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1 A New Paradigm for Welfare Reform: The Need for Civil Rights Enforcement [i] (2002)

handle is hein.civil/usccrv0001 and id is 1 raw text is: A New Paradigm for Welfare Reform: The Need for Civil Rights Enforcement A Statement by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights August 2002 Passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996 was intended to drastically transform public assistance in the United States. With it, a new emphasis was established to move public assistance recipients from welfare to work. While a laudable goal, rather than engaging recipients in productive activities that lead to self-sufficiency, the reform instituted tough requirements and restrictions on eligibility (including time limits, work requirements, and participation rates). The law gave states discretion to structure programs, as long as they met basic requirements, and impelled them to enforce strict sanctions. The Commission has evaluated the 1996 law against new executive and legislative proposals for reauthorization. Because women and people of color are disproportionately affected by public assistance policies, the Commission's goal is to ensure that civil rights protections are built into welfare reform. The Commission's analysis resonates with numerous studies, which have found: there are disparities in access to and utilization of services, there is discrimination in the delivery of welfare benefits, whether intentional or not, and civil rights considerations are paramount. Further, the strict requirements imposed by the 1996 law, which would be even more burdensome if the reauthorization proposals before Congress are passed, are most detrimental to the hard to serve populations, including recipients with low levels of education, individuals with disabilities, and immigrants, as well as women of color. A significant complicating factor is that many families are just beginning to reach the five-year limit on benefits, therefore, a true evaluation of the reform has yet to be performed. The Commission found that the proposals before Congress not only ignore some of the negative outcomes of the 1996 reform, but potentially compound the disparate impact of the 1996 law. Without civil rights protections in the legislation, welfare reform cannot lift all Americans out of poverty. Based on its own review and numerous studies, the Commission encourages Congress to promote policies that will alleviate the disparities and advance the objectives of reform. The Commission's recommendations are offered in three categories: (1) those that will facilitate the enforcement of civil rights laws, (2)

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