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CLT UPDATE
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Stop the EBT Card Rip-Off Now
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A bipartisan group of lawmakers announced plans
Wednesday to file legislation that would look at restricting welfare
recipients from drawing cash with their electronic benefit cards and
ban the spending of public benefits outside of New England.
Joined by Weymouth Republican Sen. Robert Hedlund and standing with
a group of 18 colleagues, Taunton Republican Rep. Shaunna O’Connell
and Boston Democrat Rep. Russell Holmes reiterated their
disappointment with recommendations issued last week by a special
commission charged with looking into the system and developing plans
to ensure funds are responsibly spent by public assistance
beneficiaries....
The bill they intend to file would study
whether the technology exists to restrict welfare recipients from
withdrawing cash on their EBT cards, charge a fee for the 20,000
replacement cards issued each month, restrict beneficiaries from
spending their benefits outside of Massachusetts and the five states
along its border, and require signage in establishments prohibited
from accepting EBT cards.
“Cash access will be restricted.
These are not ATM cards. They are supplemental benefit cards to be
used for necessities and necessities only. By stopping cash advances
we’ll be ensuring that the funds are used properly while protecting
the use of taxpayer dollars,” O’Connell said.
State House News Service
Wednesday, April
4, 2012
Bipartisan group of lawmakers back EBT card reforms
Outraged lawmakers trying to prevent
taxpayer-funded EBT card abuse are putting the political screws on
House and Senate leaders, who will face election-year pressure to
place real reforms on the floor for an up-or-down vote, a GOP pundit
told the Herald.
“It puts the legislative leadership in a bad
position because if they don’t allow a vote, they’ll be accused of
backroom deals to prevent reform. And if they do allow a vote,
they’ll find a lot of their people defecting in favor of reform,”
said GOP strategist Rob Gray.
Three members of the state’s
EBT Card Commission, formed to clean up the program, yesterday
announced details of a bill to crack down on abuses, after last week
slamming the commission’s failure to come down hard enough....
“These are not ATM cards,” said state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell
(R-Taunton). “They are supplemental benefit cards to be used for
necessities and necessities only.”
The Boston Herald
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Pundit: EBT card overhaul puts Hill bigs ‘in the hot seat’
By David Hitch
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Enraged by a Herald series detailing rampant
EBT card abuse, House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo yesterday
introduced sweeping reforms to the system in his proposed state
budget — even as Gov. Deval Patrick’s welfare chief said she saw
no reason for tighter restrictions on easy cash for welfare
recipients.
“Having read some of the abuses which you’ve
published at various times, it just continues to anger me, in
terms of trying to get some control over the program to make
sure these types of abuses don’t exist,” DeLeo told the Herald.
DeLeo would ban using EBT cards for bail or
fines, as well as to join health clubs, to gamble, and to buy
guns, porn, makeup, travel services, tattoos, jewelry and
tickets to movies and sporting events.
The speaker’s proposed reforms come on the
heels of a Herald front page story spotlighting a convicted
Roxbury drug dealer who cops said wanted to use an EBT card to
raise bail money last week....
State Rep. Shaunna O’Connell (R-Taunton), who
is pushing for strict reforms with an end to hard-cash
disbursements, said any reform is meaningless if it allows
payouts from ATMs.
“The problem is that you can tell people they
can’t use their cards here, but when they can go across the
street, get cash and then pay their bail or get a tattoo, that’s
the problem,” O’Connell said. “You can’t stop that. It always
comes back to cash access.”
The Boston Herald
Thursday, April 12, 2012
DeLeo targets EBT card abuse in proposed budget
A toothless State House commission failed
miserably in its effort to identify and correct abuses within
the state welfare system, but House Speaker Robert DeLeo and his
leadership team have stepped in with a call for more powerful
reforms. For that taxpayers ought to be grateful.
Yes,
DeLeo even used the “a” word — angry — to describe his own
reaction to a series of Herald reports detailing flagrant abuse
by individuals who hold electronic benefits cards, which
function like cash. Gov. Deval Patrick had earlier suggested the
Herald coverage of EBT abuse was little more than an effort to
make people angry.
“Part of the role of government is to
help those that are really in need of that extra help,” DeLeo
said yesterday. “This just continues to anger me, that these
types of abuses exist.”
A Boston Herald editorial
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Ending EBT abuse
Welfare advocates slammed a Republican
lawmaker’s plan to crack down on cash access for taxpayer-funded
EBT cards, saying it will hurt the poor.
“Oh, what a
mess,” said Diane Sullivan of Homes for Families. “My first
question is, can you use an EBT card on a bus? We’re going to
tell folks you can’t even get on a bus to go to a job interview
or to go to the unemployment office?”
But state Rep.
