Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- As many as 600 disabled out-of-work Utahns may lose monthly benefits because of federal budget cuts and refusal of legislators to fund the shortfall.
By early next year, the general assistance program, which provides a monthly stipend to Utahns facing short- and long-term disabilities, will be out of money.
Utah is looking to reduce the time that a person can receive general cash assistance in any five-year period, cutting it from 24 months to 12 months.
If approved, the one-year time limit would go into effect on Sept. 1, stopping aid over the course of the year to about 600 of the state's 1,733-person caseload.
Low-income advocates appealed to lawmakers for some financial relief at a legislative briefing on Wednesday.
"A lot of these folks are going to wind up on the streets or knocking on the door of our homeless shelters," said Steve Erickson of Utah Issues.
Workforce Services officials said they are $3.4 million short of the $13.3 million needed to preserve benefits.
The department sought $1.5 million in supplemental funding during the 2006 legislative session to fill the anticipated shortfall in the program. Lawmakers declined to fund the request.
The state is set to end the budget year June 30 with surplus revenues of $200 million to $300 million.
Rep. Stephen Clark, R-Provo and House Work Force Services chairman, said, "This is a perplexing problem. I'm not sure what the solution is."
Erickson said the monthly checks total $261 per individual or $362 per couple.
"That's not much to live on," he said.
To qualify for general assistance, applicants must provide medical documentation of a disabling condition that prevents them from working for at least 30 days. Some need cash to tide them over until they can return to work, such as a construction worker undergoing a hernia operation. But the vast majority -- as many as 80 percent in the Salt Lake City region -- suffer from permanent disabilities, such as multiple sclerosis.
Erickson said general assistance helps them buy groceries or pay the rent while they wait months, sometimes years, to be approved for Social Security benefits.
Utah has one of the lowest approval rates in the nation, at 28 percent for first-time applicants. And the average time it takes for Social Security to approve or deny a new Utah disability claim is 107 days, compared with 92 days regionally and 94 days nationally.
More claims are approved on the second or third tries, but those require expensive appeals and legal representation.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
