Louisiana bans use of welfare benefits for tattoos, lingerie, jewelry

[Jon88]

BATON ROUGE, La. – Louisiana welfare recipients will be prohibited from spending the federal assistance at lingerie shops, tattoo parlors, nail salons and jewelry stores, under new limits enacted by state social services officials.

The Department of Children and Family Services announced the emergency regulations late Thursday. They cover the Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program — commonly known as welfare benefits — and the Kinship Care Subsidy Program.


Both programs pay cash assistance to low-income families for items like food, clothing and housing.

DCFS Secretary Suzy Sonnier said the agency decided to ban the use of electronic benefit cards, which work as debit cards, at stores that don't sell items that are considered basic needs for families.

"This rule will not affect families who currently use the program as intended, which is to provide food, shelter and clothing for families," Sonnier said in a statement.

About 3,500 households in Louisiana receive welfare benefits, and about 2,400 households get kinship care subsidies, according to the department. Average payments are $192 per month for welfare and $419 a month for kinship care.

The emergency regulations come a week after WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge reported that an Ascension Parish lingerie store posted a sign noting that it accepted the welfare benefits card along with most credit cards.

Also barred in the latest restrictions from taking welfare debit cards are video arcades, bail bond companies, cruise ships, psychics, adult-entertainment businesses, nightclubs, bars and any businesses where minors are not allowed.

Violators of the new regulations will stop receiving welfare benefits for a year for a first offense, two years for a second offense and permanently for a third offense, according to the social services department.

The department also said it is seeking to enact the restrictions in law and allow the state to fine retailers who don't follow the guidelines. Rep. Chris Broadwater, R-Hammond, will sponsor the bill for consideration in the current legislative session.

"I hope that we can meet the spirit of intent of the program while also ensuring that state and federal tax dollars are being used appropriately," Broadwater said in a statement.

Last year, the social services agency enacted new regulations that banned the spending of welfare money on cigarettes, alcohol and lottery tickets. Those regulations also included prohibitions on the use of a welfare electronic benefit card at liquor stores, gambling sites and strip clubs, as required under a recently-passed federal law.

Tracking violations may be difficult, however, because the welfare money can be taken off the electronic benefit card as cash through an ATM. Social services officials said they rely on businesses and the public to report suspected violations.

 

[junk]

Why wasn't that a law to begin with?

 

[Jon88]

No clue. The only states worse than Louisiana are Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi.

 

[Jon88]

Having Texas next door creates a huge talent vacuum.

It's like the US and Mexico.

 

[2233boys]

Why wasn't that a law to begin with?

How about it, that just makes sense.

 

[JBond]

Louisiana is still one step ahead of the pathetic state of Missouri. The Feds also blow our money on the freeloaders with little oversight. Handing cash to losers is a bad idea. There must be significant restrictions on the handouts.

KMOV.com) -- Thousands of Missouri tax dollars spent in casinos, strip clubs, and bars. These are Missouri welfare cards being accessed for cash at ATMs in some bizarre places.

The state can’t tell you how nearly $100 million of your tax dollars are actually spent because what’s purchased with that cash isn’t tracked, but the ATM locations are recorded.

News 4 spent the last two years digging into this issue and continues to find plenty of red flags.

Out Investigative team found Missouri TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) money withdrawn from places like Las Vegas Strip Clubs, upscale shopping centers in Scottsdale Arizona and even a gambling center in the Virgin Islands.

We analyzed one year of Missouri TANF withdrawals that covered more than 8 hundred thousand transactions across all 50 states.

In Texas, $174,219.73 Missouri welfare dollars were withdrawn, including a 60 dollar transaction inside Diamond Joe’s saloon.

In Chicago someone used a Missouri welfare card to stimulate the economy at a local factory, a factory that manufactures adult entertainment.

News 4 spoke with both Republican and Democratic state senators about this issue.

Republican Will Kraus told us “I want our tax dollars to go to people who need it not those gaming the system.”

And Democrat Maria Chappelle-Nadal agrees some of these transactions are hard to justify,

Transactions like at bars on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, including the Tropical Isle: home of the hand grenade New Orleans most powerful drink.

Also at Ripley’s Believe it or not in San Antonio, Texas, plus $4,040 accessed at the 7th street casino in Kansas City.

There’s other casino withdrawals much farther away, including the Riviera resort in Las Vegas and other casinos in Carson City.

