GOP fast-tracks bill to ‘streamline’ public assistance in KY. Some say it adds burdens.
House Bill 7 is not a simple bill. It would change much about Kentucky’s administration of public assistance programs.
Every Republican on the House floor except one voted for the measure as it sailed to a 71-26 passage, often citing the need the ‘streamline’ the process and get more people currently using those benefits into the workforce.
Democrats in the legislature and several officials working in public assistance say that the bill places cumbersome requirements on people leaving Medicaid and looking to retain their eligibility for some programs.
The bill was heard in committee, with a substitute that changed much of its content, about two hours before it came up for a vote. Many of those commenting on the bill bemoaned that they hadn’t seen a significantly altered version of the bill prior to that afternoon.
Its sponsor is House Speaker Pro Tem David Meade, R-Stanford. House Speaker David Obsorne is a co-sponsor. A similar bill passed the House in 2020 but did not get taken up in the Senate amid the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bill mandates that people on certain benefits report changes in their income within 10 days, a much shorter time period than was previously required.
Two major bodies are created under the bill: one is a job placement program that will assist those enrolled in the state’s medical assistance program in finding employment, which the bill directs the Education and Workforce development Cabinet to create. The other body is a public assistance oversight committee, which will replace a now-existing Medicaid oversight and advisory committee.
It disallows the state from accepting or renewing a waiver for work requirements established by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a major federal food stamps program. It also directs the state to apply for certain Medicaid work requirements.
The penalties for breaking the law as it relates to food stamps like SNAP are also heightened under the bill, as it codifies federal prohibitions on various uses of such programs such as selling those benefit cards.
Punishments for selling those benefits, among other infractions, include losing three months of any public assistance upon the second violation and losing them for five years upon the third violation.
That penalty, many Democratic representatives said in committee and on the House floor on Thursday, goes too far.
Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, D-Louisville, said that she thinks the bill unfairly goes after those on benefits, who are often among the poorest Kentuckians.
“These aren’t ‘those people.’ These are ‘our people.’ We’re treating our poorest citizens almost as suspects, as criminals,” Marzian said.
Rep. Angie Hatton, D-Whitesburg, tried to block a vote on the bill based on the fact that it did not have a fiscal note or corrections impact note, but it died in a vote that received no Republican support.
Some of the provisions that were initially flagged as problematic by groups like the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy were removed by the committee substitute on Thursday as well as an amendment proposed by Rep. Josh Bray, R-Mount Vernon.
Bray said that the overall legislation was a way of building Kentucky’s workforce through training programs and more up-to-date reporting on income.
“It’s important that we rebuild our workforce. It’s important that we give people the safety net they need,” Bray said. “… It’s also important that we give people a hand up and not a handout.”
Bray joined a chorus of Republican legislators, including committee chairwoman Kim Moser, R-Taylor Mill, that said they wanted to ensure that the safety net remained in place for those who truly needed it but want to “modernize” the process.
That view was not shared by Dustin Pugel, senior policy analyst with the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy.
“It’s death by a thousand cuts. Each of these changes are kind of wonky and hard to describe, but when you add them together there are really pretty big consequences,” Pugel said.
The Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which administers public assistance for the state, formally opposes the bill.
“Many parts of the bill will cut benefits to our lowest-income Kentucky families. This will further burden parents’ and caregivers’ ability to support their children and households,” CHFS Secretary Eric Friedlander wrote. “As you know, people who lose Medicaid coverage would more likely rely on expensive emergency department visits or delay seeking care - or not seek care at all.”
Friedlander added in committee that the bill’s passage would necessitate hiring 500 additional employees.
