SUPPORTERS SAY BILL WILL CHANGE WELFARE SYSTEM

Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan signed Monday what he termed "landmark legislation" to reform the state's welfare system and provide incentives for people to become self sufficient.

Carnahan said that for too long the system simply helped sustain a permanent welfare population. "We need a system that helps people get off welfare," said the governor.

"Today, I am proud to sign this landmark legislation that emphasizes jobs and self sufficiency instead of welfare."

Welfare initially was meant to provide temporary assistance for people, and Carnahan said the bill signed Monday will bring the state back to that objective.

But not everyone supports the reform measure. Tom Fowler, Missouri Republican chairman, said the reform bill provides "more of the same" with little more than cosmetic changes in current welfare law.

"The Carnahan plan imposes little discipline on welfare recipients," Fowler said. "It's hard to get excited about an enforcement mechanism that has no teeth. We need a radical change to free Missourians from the bondage of welfare dependency."

But Carnahan said the Republican leader is criticizing his administration for taking action on an important issue that GOP administrations have failed to address.

"They are criticizing us for not going far enough," said the governor. "But at least we are taking action."

The governor was in Cape Girardeau Friday, at the office of the Southeast Missouri Private Industry Council, for one of three bill-signing ceremonies around the state.

He was joined by Senate President James Mathewson, D-Sedalia, who sponsored the plan in the Senate, Gary Stangler, director of the Department of Social Services, and representatives of local welfare assistance groups.

Ellie Knight, program director for the Retired Senior Volunteer Program in Scott and Cape Girardeau Counties, praised the welfare reform law.

She cited the case of Gloria Blackmon, a welfare recipient who participated in a pilot program to give people job training and get them off welfare, as proof of the success of that type of program.

Blackmon worked as a practicum student with the RSVP and, after graduating from Southeast Missouri State University, was hired by the agency.

"Gloria is one of those people who would have never had the opportunity to be the most she could be without this program," said "It really is a great program."

Although the bill signed Monday provides tax incentives for employers to hire workers who have left the welfare rolls, that wasn't an incentive for Knight to hire Blackmon.

Blackmon was hired because, based on the experience she gained through the program, she was the best person for the job.

Blackmon said she appreciated the opportunity to work her way off welfare, and that she "felt like a failure" while drawing welfare under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program.

Mathewson said the bill signed Monday will assure that cases like Blackmon's aren't the exception.

"It was our intent this year to enact legislation that will move long term welfare recipients from welfare rolls to payrolls," he said.

Stangler joined the governor in praising lawmakers and the people working in welfare pilot programs around the state that affected the bill.

Because of Missouri's success in passing welfare reform legislation this year, President Clinton chose Missouri to unveil provisions of his national welfare reform plan several weeks ago.

In his comments, Carnahan said the welfare overhaul focuses on three things: It will prevent welfare by providing education and job training to those at risk of entering the system; will help welfare recipients become self-sufficient within a specified time with state-provided day care and job training; and rather than sending welfare benefits directly to the recipient, will send the money to private-sector employers.

"A lot of this program is about changing the incentive," said Carnahan.

The state will train welfare recipients in job skills where there is a shortage of workers, something Carnahan said has been well received from employers around the state.

"We are seeing strong interest all over the state, and that is very encouraging," he said.