LIFETIME BAN ON WELFARE BENEFITS IN DRUG CASES IS MEAN-SPIRITED

Memo to Davis: AB 1947 fights crime and improves kids' lives

THERE'S a bill on the governor's desk that could help reduce crime, improve
the lives of thousands of kids and keep families from becoming homeless
without costing the state a penny. Why hasn't Gov. Davis jumped to sign it?

AB 1947 would go a long way toward ending the state's mean-spirited and
counterproductive policy of denying welfare benefits and food stamps to
parents convicted of drug crimes. This lifetime ban was included as an
option in the 1996 federal welfare reform law, but most states rejected it
as too draconian. California adopted it.

That means that low-income parents -- usually women -- who are trying to
kick their drug habit, find work and provide for their children are denied
the basic assistance that other struggling families receive. Though the
policy was designed to punish drug offenders, those hurt the most are about
56,000 of California's children.

Gov. Davis twice vetoed bills that would have lifted the ban. This year,
Assemblyman Carl Washington, D-Paramount, narrowed the bill to merely allow
offenders in court-ordered drug treatment to receive food stamps, not other
welfare benefits.

In 2000, Californians overwhelmingly passed Proposition 36, which guaranteed
first-time drug offenders treatment instead of jail time. Thousands of these
offenders are low-income mothers of young children. Judges who monitor these
cases say it's almost impossible for these women to successfully complete
their treatment and support their families without some monetary help.

Food stamps are paid for entirely by the federal government, so AB 1947
wouldn't cost the state any money.

The governor should sign AB 1947. This state's voters want to help drug
addicts recover, not make their lives even more difficult.