Shaunna O’Connell (R-Taunton), who plans to file a budget
amendment today to restrict the cash, countered that some cash
payments, such as rent and utilities, can automatically be
deducted using a vendor payment system.
“This is supposed
to be supplemental assistance, and it’s not meant to cover every
situation in one’s life,” O’Connell said.... “If you’re on
public assistance, your goal should be to get off public
assistance, and your activities should be consistent with
that.... Until we do something about the cash access, we’re not
going to be able to fix the problem.”
The Boston Herald
Friday, April 13,
2012
Advocates rip EBT card ‘mess’
... as pol aims to
restrict cash
A nearly
$32.3 billion Massachusetts budget proposed Wednesday by a key
House panel would boost local aid to cities and towns while
holding the line on taxes and cutting some government
spending....
The committee
also proposed several new restrictions on what welfare
recipients can purchase using state-issued electronic benefit
cards, including firearms, cosmetics, jewelry, travel services,
health clubs, tattoo parlors and gambling. The restrictions are
similar to those recommended last month by a special commission
on EBT cards, and would add to the current ban on purchases of
alcohol, tobacco or lottery tickets.
Associated Press
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Mass. House panel unveils proposed $32B budget
Massachusetts
House leaders proposed an annual state spending plan Wednesday
that would scale back or eliminate several of Governor Deval
Patrick’s signature policy proposals, including an overhaul of
the community college system, a program to close the school
achievement gap, and new and increased taxes for candy, soft
drinks, and cigarettes.
The $32.3
billion budget unveiled by House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo and his
budget chairman, Brian S. Dempsey, puts its highest priority on
preserving local government aid and K-12 education funding, a
clear effort in an election year to help individual House
members on the campaign trail....
DeLeo’s
spending plan is $1.56 billion higher than the current year’s
enacted budget and $1.1 billion over what is actually projected
to be spent.
Much of the
increase in spending would go to paying rising state health care
costs and wage increases for state workers.
The Boston Globe
Thursday, April 12, 2012
House unveils budget plan
Several days
after state Rep. Russell E. Holmes (D-Boston) pleaded for EBT
card reform at a State House press conference last week, he was
hit with another reminder of the deep flaws in the system.
Holmes was at
the Roxbury Stop & Shop by Grove Hall last Sunday when someone
approached him asking if he wanted to buy the man’s EBT card.
“His price
was 50 cents on the dollar,” Holmes said. “It’s not a surprise
to me.”
Holmes has
spent the last few months on an EBT card commission trying to
reform the system.
“It’s
something that’s prevalent,” Holmes said. “It was ironic that in
a week where I had gotten a significant amount of pushback from
advocates, saying not much of this is happening, I’m at a store
less than 15 minutes and see someone asking many people if they
want to buy food stamps and use their EBT card.” ...
“What we’re
most concerned about is folks being able to use the cash to do
the worst things in our community — to buy more drugs, more
alcohol, to gamble,” he said. “These are the things that hurt
our community the most.”
The Boston Herald
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Holmes finds EBT has elementary problems
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
In the
CLT Update of April 1 I noted the rampant welfare fraud,
egregious misuse of Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards, and
the frustration of state Rep. Shaunna O'Connell (R-Taunton), a
member of the special commission convened to study the problem and
propose solutions. Her conclusion was: "The report is woefully
inadequate to address any of the problems we were charged with
addressing. It’s probably the least reform we could do and say that
something got done."
Thanks to the dogged reporting of the Boston
Herald, the outrages continued to be exposed: EBT cards used to pay
for a drug dealer's bail, EBT cards being sold on the black market
for cash at a discount, etc.
“This is supposed
to be supplemental assistance, and it’s not meant to cover every
situation in one’s life," Rep. O'Connell told the Boston Herald
on the day she filed a budget amendment to control EBT use beyond
the commission's timid recommendations. “If you’re on
public assistance, your goal should be to get off public
assistance, and your activities should be consistent with
that.... Until we do something about the cash access, we’re not
going to be able to fix the problem.”
State Rep. Shaunna O’Connell (R-Taunton) vowed to
file a budget amendment to restrict EBT card usage, especially
unlimited withdrawals of cash.
State Reps. O’Connell, Russell Holmes (D-Boston)
and state Sen. Robert Hedlund (R-Weymouth), "Rogue members of an EBT
Card Commission" the Boston Herald reported on April 4 (Tougher
EBT reforms pitched by reps) ... "unveiled details of a bill
they plan to file to overhaul the system" which were to include:
• Prohibiting liquor stores, casinos, strip
clubs, smoke shops, gun dealers, tattoo parlors, nail salons,
health spas, rent-a-centers, electronics & appliance stores,
jewelry shops, gyms, movie theaters, bail bonds and bars from
accepting EBT cards.
