SALT 2022 SALT LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

SALT TANF Legislative Priorities

SALT Priority #1: Adjust TANF Income Disregards— TANF is no longer a disincentive to work. Welfare reform’s enhanced earning disregard, work requirements, and time limits ensure that TANF recipients able to work must do so. Work incentives reward work by allowing working recipients to keep more of their earned income. This proposed budget amendment addresses the critically issues of poverty by: 1) “rewarding work” by allowing TANF families to retain a larger share of their earnings—this is a positive step toward recognizing their work efforts and diminishing the deprivation experienced by the impoverished; 2) adjusting the current “disregard formula,” which allows TANF families to keep some of their earned income. Currently, the Virginia Earned Income Disregards of the first $167+20% are inadequate for providing meaningful support and incentives to leave TANF, and therefore, in order to better meet the goals of the TANF Core Purpose, we recommend increasing the Virginia Earned Income Disregard to at least the first $200 + 25%, costing $4.4 million in TANF NGF & $400k GF.
See FACT SHEET: TANF Income Disregards Adjustments

SALT Priority #2: SALT TANF Time-Limit proposal—to change the TANF Regulations so that the time limit for receiving benefits (currently a maximum of 5 years) is a continuous 5 years, not 2 years. SALT is asking for the elimination of the two-year break. Virginia’s current two-year TANF time limit requires modification in order to accommodate those attempting to move out of poverty via education and training programs. Post-secondary education, GED, vocational education, and most credentialing programs, as well as apprenticeships, require more than 24 months for the screening, access and completion process. Eliminating the two-year limit is the right thing to do. Preparing adult TANF recipients for jobs to fully support their families should be a primary goal for Virginia. Attaining this goal would be a win-win for both TANF recipients and taxpayers. However, the current two-year time limit on the continuous receipt of TANF benefits is an impediment, making that goal unattainable.
See FACT SHEET: TANF Time-Limits

SALT Priority #3: Stop raiding TANF block grants from the Federal Government to fund state social services programs previously funded by the state. Using TANF money exclusively for TANF purposes is the best way to help families striving to make the transition from Welfare dependency to economic self-sufficiency. Stop “TANF Programing” funding until the General Assembly mandate for the (DSS) to increase the standards of assistance annually to equal 50 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) for a family of three is achieved. The 1996 Welfare Reform Act introduced many changes to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Among these the money for TANF has been dispersed to states in block grants, with significant flexibility given to states in how much they give in TANF benefits, and how much of the money can be diverted to TANF Programing. Unfortunately, with too few controls or guidelines on how TANF Programming money can be used, states have grown dependent on TANF funds to balance their own budgets, using them for “everything under the sun,” as Welfare Reform architect Ron Haskins put it in the Washington Post. Unfortunately, this means there is too little available to meet the basics--the housing and food subsistence needs for needy families, those TANF is meant to benefit. Consider these facts: 1) since 1996, Virginia’s TANF caseload has decreased by more than 60%, but these savings have not been reinvested in meeting the subsistence needs of the TANF families; 2) of the $158.2 million TANF federal block grant given to Virginia, only 27.2%, or $43.4 million, has been used to provide benefits for families; 3) the average family monthly payment in Virginia, beginning July 1, 2020, is $361/month; and 4) in FY 2022, $59 million is going to “TANF Programming,” social service programs previously funded by the state general fund, and another $31 million is being transferred to other Block Grants.
See FACT Sheet & click-on: States Raid Fund Meant for Needy Families to Pay for Other Programs.
See FACT Sheet #2: Limit Supplantation &TANF Programming Raiding

SALT Priority #3A: Strengthen TANF as a Lifeline-- Low levels of income or no income in early childhood can lead to long-term negative outcomes like lower earnings in adulthood. Duncan and Magnuson say policymakers “should take care to ensure that sanctions and other regulations do not deny benefits to families with very young children.”
See FACT Sheet: Strengthen TANF as a Lifeline—Vote Yes for HB 1158

SALT Criminal Justice Legislative Priorities

SALT Priority 4: SALT is working with to place a moratorium on further private prison (for profit) facilities and establish a plan to end the private sector management and operation of the only Virginia operated prison at Lawrenceville. The maladministration and cruelty of the industry in Virginia are clear. It is past time for the Commonwealth to take a stand against private industry profiting on what should be an inherently governmental function. Private prisons are financially, politically, and morally indefensible.
See FACT SHEETS: Banning Virginia Private Prisons, The Case Against Private Prisons, #1, The Case Against Private Prisons, #2.

