The Senate has sped up approval of a bill that would restore welfare benefits to thousands of the state’s most vulnerable who in March suddenly found their monthly payments reduced to $260 a month from $388.
The state’s general assistance program provides cash assistance to adults with physical and mental disabilities that prevent them from working. Many of the recipients are homeless or on the verge of becoming homeless. The monthly payments help with basic needs, such as shelter fees, transportation and necessities.
The Senate, during a Thursday floor session, moved to agree to amendments the House of Representatives inserted into Senate Bill 1127, allowing the measure to go to a final vote before the Senate today and then on to Gov. David Ige, who is expected to sign the bill.
The measure appropriates $3.2 million during the current fiscal year to make up for a reduction in payments to approximately 6,700 claimants.
Sen. Joy San Buenaventura, chairwoman of the
Senate Human Services Committee, said the state Department of Human Services is hoping payments can be restored in June,
but it may not be until July due to the time it takes to process appropriations. Still, beneficiaries are expected to receive retroactive payments for the months that their benefits were reduced.
The state’s general assistance program serves as a stopgap for many claimants who are applying for permanent disability through Social Security, which can be
a lengthy and difficult process. This fiscal year the state appropriated nearly $24 million in funding for the program. But the fund operates as a block grant, so the total pot of money is divvied up among those enrolled in the program.
This past year the number of people approved to receive the assistance increased significantly, reducing overall payments to each recipient.
The Department of Human Services drew down
$3 million from a separate special fund to maintain payments at the same level, but that funding was soon maxed out and the state slashed monthly payments starting March 1.
The reductions alarmed social service agencies and recipients who were already struggling to make ends meet on the modest payments.
Rep. Ryan Yamane, who chairs the House Health, Human Services and Homelessness Committee, said the goal is to get the emergency appropriation approved as quickly as possible so the funds can get to the “most needy.”