• Restrictions on the pure cash that EBT cardholders can access
from ATMs, which critics argue provides no way to trace how
recipients spent the public money. “These are not ATM cards,”
said O’Connell. “They are supplemental benefit cards to be used
for necessities and necessities only.”
• Bans on using the cards out-of-state with the exception of
Massachusetts’ five border states.
• A fee of $10 for lost EBT cards. State figures show
approximately 20,000 cards are replaced each month.
• The state will look into the cost of implementing an EBT card
that contains the recipient’s photo.
• Stores prohibited from accepting EBT cards would have to post
signs with a hotline to report abuse.
Here is a link to the actual amendment, followed
by a list of its sponsors:
Amendment #804 to H04100
An Act relative to EBT reform
Representatives O'Connell of Taunton, Holmes
of Boston, Jones of North Reading, Peterson of Grafton, Hill of
Ipswich, Poirier of North Attleborough, deMacedo of Plymouth,
D'Emilia of Bridgewater, Ross of Attleboro, Gifford of Wareham,
Howitt of Seekonk, Winslow of Norfolk, Humason of Westfield,
Smola of Palmer, Boldyga of Southwick, Lombardo of Billerica,
Hunt of Sandwich, Stanley of Waltham, Finn of West Springfield,
Diehl of Whitman, Lawn of Watertown, Lyons of Andover, Beaton of
Shrewsbury, Orrall of Lakeville, Webster of Pembroke, Dwyer of
Woburn, Adams of Andover, Barrows of Mansfield, Bastien of
Gardner, Durant of Spencer, Fattman of Sutton, Ferguson of
Holden, Frost of Auburn, Harrington of Groton, Kuros of
Uxbridge, Levy of Marlborough, Vieira of Falmouth and Wong of
Saugus move to amend the bill by striking [Outside
Section 35] section 35 and inserting in the place thereof
the following two sections:—
According to the
State House News Service on Friday (Advances —
Week of April 15):
"The most
pressing work will be happening in Rep. Brian Dempsey’s House
Ways and Means Committee, where staffers will be sifting through
hundreds of amendments to the fiscal 2013 budget filed before a
5 p.m. Friday deadline – more than 800 had been filed at about
4:30 p.m. and the amendments are available on the House budget
website. House budget deliberations are about to consume that
branch, with floor debate scheduled to begin April 23."
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is
expected to debate it's FY 2013 budget plan "later this month."
I don't know how much this fraud and abuse
— legal theft at the moment — occurs
within the $415 million we taxpayers spend annually on welfare
benefits for "the needy and most vulnerable among us." That alone
is a major problem. Nobody knows, but it's obviously there
and certainly far too prevalent.
The time is now for taxpayers to cease
being used as literal personal ATM machines for those who've learned
to game the system, who see it as their entitlement to our money.
If this clear and present abuse cannot be
terminated despite the intense exposure, is there any hope
whatsoever for this state and its taxpayers?
Bear in mind that at $32.3 billion, this
proposed House budget for the coming fiscal year is $1.56
billion higher than the current year’s budget when it was
enacted last year. More Is Never Enough (MINE) and never will be.
We'll keep you posted on the progress of Rep.
O'Connell's amendment as the budget debate approaches
— but in the meantime, if you come in
contact with your state representative [find
him or her here] make sure to express your opinion on this
blatant taxpayer rip-off.
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Chip Ford |
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State House News Service
Wednesday,
April 4, 2012
Bipartisan group of lawmakers back EBT card
reforms
By Matt Murphy
A bipartisan group of
lawmakers announced plans Wednesday to file legislation that would
look at restricting welfare recipients from drawing cash with their
electronic benefit cards and ban the spending of public benefits
outside of New England.
Joined by Weymouth Republican Sen.
Robert Hedlund and standing with a group of 18 colleagues, Taunton
Republican Rep. Shaunna O’Connell and Boston Democrat Rep. Russell
Holmes reiterated their disappointment with recommendations issued
last week by a special commission charged with looking into the
system and developing plans to ensure funds are responsibly spent by
public assistance beneficiaries.
O’Connell, Holmes and
Hedlund served on the commission, but said its recommendations did
not go far enough to ensure that the $415 million spent annually on
welfare benefits was being used appropriately by recipients.
The bill they intend to file would study whether the technology
exists to restrict welfare recipients from withdrawing cash on their
EBT cards, charge a fee for the 20,000 replacement cards issued each
month, restrict beneficiaries from spending their benefits outside
of Massachusetts and the five states along its border, and require
signage in establishments prohibited from accepting EBT cards.
“Cash access will be restricted. These are not ATM cards. They
are supplemental benefit cards to be used for necessities and
necessities only. By stopping cash advances we’ll be ensuring that
the funds are used properly while protecting the use of taxpayer
dollars,” O’Connell said.