 

SALT Priority #5: Limiting and Ending Solitary Confinement. SALT supports the Virginia Coalition on Solitary Confinement legislation, legislation reducing the use of solitary confinement in Virginia to an absolute minimum and totally banning its use for those suffering from mental and physical disabilities, juveniles, pregnant people, postpartum people, and people who are breastfeeding (The Nelson Mandela Rules). SALT opposes solitary confinement, since this practice by Virginia Department of Corrections (VDOC), is well documented by the data reporting law, HB 1642, requiring VADOC to Report Data on Solitary Confinement. SALT is in solidarity with human rights advocates in condemning solitary confinement; the excessive use of solitary confinement has been judged to be torture by the United Nations, many religious leaders and health professionals, and it fails to meet the “constructive and rehabilitative purpose” of criminal justice as set forth in statements by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2000, the UN Standard Minimum Rules on the Treatment of Prisoners, and the US Justice Department.
See SALT FACT SHEETS: End Inhumane Solitary Confinement and Solitary Confinement—What Other States Have Done to Address Costs and Cruelty.
See SALT Fact Sheet #2: Solitary Confinement Talking Points
See SALT FACT Sheet #3: Solitary Confinement Response to DOC Claims About Safety

SALT Priority #6:—Heading off hunger before leaving prison. People leaving prison are exceptionally vulnerable to hunger. In Virginia, SALT takes action by advocating for the passage of a bill that allows eligible individuals to pre-enroll in the SNAP program while still incarcerated so they can immediately access food assistance for themselves and their families upon their release. Currently, incarcerated individuals can apply for SNAP benefits only after they leave prison. As a consequence, it can be weeks or even months before they received food assistance, leaving them vulnerable to hunger. To address this reality, SALT’s proposed legislation has a lot of upsides—a formerly incarcerated individual immediately gets access to food assistance upon release. The cost associated with this legislation is minimal, because pre-enrolling incarcerated individuals for SNAP benefits is as simple as adding a line to a form that recipients already fill out. Moreover, the bill allows the state to invest in people when they need the help the most—right before they leave prison. By providing access to food assistance for such a vulnerable population, the bill can reduce recidivism and increase public safety. Every year incarcerated persons suffer time away from their family, relatives, and friends, the separation can be devastating. But when they are free again to begin a new life, the social reintegration to the community can be painful. That's why this legislation is necessary, so the applicant can experience the reentry process as a new opportunity given by our government, our society.
See FACT SHEET #1: SNAP-Heading off Hunger
See FACT SHEET #2: SNAP Expansion: What You Need to Know
See FACT SHEET #3: Pre-Enroll Returning Citizens in SNAP: Support HB 1270

SALT Priority #7:— Addressing the Costs of Incarceration –VADOC collects commissions on almost every purchase that an incarcerated person makes in prison. These costs represents a regressive tax and cause genuine financial strain on vulnerable families with an incarcerated loved one, a majority of whom are low-income and people of color. The commissions collected per incarcerated person has been increasing rapidly in recent years. Our bill addresses these issues by preventing VADOC from collecting commissions on purchases in prisons and preventing price gouging by regulating the costs that private companies can charge for goods in prisons. It also addresses common problems in Virginia’s prisons like lack of access to telephones and other means of communication with the outside world. Why is this important? Because, further contact with families while incarcerated is one of the best indicators of post-release success and lowered recidivism rates. Additionally, children with incarcerated parents often struggle to reach their full potential because of the strain that incarceration puts on their families. This effect increases when children do not have regular contact with their incarcerated parents. At SALT, we believe that Virginia should live up to its stated values of supporting families, giving all in the community a fair chance at success in life following incarceration. It is in the best interests of all citizens to provide the formerly incarcerated with opportunities for successful reentry into society, so that they may constructively contribute to building up the community. Further, this proposed bill will make Virginia a leader in modern and fair criminal justice policies.
See Fact Sheet #1: Prison Phone Fairness Updating Costs.
See FACT SHEET: Virginia Jail Services Omnibus

SALT Priority #8: - VDOC Use of Attack Dogs. The ongoing problem with attack dogs used in our criminal justice system--this is a shameful and terrifying part of our criminal justice system that must be eliminated. Delegate Kaye Kory is carrying this bill in the 2022 Virginia General Assembly session;
See bill draft: — HB 908 Correctional facilities; prohibited acts, use of canines by officers by officers
See FACT SHEET #1: VDOC Use of Attack Dogs is Cruel
See FACT SHEET: Canine.HB908.Press.Rel.Jan.2022 

SALT Priority #9: Restoring Voting Rights: Senate and the House Right to Vote amendments, SJ 1 in the Senate and HJ 9 in the House. The goal is to let voters decide the issue of restoring the right to vote for those convicted of a felony, taking this decision out of the hands of the governor. Currently, people with a felony conviction only have one way to gain access to the ballot box –through a governor’s restoration of those rights. This is a power that both Republican and Democrat governors have used to restore rights to thousands of returning citizens. But the process is cumbersome and inconsistent and could be eliminated by future governors.
See FACT SHEET: Restoring Voting Rights