Posted on 03/20/2015 12:50:43 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Republican senators want to restrict products that may be purchased with Electronic Benefit Transfer cards used in state aid programs for the poor and disabled.
Under Senate Bill 169, recipients would be banned from using the cards or cash drawn on the cards to purchase alcohol, tobacco, lottery tickets, firearms, or for adult entertainment, gambling, tattooing and body piercing.
A similar bill passed the Senate last year, but was killed by the House which instead studied the issue.
The result, House Bill 219, which restricts using the cards at locations such as smoke shops, tattoo parlors or marijuana dispensaries.
State law already prohibits their use at state liquor stores, gambling establishments and adult entertainment venues.
“A recent audit of the state’s EBT program found that 78 percent of benefit funds were accessed as cash taken out of ATMs, leaving the program open to abuse,” said the bill’s prime sponsor, Sen. Jeanie Forrester, R-Meredith, at a public hearing before the Senate Health and Human Services Committee Tuesday. “This legislation would tighten the sensible protections on EBT use to ensure that the benefits we’re providing to people in need are being used responsibly.”
But opponents of SB 169 said the House bill is a more reasoned approach to the issue, noting along with Health and Human Services officials, that as written the Senate bill would be nearly impossible to enforce without great expense.
“(The Senate bill) is aiming the gun in the wrong direction and at the wrong people,” said Keith Kuenning, advocacy director for Child and Family Services of NH. “You should not punish 97 percent for the few who do not use the money responsibly.”
Kuenning and others said enforcement would be impossible, unless lawmakers were willing to significantly increase program resources for enforcement, which currently focuses on fraud cases with greater dollars involved.
Health and Human Services officials said there are currently 12,266 households receiving cash assistance through the EBT cards, 74 percent by the elderly poor and disabled, and 26 percent for single-parent households.
Seven people work in the fraud investigation unit, which returns about $1 million a year to state coffers.
Terry Smith, director of the Division of Family Services said other states dedicate more resources to enforcement, but “it is one of the times when social and fiscal policy collide,” noting they spend more for enforcement than they collect for fraudulent use.
A compromise is a software tool that blocks the use of the EBT cards at certain venues like liquor stores, gambling facilities and adult entertainment venues, Smith told the committee.
Committee chair Sen. Andy Sanborn, R-Bedford, said everyone wants to help those who are truly needy, but most would agree need is not a tattoo, alcohol or going to a strip joint.
“You are asking people to give up their own money to help people in need,” he said. “Some of it is (providing people’s needs) and some is not.”
But Elliot Berry of NH Legal Assistance said to implement the Senate bill, the state needs the cooperation of grocery stores, particularly cashiers who will have to ask pointed questions because many on aid programs receive aid from more than EBT card benefits.
“The result will be a cloud of suspicion on anyone who looks poor,” he said. “There is the assumption of irresponsibility.”
The committee did not make an immediate recommendation on the bill.
Exactly why I believe the old paper food stamps were a much better route. There was no disguising that you were on food stamps. The transition to the EBT cards makes people feel better about themselves when using them since they look a lot like a debit card. It also removes the incentive of getting off the food stamps. We were on food stamps for a brief period of time when I was a kid. The shame associated with using food stamps was a huge incentive to get off them.
No one on EBT should be picking out fillets and lobster while the people who are paying for their groceries have to decide whether to get the 80% or 72% lean hamburger this week.
A gun in the face is not “asking”...
that’s one thing that libs don’t ever want to admit -
all the “nice” things they want to do involve
an inherent threat of deadly force if you don’t comply.
Well, the left decided that any sort of stigma involved with using food stamps had to be removed.
Well of course they did. We can’t be harming people’s self esteem. Now we have millions of arrogant leeches running around that are certain they are entitled to more and more tax payer funds.
“How about cancelling all forms of unearned welfare tomorrow?”
We had to deal with that back in the 1980s-90s in local government. We had WW I and WW II widows to feed and make comfortable. I’d bet few remember Ronald Reagan cheese that was given out by county welfare agencies.
That was good food that included 5 lb. hunks of cheese, one lb. blocks of outstanding restarant-quality butter, 5 lb. bags of rice and equal amounts of flour. The ladies loved it.
We also ran food drives at the local VFW and AL. In addition, we got crews together to cut firewood in the spring for the ladies to keep them warm in winter.
It was 90% community-based with a helping hand from the US Agricultural Department with their deliveries of cheese, rice, flour and other foodstuff.
Mr. Reagan should be thanked for helping these widows. He did good.
So now they’ll go to a shady convenience store owner,buy bread,milk,crackers,cheese,and butter. Charge $25.00 on their EBT card,hand the groceries back,and get $20.00 cash in return.
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The entire thing should be eliminated.
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I could live with that. I would have loved that a couple of times in my life.
/johnny
3 MREs per family member per day, infants excluded. If its good enough for the grunts it is good enough for them.
L
” I would have loved that a couple of times in my life.”
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So could we..I was born in 1932,brother born 1935,father died 1938. Times were tough for quite a while.
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We weren't allowed to feed GIs 3 MREs a day. I'm sure it happens somewhere, but not mostly.
One meal has to be a regular meal. I think 2 a day was max we were allowed to feed them a day.
In practice, I never fed more than 1 MRE per GI per day. Everything else, even in the Joint Service Camp, was real meals.
I know lots about feeding 1500 of my closest friends. ;)
/johnny
Unbelievable. They can turn EBT into cash? This loophole should have been slammed shut years ago. Surely the will and common sense exist to fix this kind of thing.
I have no doubt, sir.
L
I wonder how many of “Those People” ever paid into the tax system with a real job.
That's fine if you have the money for fast stuff...
/johnny
EBT should be like WIC instead.... tickets good toward rice, bread, beans, fruit, veggies, milk, eggs, cheese.
Crucify employers that hire illegals and they will be gone in 6 months.
eliminate welfare at the same time and there will be an overwhelming source of labor to take those jobs.
Either earn your keep or quit taking up space on the planet!
No cash, only foods that Michelle Obama allows on school lunch menus.
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