At the commission level, Holmes
proposed making up to 50 percent of a beneficiary's monthly
allowance available in cash. The idea was defeated by the commission
on a 4-4 vote.
The bill will also propose adding to the list
of establishments banned from accepting EBT cards as payments. The
Legislature previously voted to prohibit welfare recipients from
using their benefits to purchase alcohol, tobacco or Lottery
tickets. The EBT commission last week recommended adding casinos,
strip clubs, nail salons, tattoo parlors, firearm dealers, bars,
smoke shops and spas to the list of banned establishments, but
lawmakers are proposing to go further.
According to the EBT
Commission’s report, 85 percent of public benefits were accessed as
cash through ATM withdrawals, while only 1 percent of public funds
were spent outside Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York,
Connecticut and Rhode Island.
“We all stand united together
in our determination to stop the abuse of the electronic benefit
cards and really restore some integrity to this program for the
taxpayers and the benefit recipients,” O’Connell said.
A
copy of the bill was not immediately available, and O’Connell said
the language was being “finalized” and the bill would be available
later Wednesday afternoon.
“I’m excited to work with my
colleagues that are assembled here that will move to maintain or
restore integrity in this program and potentially provide savings to
the taxpayers of Commonwealth and keep those resources available for
the people who are truly in need and not people who are abusing the
system,” Hedlund said.
O’Connell said the bill would also
recommend studying the cost of a photo identification card system
for EBT card users, something opponents estimated would cost $8.4
million in the first year.
Critics called the bill an attack
on the poor, claiming that fraud is not as widespread as system
critics suggest.
Erin O’Leary, of Neighbor-to-Neighbor, said
banning out-of-state spending raised questions about the
constitutionality of restricting travel. She also said the bill
could lead to stereotyping and profiling of people of color by store
owners worried about getting fined for accepting cash for a
restricted purchase.
Opponents said disallowing cash
withdrawals would jeopardize the safety of low-income residents who
might need cash for emergencies, such as taking a cab to the
hospital, or riding public transportation.
“You can’t use an
EBT card to get on a bus to look for a job,” O’Leary said.
Rachel Mulroy, a former welfare recipient and member of the
Coalition for Social Justice, said the bill proposed by O’Connell
and Holmes would create “animosity toward working parents.”
“The vast majority of people are out there using their benefits to
support their families. They’re receiving certain services where
they need to avoid fraud and criminal activity or they will no
longer be eligible for that, and when you’re hanging on the line
between survival or falling apart, you’re going to survive. You’re
not going to mess around with fraud,” Mulroy said.
Lawmakers
pushed back against the assertion that they were unfairly targeting
poor residents.
“Nothing could be further from the truth.
This is to protect the system to make sure the people who need
benefits are going to be able to get benefits and ensure the money
is being used properly,” O’Connell said.
“It is clear that
what we have to do is we have to look at the dollars that we’re
looking to manage. If I looked today to go and add, let’s say, $5
million to the budget on a new line item, we would go through that
same scrutiny,” Holmes added.
Democrats Reps. Colleen Garry,
Jim Dwyer, Walter Timilty and William “Smitty” Pignatelli joined
Holmes, Hedlund and House Republicans for the press conference
outside the House chamber.
Auditor Suzanne Bump, who
recently announced plans to audit the Department of Transitional
Assistance’s EBT card program, wrote a letter to members of the EBT
Commission on Monday urging them to let her complete her audit
before the Inspector General’s office and DTA sign an agreement to
conduct a similar review.
Holmes said he and his colleagues
would take Bump’s letter into consideration.
During a WTKK-FM
radio appearance last week, Gov. Deval Patrick, asked about his
plans to limit public assistance spending to purposes intended by
state officials, discussed efforts to ban spending on alcohol,
tobacco and Lottery tickets.
“The program’s important,”
Patrick said. “It’s a good program. It supports people who need that
kind of support in a critical time in their lives and experience . .
. The program’s integrity should always be a subject of focus.”
Patrick said $4 million in fraud had been recovered in the last
year. “And we’ll keep that emphasis on,” he said. “But I don’t think
this should be viewed as . . . for some I think this is viewed as an
indictment of the program itself. The program is worthy and
important and any program that’s worthy and important deserves to
have thorough management and oversight in terms of its integrity.”
The Boston Herald
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Pundit: EBT card overhaul puts Hill bigs ‘in the hot seat’
By Chris Cassidy
Outraged lawmakers trying to prevent taxpayer-funded EBT card abuse
are putting the political screws on House and Senate leaders, who
will face election-year pressure to place real reforms on the floor
for an up-or-down vote, a GOP pundit told the Herald.
