Food-stamp rule change draws fire

A local organization that provides assistance to low-income, disabled and minority Utahns has written a letter to the state attorney general asking him to investigate recent changes in food-stamp eligibility.

On Aug. 1, the Department of Workforce Services approved a change in food-stamp eligibility requirements, stating adults who tried but could not find 80 hours of work in a month are now ineligible for the program. The change, according to Glenn Bailey, executive director of the Crossroads Urban Center, affected hundreds of Utah's homeless adults.

Bailey said the agency did not make the changes fairly or in accordance with Utah's administrative rulemaking statute, which allows the public — specifically those negatively impacted — to have input on such changes.

"The homeless do not have stable addresses or telephone numbers, and so they are forced to rely on temp agencies and day labor more than the general public," Bailey said in the letter. "The Department of Workforce Services should have been aware of this fact and known that these cuts would disproportionately impact the homeless."

Under the new rules, which eliminated any exceptions for the 80-hour-per-month work requirement, able-bodied adults working 79 hours or less each month cannot obtain food stamps.

Attorney General's Office spokesman Paul Murphy said the office had not received the letter Monday and that he wasn't aware of the recent changes regarding food-stamp policies.

"We will be glad to review whatever concerns are addressed to us," he said.

Murphy said it is not uncommon for citizens and organizations to have concerns that are addressed to the attorney general's office.

"We will see what we can do," he said.

Bailey said DWS officials claimed the new rule was exempt from rulemaking procedures because it is an interpretation of federal policy. Department officials were unavailable for comment Monday night.

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E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com