Change in Welfare Law Still Blocked

A federal judge has extended an order barring the state from enforcing a new law that would limit the welfare benefits paid to new residents of the state.

American Civi Liberties Union chapters in Northern and Southern California and in San Diego County had joined the National Organization for Women to oppose the law, which Gov. Pete Wilson’s administration had argued was needed to prevent welfare recipients from moving to California to claim the state’s higher welfare benefit.

Under the law, welfare recipients who moved to California could only collect the benefit they would have received in their former home state until they had lived in California for a year.

U.S. District Judge David Levi issued a preliminary injunction late Friday barring the state from enforcing the law, saying it made an unconstitutional distinction between people on the basis of how long they had lived in California.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton, substituting for Levi at an earlier proceeding, had issued a restraining order--a more temporary measure--which also blocked enforcement of the law.

State officials have argued that the benefit caps are necessary to avoid making California a “welfare magnet.”

For a parent with two children, California pays $565 a month in the counties with the highest cost of living and $538 a month in the less-expensive counties. The rates are the nation’s seventh- and 10th-highest, respectively.

But Levi said that once housing costs are factored in, California’s benefit actually ranks 18th nationwide.

Bob Campbell, assistant chief counsel to the Department of Social Services, said the state is planning to appeal any adverse decision.