“It puts the legislative leadership in a bad position because if
they don’t allow a vote, they’ll be accused of backroom deals to
prevent reform. And if they do allow a vote, they’ll find a lot of
their people defecting in favor of reform,” said GOP strategist Rob
Gray.
Three members of the state’s EBT Card Commission, formed to clean up
the program, yesterday announced details of a bill to crack down on
abuses, after last week slamming the commission’s failure to come
down hard enough. The rogue group’s bill would ban the use of EBT
cards at such places as strip clubs, rent-a-centers, gyms and gun
shops; banning card use outside New England states; and restrict how
much cash can be drawn. The reform efforts followed Herald reports
of welfare recipients spending benefits on booze, cigarettes and
scratch tickets.
“These are not ATM cards,” said state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell
(R-Taunton). “They are supplemental benefit cards to be used for
necessities and necessities only.”
Senate President Therese Murray faces a fall fight against
Republican challenger Thomas Keyes — who lost two years ago by just
3,600 votes — and may find herself in a particularly tight spot,
Gray said.
“An issue like this certainly puts her in the hot seat,” Gray said.
“If she bottles it up, she’s got a problem. If she allows a vote and
votes against it, she’s got a problem.”
DeLeo and Murray declined to comment yesterday, although DeLeo last
year told the Herald the abuse “angers me ... because that money
could be put to other uses.” Gov. Deval Patrick, however, told the
Herald, “We’ll see what they proposed. I support the recommendations
made by the commission.”
The Boston Herald
Thursday, April 12, 2012
DeLeo targets EBT card abuse in proposed budget
By Chris Cassidy and John Zaremba
Enraged by a Herald series detailing rampant EBT card abuse, House
Speaker Robert A. DeLeo yesterday introduced sweeping reforms to the
system in his proposed state budget — even as Gov. Deval Patrick’s
welfare chief said she saw no reason for tighter restrictions on
easy cash for welfare recipients.
“Having read some of the abuses which you’ve published at various
times, it just continues to anger me, in terms of trying to get some
control over the program to make sure these types of abuses don’t
exist,” DeLeo told the Herald.
DeLeo would ban using EBT cards for bail or fines, as well as to
join health clubs, to gamble, and to buy guns, porn, makeup, travel
services, tattoos, jewelry and tickets to movies and sporting
events.
The speaker’s proposed reforms come on the heels of a Herald front
page story spotlighting a convicted Roxbury drug dealer who cops
said wanted to use an EBT card to raise bail money last week.
A Health and Human Services spokeswoman refused to say whether the
dealer, Kimball Clark, 45, is an EBT recipient, citing privacy laws.
Boston police said Clark, making his post-booking call from lockup
Friday, told the person on the other end, “Get my EBT card and go to
the ATM and get the money to bail me out, get me outta here
tonight.”
Clark posted bail, but the source of the cash was unclear. Efforts
to reach Clark have been unsuccessful.
Patrick refused to discuss Clark’s bail stunt or EBT reform —
letting Health and Human Services Secretary Judy Ann Bigby field a
reporter’s questions.
“It’s a very small amount of money that people get on average. They
get two payments of around $200 a month from that money. People have
to pay babysitters,” said Bigby, who oversees the Department of
Transitional Assistance. “They have to pay their rent. They have to
pay for emergencies if they have a kid who’s sick. If they have no
access to cash, I don’t know how they’d be able to do that.”
Deleo’s proposal does not limit or eliminate cash access, but he
said he’s open to considering that in the future.
“I think this shows ... how high a priority we see this,” DeLeo
said. “Even if (the state) were rolling in money, any abuse of
public funds is wrong, and I think we have to send a strong message
that we’re going to do everything we can to stop it.”
State Rep. Shaunna O’Connell (R-Taunton), who is pushing for strict
reforms with an end to hard-cash disbursements, said any reform is
meaningless if it allows payouts from ATMs.
“The problem is that you can tell people they can’t use their cards
here, but when they can go across the street, get cash and then pay
their bail or get a tattoo, that’s the problem,” O’Connell said.
“You can’t stop that. It always comes back to cash access.”
U.S. Sen. Scott Brown also weighed in on the controversy, calling
the abuse “very disturbing” and saying state lawmakers need to clean
up the system.
“They need to fix it quickly, because there’s a breach of trust
between the taxpayers and the state and federal governments,” Brown
said. “Obviously there’s outrage and people are concerned.”
The Boston Herald
Thursday, April 12,
2012
A Boston Herald editorial
Ending EBT abuse
A toothless State House commission failed miserably in its
effort to identify and correct abuses within the state welfare
system, but House Speaker Robert DeLeo and his leadership team have
stepped in with a call for more powerful reforms. For that taxpayers
ought to be grateful.
