The state has submitted to federal officials its plan detailing how Utah will care for its poor under a new federal law that will revamp the nation's welfare system.
The 36-page plan, signed by Gov. Mike Leavitt, basically outlines the state's so-called Family Employment Program, which was implemented statewide on July 1 and passed by the state Legislature last winter.Under the new federal law, states are allowed to submit their plans starting Oct. 1 through July 1, 1997. But for every day they delay past Oct. 1, federal funding is lost.
For Utah, that amount would have been about $16,600 a day, or a half a million dollars a month. So the state faxed its plan on Monday - Sept. 30 - and mailed it to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services on Tuesday.
"We understand there are a lot of issues yet to be debated and worked through . . . but we think it's worth $16,600 a day to go ahead and submit the plan based on what we have now," said Robin Arnold-Williams, director of the Utah Department of Human Services.
Arnold-Williams expects an amended plan will be submitted after the 1997 legislative session, when lawmakers are expected to scrutinize the federal law and pass additional state laws to comply.
The state's Family Employment Program requires welfare recipients to work or receive education and training to qualify for assistance. Educational benefits are limited to two years and recipients must hold a full-time job after-ward.
Financial benefits also are restricted to three years, compared to a five-year lifetime limit under the national reforms. The three-year limit still requires federal approval.
The state's work-based program essentially expands on a pilot program, called the Single Parent Employment Demonstration Project, enacted in 1993.
However, that program did not place any limits on assistance. Low-income advocates have opposed any limits, pointing out educational and financial needs of recipients vary from one person to another.
But Mason Bishop, legislative coordinator for the state Department of Human Service's Office of Family Support, said the state's plan will give recipients op-por-tun-ities.
"It will make it easier for them to transition off welfare and get them to work," he said. "They have been grateful for the program because it wasn't a trap."
The state plan requires federal approval, but Utah has received a waiver through 2000 to continue to operate its program since it was in place before the federal reforms.
Arnold-Williams said Utah is much better off than most states because it had already passed state welfare reforms before President Clinton signed the federal welfare reform law on Aug. 22. As a result, many states have been looking to Utah for guidance.
"Frankly, I would hate to be an administrator of a department in one of those other states right now," she said. "When I think about everything we have to do and decide and gear up for - and we're ready - I can't imagine what someone sitting in a state who hasn't done anything is going through today."