Focus Report, Volume 75, Number 10, July 1997 Page: 21
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Worker displacement by welfare recipients
DIGEST:
GOVERNOR'S
REASON'
FOR VETO:
RESPONSE:
NOTES:HB 3116 by Greenberg (Ellis)
HB 3116 would have prohibited employers from hiring welfare recipients
under work supplementation programs if the hiring would displace or partially
displace employees from existing positions, eliminate vacant positions created
by employee layoffs in the preceding 30 days, or resulted from a strike. The
bill would have defined work-supplementation programs as programs in
which the state gives an employer favorable tax treatment for hiring-welfare.
recipients, the state reserves all or part of the benefits that would be paid to
welfare recipients to provide and subsidize jobs for the recipients, or welfare
recipients work for an employer in exchange for benefits. Participants in
these programs would have been considered employees for all purposes under
state and federal law.
"House Bill 3116 hinders the state's ability to help move people from welfare
to work. It would undermine a successful program which helps welfare
recipients gain valuable job experiences and work skills through'volunteer
work. This bill designates work supplementation and work experience
program recipients as employees, causing them to potentially be subject to the
full application of the Fair Labor Standards Act, minimumwage standards,
FICA, and other requirements on work experience programs. Accordingly,
this bill will hinder the state'sflexibility to design work supplementation
programs, restrict an employer's use of program participants, and discourage
private sector interest and support for work supplementation programs."
Rep. Sherri Greenberg, the author of HB 3116, said that she strongly supports
incentives to hire welfare recipients but does not believe that it should be' at
the expense of existing employees. HB 3116 in no way interfered with
training programs or incentive programs'for hiring welfare recipients, she
said. "This billis important to protect hardworking, low-income citizens
from being pushed out of jobs just to end up on welfare themselves. To make
welfare reform a success, we should focus on creating new jobs, not merely.
recycling existing ones." Rep. Greenberg said HB 3116 also gave
participants in welfare-to-work programs the same minimum employment
protections as other workers and that, "These employment protections should
be available to everyone, regardless of if they have ever been on welfare."
HB 3116 was analyzed in the April 17 Daily Floor Report.
House Research Organization21
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Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives. Research Organization. Focus Report, Volume 75, Number 10, July 1997, periodical, July 1, 1997; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth654448/m1/21/?q=%22~1~1%22~1&rotate=270: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.