Yes, DeLeo even used the “a” word —
angry — to describe his own reaction to a series of Herald reports
detailing flagrant abuse by individuals who hold electronic benefits
cards, which function like cash. Gov. Deval Patrick had earlier
suggested the Herald coverage of EBT abuse was little more than an
effort to make people angry.
“Part of the role of government
is to help those that are really in need of that extra help,” DeLeo
said yesterday. “This just continues to anger me, that these types
of abuses exist.”
In other words, it is possible to support
public assistance for the neediest among us — while refusing to look
the other way when those who receive benefits take advantage of the
taxpayers’ money and their trust.
“It’s not only an affront
to taxpayers, it’s an affront to the neediest who need the benefit
and see the abuse as well,” he said.
DeLeo and House Ways and
Means Chairman Brian Dempsey (D-Haverhill) are seeking policy
changes through the annual budget. They call for a new state statute
criminalizing EBT trafficking, the kind that last year ensnared
eight people in Lynn accused of swapping EBT cards for cash. They
were charged with federal offenses, but Dempsey said a state statute
could enable a speedier response to reports of abuse.
State
agencies would be authorized to yank Lottery or alcohol permits from
offending merchants. The budget also expands the list of merchants
where EBT sales are banned — including, yes, bail bondsmen (the
alleged drug-dealer trying to post bail using EBT money was just the
latest affront). It also calls for a pilot program to strengthen
eligibility verification.
The proposal isn’t perfect. It
doesn’t address the ability of EBT card-holders to withdraw cash,
for example, then spend it however they see fit. But DeLeo said he
is open to further reforms. And at least he acknowledges the
public’s right to be angry.
The Boston Herald
Friday, April 13,
2012
Advocates rip EBT card ‘mess’
... as pol aims to
restrict cash
By Chris Cassidy, Jerry Kronenberg and John Zaremba
Welfare advocates slammed a Republican lawmaker’s plan to crack
down on cash access for taxpayer-funded EBT cards, saying it will
hurt the poor.
“Oh, what a mess,” said Diane Sullivan of
Homes for Families. “My first question is, can you use an EBT card
on a bus? We’re going to tell folks you can’t even get on a bus to
go to a job interview or to go to the unemployment office?”
But state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell (R-Taunton), who plans to file a
budget amendment today to restrict the cash, countered that some
cash payments, such as rent and utilities, can automatically be
deducted using a vendor payment system.
“This is supposed to
be supplemental assistance, and it’s not meant to cover every
situation in one’s life,” O’Connell said.
Her amendment comes
days after the Herald reported that convicted drug dealer Kimball
Clark, 45, while making his post-booking phone call from a
Dorchester police lockup, was overheard telling someone to get his
EBT card, pick up some cash at an ATM and bail him out of jail,
according to a Boston police report.
“If you’re on public
assistance, your goal should be to get off public assistance, and
your activities should be consistent with that,” O’Connell said.
House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo announced his own proposed changes
to the system Wednesday, which include banning the cards from being
used to buy guns, porn, makeup, tattoos and other products.
“We will look at those,” Gov. Deval Patrick said yesterday.
“Obviously we’re not going to tolerate fraud or abuse, and we’ve
shown that.”
But in an apparent reference to Herald articles
documenting the bail bid and EBT purchases of booze, smokes and
scratch tickets, Patrick said, “We’re also not going to make policy
based on anecdote.”
Patrick also defended the cash assistance
portion of the EBT card system.
“The purpose of the program
is to enable people who are at their most vulnerable to meet their
basic needs, so they can get back up on their feet,” he said. “There
are ways to do that, and we’re working on ways to do that.”
The proposed House reforms, tied to the upcoming fiscal year’s
budget, would ban EBT cards from being used to pay bail or fines,
but O’Connell said nothing stops a recipient from using EBT cash
however they like.
“Until we do something about the cash
access,” O’Connell said, “we’re not going to be able to fix the
problem.”
Associated Press
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Mass. House panel unveils proposed $32B budget
BOSTON - A nearly $32.3 billion Massachusetts budget proposed
Wednesday by a key House panel would boost local aid to cities and
towns while holding the line on taxes and cutting some government
spending.
The budget unveiled by the House Ways and Means Committee for the
fiscal year starting July 1 relies on $522 million in one-time
revenues, including a $400 million withdrawal from the state’s
so-called Rainy Day fund.
The spending plan, which is scheduled to be debated by the full
House later this month, was applauded by municipal leaders but
criticized by some social services advocates. It calls for spending
$14 million less than the budget proposed in January by Gov. Deval
Patrick.
The panel rejected the governor’s call for $260 million in new
revenues, including a 50-cents-per-pack hike in the cigarette tax
and a sales tax on candy and soda.
