, CT, FL, ID, HI, IL, IA, KY, LA, MD, MA, MI, MN, NV, NJ, NM, NC, RI, SC, TN, UT, WA, WI

State has opted out of federal provision that denies benefits to individuals convicted of a drug-related offense: D.C., ME, NH, NY, OH, OK, OR, VT

With the passage of the federal welfare reform law in 1996, Congress prohibited legal immigrants from receiving food stamps and SSI and authorized states to deny welfare benefits (Medicaid, Title XX Social Services, and state-funded assistance) for the first 5 years a legal immigrant is residing in the U.S. After 5 years, the immigrant's sponsor's income will be counted in determining eligibility for public assistance. States are also required to indicate in their Family Assistance Program plan whether they intend to provide public benefits to legal immigrants and if so, to report the provisions of that assistance. Immigrant adults who are not disabled and any immigrant who entered the U.S. after August 22, 1996 are ineligible for cash assistance, although their citizen children remain eligible. Immigrant children who legally entered the U.S. on or after August 22, 1996 are also ineligible for SCHIP or Medicaid for the first five years they reside in the U.S. As a result, at least 16 states have established state-funded health programs for immigrant children who would otherwise be ineligible for public health benefits. In order to alleviate the hardships experienced by immigrant families and reduce widespread poverty, at least 17 states provide food assistance and 15 states provide TANF-like cash assistance to these individuals.

Reauthorization of H.R. 2646, which governs federal food and nutrition programs, included restored Food Stamp benefits to many legal immigrants who lost eligibility under the 1996 welfare law. Benefits are restored to legal immigrants receiving disability benefits (regardless of date of entry), those who are under age 18 (regardless of entry date) and those who have lived in the U.S. continuously for five years as a qualified alien (effective April 2003), provided all other eligibility requirements are met.

A "family cap" is a state policy that reduces or eliminates a family's monthly cash assistance if an additional child is conceived while that family is receiving welfare. According to the State Policy Documentation Project (a joint project of the Center for Law and Social Policy and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) 21 states have a family cap policy and an additional two states have a flat cash assistance grant regardless of family size. Most of these state policies were passed in or around 1996 - 1997.

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