The increasing absurdity of the bills that reach the North Carolina House sometimes makes me ashamed to live here.
In its most recent pro-poverty act, the N.C. House Health & Human Services Committee voted last week to require criminal background checks on people seeking welfare and food stamps. It requires the Department of Social Services of each county to perform these checks on “people applying for the benefits or for renewing their application to keep receiving them,” according to The Associated Press. The bill passed on a vocal vote and will go to the House floor next.
Food and Nutrition Services provides food stamps through an electronic debit card system. Work First is North Carolina’s welfare program — paid for by the federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families — and provides financial assistance and job training.
The current law permits DSS workers to conduct a criminal background check on those who apply to these programs, but they cannot give that information to law enforcement agencies. Under House Bill 392, DSS officers would be required to report applicants who have an outstanding warrant.
Barry Saunders, columnist for The News & Observer, argues that the North Carolina legislature is all about the “right to privacy” when it comes to background checks for guns, yet says the opposite in regard to food stamps.
Although I wouldn’t argue that recipients of welfare should be allowed privacy in regards to their criminal records, I agree with Saunders that it is unfair to say gun-buyers deserve privacy, but welfare applicants do not.
Another big problem with this bill is that it’s rather easy for a police officer to issue an arrest warrant — it only requires that the arresting officer show probable cause. Rep. Nathan Baskerville (D-Vance) argued, “It’s a very thin burden for people to get arrest warrants. I can see how this would be abused.”
It seems it’s becoming North Carolina law to do anything in our power to make impoverished life more difficult.
But let’s pretend money is more important than people. If this is the case, the bill still doesn’t make sense because of the financial burden that performing background checks would place on the counties.
Deborah Craig-Ray, assistant county manager for the Durham County Department of Social Services, said her office already has computer software in place, and that each background check costs $25. But for other counties it might be about $38.
It’s not that much, except when you consider that nearly 822,000 North Carolinians received food stamps in February while about 21,400 received support from Work First, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. Additionally, people seeking aid would have to be investigated and then recertified every six months. The legislation provides no money for the background checks.
According to one headline from The Washington Times, North Carolina is “[paving] the way for food stamp applicant background checks.” Not only are we paving a path that will make the impoverished even poorer, but we are also making it more difficult for college students to vote with Senate Bill 667 and imposing voter ID laws that will make voting more difficult for the poor and elderly. The North Carolina legislature is doing all it can to decrease the health, wealth and voices of those living in poverty.