"By not adopting these proposals, we have reaffirmed our commitment
to responsible budgeting by keeping the operating budget within our
current means and do not shift the burden of balancing the budget on
to the shoulders of Massachusetts taxpayers," said committee chair
Rep. Brian Dempsey, D-Haverhill.
The House budget also turns aside Patrick’s call for closing the Bay
State Correctional Center, a medium-security prison in Norfolk, but
accepts the governor’s proposal to shut down a state psychiatric
hospital in Taunton and move many patients and workers to a new
facility in Worcester. Advocates for the mentally ill and lawmakers
from southeastern Massachusetts have strongly opposed the move.
The House plan would guarantee an additional $65 million in
unrestricted local aid to cities and towns, whereas the
administration’s budget had made the extra money conditional on the
state meeting certain revenue goals in the current fiscal year.
Geoffrey Beckwith, executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal
Association, said the guarantee was welcome news for mayors and town
officials.
"Communities have greater budget certainty, and they can actually
take this $65 million and incorporate it into their budgets to fund
police officers, firefighters, teachers and ongoing operations,"
said Beckwith.
The spending plan would also boost education aid, ensuring that
every school district in the state will receive an increase of at
least $40 per student over current levels. For the first time, it
would provide reimbursements to school districts for the cost of
transporting homeless students to public schools.
In addition, the committee included $159 million to cover the
projected cost of a recent ruling by the state’s highest court that
legal, non-citizen immigrants must be made eligible for Commonwealth
Care, the state’s subsidized health care program. The governor had
proposed using revenues from increased tobacco taxes to cover the
added costs.
Dempsey said that while the economy continues to recover, state
revenues have yet to return to pre-recession levels and difficult
choices were still necessary. The budget calls for about $268
million in spending cuts or adjustments.
Lewis Finfer, director of the Massachusetts Communities Action
Network, said it would result in the loss of 1,200 youth jobs and
reduce funding for gang prevention efforts by $16 million.
The AIDS Action Committee criticized the budget for cutting services
to people living with HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis, calling it a
"short-sighted approach to investment in public health."
Patrick’s plan to centralize management of the state’s 15 community
colleges was not embraced by the Ways and Means Committee, but the
panel did outline a plan calling for greater coordination among the
colleges themselves and an increased role for the governor and state
Board of Higher Education in how the schools are run.
"We think it’s a balanced approach and really a hybrid of what the
governor proposed and where we landed," Dempsey said.
The committee also proposed several new restrictions on what welfare
recipients can purchase using state-issued electronic benefit cards,
including firearms, cosmetics, jewelry, travel services, health
clubs, tattoo parlors and gambling. The restrictions are similar to
those recommended last month by a special commission on EBT cards,
and would add to the current ban on purchases of alcohol, tobacco or
lottery tickets.
After the full House approves the budget, it will go to the Senate
for consideration.
The Boston Globe
Thursday, April 12, 2012
House unveils budget plan
Puts high priority on local aid, K-12 education funding
By Noah Bierman
Massachusetts House leaders proposed an annual state spending plan
Wednesday that would scale back or eliminate several of Governor
Deval Patrick’s signature policy proposals, including an overhaul of
the community college system, a program to close the school
achievement gap, and new and increased taxes for candy, soft drinks,
and cigarettes.
The $32.3 billion budget unveiled by House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo
and his budget chairman, Brian S. Dempsey, puts its highest priority
on preserving local government aid and K-12 education funding, a
clear effort in an election year to help individual House members on
the campaign trail.
To avoid raising taxes, which would have generated $260 million, the
House plan would reduce spending on a broad range of programs,
forcing many state agencies to live with less than they have said
they need to maintain services.
“Much of the rest of state government is going to take hits in order
to fund local aid,’’ said Michael J. Widmer, president of the
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed watchdog
group.
Among the areas targeted for cuts: gang prevention and youth summer
jobs programs and the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
At the same time, the proposal includes more money to move homeless
families now living in hotels to apartments and for programs serving
the developmentally disabled.
“I am encouraged by some of the investments in education and the
meaningful steps on the governor’s proposed reforms for community
colleges and homelessness services,’’ said Jay Gonzalez, Patrick’s
budget chief. “However, I don’t think this proposal does enough to
address youth violence or close the achievement gap.’’
DeLeo’s spending plan is $1.56 billion higher than the current
year’s enacted budget and $1.1 billion over what is actually
projected to be spent.
Much of the increase in spending would go to paying rising state
health care costs and wage increases for state workers.
The budget also assumes $175 million in largely unspecified cuts to
state agencies, but leaves it to the agencies themselves to find
what House leaders called creative ways to fill those gaps.
The spending plan depends on a few optimistic assumptions, including
that state tax collections will rebound after coming in lower than
expected in five of nine months in the current budget year.
