Work rules for welfare became a hot topic during Presidential campaign

During his 2010 campaign, Gov. Rick Scott promised to impose "more stringent standards on non-compliance with work requirements” for welfare recipients.

In 2011, we rated Scott's promise Stalled after we found no evidence that he had taken steps toward this goal. (You can read more about the work rules for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, known as welfare, in our 2011 update below.) As of October 2012, there were about 93,000 people in the program in Florida.

When we checked back with state and federal sources in November 2012, we again found no steps Scott had taken on this work and welfare promise. But work rules for welfare recipients  turned into a key Republican talking point during the 2012 campaign -- and Scott weighed in on that topic.

In July 2012, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that states could apply for a waiver to implement pilot programs to meet the goals of welfare's work requirements, particularly to help parents find and keep jobs.

An ad from the Mitt Romney campaign seized on this to attack Obama. "President Obama quietly announced a plan to gut welfare reform by dropping work requirements,” the ad said. "Under Obama's plan, you wouldn't have to work and wouldn't have to train for a job. They just send you your welfare check, and ‘welfare to work' goes back to being plain old welfare." PolitiFact ruled that ad Pants on Fire and one of the biggest falsehoods of the presidential campaign.

A memo from George Sheldon, the acting assistant secretary at HHS and a former head of Florida's Department of Children and Families, notified states in July "of the Secretary's willingness to exercise her waiver authority ... to allow states to test alternative and innovative strategies, policies, and procedures that are designed to improve employment outcomes for needy families."

In July, Scott spoke against the waivers: "People need to be going out and looking for a job,” said Scott. "We believe in personal responsibility, and we're going to have that in our state.”

No state applied for a waiver as of late November, said Kenneth Wolfe, spokesman at the federal Administration for Children and Families within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The penalties for non-compliance with work rules start at losing benefits for 10 days in Florida. Some work sanctions are imposed only until the individual complies, so the sanction can be short.  However, Florida does not impose permanent penalties for work noncompliance, according to DCF.

Scott took office in January 2010. Data on the number of welfare recipients who had work sanctions in Florida shows that the numbers were higher in the  two years before Scott took office compared to the nearly two years he has served as governor.
 

Scott's spokeswoman Jackie Schutz told PolitiFact in an email that Scott still stands by his promise, but isn't proposing anything specific for the upcoming 2013 state Legislative session. This promise remains Stalled.