Senate Bill S1436

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S1436

 TITLE OF BILL :
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to limiting the
number of job searches a locality may require before they allow an
applicant to receive public assistance


 PURPOSE :
To limit the number of job searches an applicant/recipient must
perform to no more than five per week.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :
Section 1 amends paragraph (f) of subdivision 1 of section 336 of the
social services law, by limiting the number of job searches a locality
can require of a public assistance recipient to no more than five per
week.

 EXISTING LAW :
Currently each locality has the authority to set their own limits to
the number of job searches that an individual is required to perform
each week.

 JUSTIFICATION :
Despite a 50% reduction in the number of public assistance recipients
in New York since the implementation of welfare reform, DSS case
              

workers continue to be overwhelmed by their case loads because of
staff cutbacks in many departments. This indicates that there is a
need to reduce paperwork and procedures which are duplicative or
unnecessary. One area which could be modified is to limit the number
of employment searches that an individual must complete each week.
Some counties require up to ten searches per week. With a tight job
market with fewer businesses looking for help, it makes no sense to
have public assistance recipients wasting their time reapplying to the
same companies each week. Besides being a waste of time for the
recipient, the case worker must verify each one of these job searches.
It is also creating a situation where employers are beginning to take
offense at this practice and are refusing to verify recipients
applications, which in turn can lead to sanctions for the recipients
through no fault of their own. Based on the difficult times we are
experiencing in our economy, and the limited number of employers who
are looking for help, it makes sense to decrease the burden on the
recipients and their case workers, and allow them to concentrate their
efforts on tasks which will prove more fruitful.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
2007: S.1508 - Referred to Social Services, Children & Families
2006: S.1429 - Referred to Social Services, Children & Families
2004: S.6633 - Died in Committee

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :
None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
Immediately.