It also calls for withdrawing $400 million from the state’s rainy
day fund and spending another $110 million that would otherwise be
saved for future use.
“Right now, we think we’ll be OK’’ with tax collections by year’s
end, Dempsey said.
“But we need to be very careful’’ in monitoring them, he added.
The House proposal includes $18.5 million more for local education
than Patrick proposed in his January spending plan. Dempsey said
that translates to $40 more spent on every public school student in
the state. The plan also includes an additional $11.3 million to
reimburse communities that provide special busing services for
homeless students.
“All across the board, from education to community programs, this is
a strong and effective budget,’’ said Geoffrey C. Beckwith,
executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal Association.
The House is expected to debate the spending plan later this month.
The Senate will then release its own proposal in June, paving the
way for a compromise plan that lawmakers are supposed to present to
Patrick for his review in time for the new budget year, which begins
July 1.
In between, advocates for various safety net programs and government
services that depend on state money will weigh in on its potential
to help or harm residents.
Lewis Finfer, an organizer for the Youth Jobs Coalition, decried the
House budget Wednesday for providing millions less for gang
prevention efforts and eliminating 1,200 jobs for young people.
“A slew of law enforcement and prevention programs operating in
cities across the state would have 80 percent less money than they
had last year to deal with gang violence,’’ Finfer said.
The House proposal would also stiffen penalties for those who commit
welfare fraud and specifically prohibit welfare recipients from
using electronic benefit cards for guns, cosmetics, pornography, and
other nonessentials.
Overall, DeLeo reversed some of Patrick’s most unpopular proposed
cuts, including elimination of a program that provides 240,000 free
and subsidized lunches for senior citizens.
House leaders declined to close the Bay State Correctional Facility
in Norfolk, as Patrick had proposed.
Dempsey said that the state’s prisons are overpopulated and that the
state should save money instead by requesting new contract bids for
food services and other outsourced products.
In addition, the House rejected Patrick’s proposal to hire more
defense lawyers to represent indigent criminal defendants, which
Patrick said would save money by relying on fewer private lawyers.
In his own budget, the governor had included a plan to overhaul the
state’s community colleges, a plan that had been a centerpiece of
his annual State of the Commonwealth address.
He proposed to centralize the system’s budget and to give most
authority over colleges to the state Board of Education, an effort
to create a less disjointed system and better meet employer training
needs.
But college presidents and local boards, wary of ceding control,
mounted fierce opposition. DeLeo said he heard from many lawmakers
who agreed with the presidents, before coming up with what he and
Dempsey called a hybrid plan.
“The local reps made it loud and clear to me that they have good
relationships with their college presidents, that they like the
things they’re doing,’’ the speaker said.
DeLeo’s plan gives the governor authority to appoint chairs of each
community college board, and it gives the Board of Higher Education
an added role in helping to select community college presidents.
It also adds money for the system and allows the state to change the
way funding is allotted on an annual basis to each of the 15
community colleges.
The Patrick administration and the business-based advocacy groups
said the proposal delivered most of what they wanted on community
colleges.
“We got substantially what we were looking for,’’ said Paul Reville,
Patrick’s secretary for education.
Community college presidents also declared victory.
“We’re really grateful to the House for listening to us,’’ said
Wayne Burton, president of North Shore Community College. “What’s
come out is a really good piece of legislation that we can work
with.’’
Mary Carmichael of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
The Boston Herald
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Holmes finds EBT has elementary problems
By Chris Cassidy
Several days after state Rep. Russell E. Holmes (D-Boston) pleaded
for EBT card reform at a State House press conference last week, he
was hit with another reminder of the deep flaws in the system.
Holmes was at the Roxbury Stop & Shop by Grove Hall last Sunday when
someone approached him asking if he wanted to buy the man’s EBT
card.
“His price was 50 cents on the dollar,” Holmes said. “It’s not a
surprise to me.”
Holmes has spent the last few months on an EBT card commission
trying to reform the system.
“It’s something that’s prevalent,” Holmes said. “It was ironic that
in a week where I had gotten a significant amount of pushback from
advocates, saying not much of this is happening, I’m at a store less
than 15 minutes and see someone asking many people if they want to
buy food stamps and use their EBT card.”
Holmes said he was encouraged to see so many others turn the man
down.
“I think that’s exactly what I’ve heard from the community,” Holmes
said. “Many of us are frustrated by the amount of abuse happening
with the card.”
Holmes is taking a strong stand against EBT card abuse, calling for
efforts to add photos to the cards and tighter restrictions on where
the cards can be used.
“What we’re most concerned about is folks being able to use the cash
to do the worst things in our community — to buy more drugs, more
alcohol, to gamble,” he said. “These are the things that hurt our
community the most.”
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