Also there was $1,365.52 worth of withdrawals in the Virgin Islands, including $120 at the Pot of Gold Gaming Center on the island of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands.

Not to mention liquor stores from Cleveland to Chicago.

“What is not justifiable is if you are using money to gamble or if you’re using it a strip club” said Chappelle-Nadal.

Chappelle-Nadal immediately contacted the Department of Social Services after News 4 contacted her.

DSS sent her an email, citing two of Chris Nagus’ previous welfare investigations, and assured her TANF is designed to assist needy families so that children can be cared for in their own homes.

She went on to say that “as legislators we have the opportunity to deal with this issue head on in January.

Chappelle-Nadal would like to see more welfare fraud investigators.

Currently there are only 14 investigators plus 4 supervisors to monitor the billion dollar Missouri food stamp and 100 million dollar TANF program.

http://www.kmov.com/news/editors-pi...om-Las-Vegas-to-Virgin-Islands-176488411.html

Over the last 20 months, a string of media reports have drawn attention to the "questionable locations" where welfare recipients have withdrawn federal money. Now the government has taken action. Buried in the payroll tax cut extension, which Congress passed earlier this month, is a bill that would cut a state's access to federal funds if it fails to adopt policies that block welfare recipients from accessing their funds in liquor stores, casinos or strip clubs.

Proponents of the measure believe it's critical to curb abuse of taxpayer money. Critics counter that adopting such policies will be an excessive burden on state coffers, and that the bill stigmatizes welfare recipients, the vast majority of whom spend the money on necessities.

The federal government provides cash support every month to over 4 million struggling Americans, including many single mothers and their children, through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. The maximum monthly TANF benefit for a family of three is, on average, $428 a month, usually accessed through debit cards known as Electronic Benefit Transfer cards. Recipients are eligible for a total of five years of assistance in their lifetimes.

A series of media investigations over the past two years have found that thousands, and in some cases millions, of dollars have been withdrawn from locations that might suggest the money was used for things other than its mandated purpose: necessities like food, clothing, transportation, personal care products and baby needs.

A Michigan investigation found that more than $12,000 had been withdrawn from one Detroit casino over the course of a year. Fox 5 Atlanta found that $150,000 was accessed in liquor stores, bars and nightclubs in Georgia. King 5 News in Seattle discovered that 13,000 TANF recipients had taken $2 million out at casinos across Washington in 2010. Michigan, Washington and several other states have since taken action to prevent EBT card access at these kinds of locations.

"The abuse of funds on EBT cards must stop," said Rep. Charles Boustany Jr. (R-Louisiana), the bill's sponsor, in a statement. The bill passed Congress with overwhelming support from both parties.

Under the new law, states that fail to implement policies within two years could face up to a 5 percent drop in their TANF funding.

The Federal Funds Information for States, which reports on the impact on states of federal policy decisions, says that the few states that have studied the issue have found that less than 0.1 percent of TANF transactions took place at the targeted locations, reports the Stateline website. "This means that states could incur substantial costs to address an issue that does not appear to be a widespread problem," the group said in a February brief.

The Government Accountability Office, at the request of Congress, is currently surveying 10 states to see where welfare benefits are being withdrawn for a report that is expected in May or June.

Other advocates fear that the new law unfairly stigmatizes welfare recipients. "They hinge on the stereotype of welfare recipients as vice-ridden and wasteful spenders of taxpayer money," said the D.C.-based Center for Law and Social Policy, an advocacy group for low-income Americans, in a statement.

The organization further points out that an ATM in a liquor store may simply be the most convenient and cheapest way for many recipients to withdraw assistance. It also criticizes politicians who are focusing on this issue while failing to increase the TANF program, which hasn't been adjusted for inflation since its creation in 1996.

Last year, for the first time since the program's creation, Congress also didn't fully fund the supplement grants that 17 states receive. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan think tank, in 34 states the real value of the cash assistance is now at least 20 percent lower than in 1996.

But the bill's proponents nevertheless see it as an important safeguard against waste and fraud. "It protects the public interest," said Boustany, "by ensuring money meant to help Americans get back on their feet is used for that very purpose."

Even with certain ATMs off-limits, however, it's impossible to guarantee how federal money is ultimately spent, when it's given out as cash.

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/0...accessible-at-strip-clubs-casinos-and-liquor/