This holiday season is not a time of plenty for all: More than 8 million Californians are living with the threat of hunger every day. To make matters worse for low-income families struggling to secure enough food, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that he would seek to repeal anti-hunger legislation recently signed into law. Elected to shake up government, he has fallen into familiar habits.
Despite differences in philosophies and strategies, previous Republican and Democratic administrations have made little real difference in eliminating the problem: Hunger in California has persisted on both parties' watch. Hunger is not partisan; it is universal, threatening the health and well-being of families throughout California, many of whom are working poor. Sadly enough, having a job is no guarantee of being able to buy groceries to feed one's family.
Thus, it comes as a shock that Schwarzenegger, only days into his new job, announced last month his plans to seek repeal of this year's most important anti-hunger legislation, AB231. The law allows working-poor Californians to have reliable cars and still be eligible for food stamps. Under the old law, those owning a car with a value of more than $4,650 were ineligible for food stamps, regardless of their income. (A 1990 Ford pickup truck is worth more than that.) Further, the value of family's car doesn't always accurately reflect its financial situation—the car could have been purchased long before it fell on hard times.
The California Department of Social Services calculated that AB231's car- value revision would cost the state no more than $663,000 over two years, while allowing $34 million of federal food-stamp funds to flow into our economy each year—and food to flow into the kitchens of working families. If eligible Californians get the food stamps they need, hundreds of millions of federal dollars will be spent in grocery stores, and the benefits of that stimulus will "trickle up." Furthermore, doesn't the governor, who purports to be a defender of children, know that more than two thirds of all food-stamp recipients are kids?
He overlooked a real opportunity to save money and cut red tape by ending the obsolete and duplicative system that uses fingerprinting to address food- stamp fraud. The state's own audit found no compelling reason for state government to spend more than $10 million each year, and counties an additional $34 million, on the system. But many California politicians care more about appearing "tough on fraud" than on being tough on government waste, so they still stand by this worthless program.
If given the choice in their own household or business budgeting, most Californians would invest a dime to reap a dollar. Now we've seen that Schwarzenegger, like his predecessors, doesn't make the same choice.
This isn't new leadership; this is the same old leadership with more muscles and movie-star looks. Schwarzenegger is showing us a process that doesn't focus on results, but rather, so intently focuses on the numbers, that people and common sense are lost in the calculation.
We call on Schwarzenegger to shoulder his part of the load by abandoning his pledge to repeal AB231 and make food assistance more accessible to those Californians who need the most help.
Paul Ash is executive director of the San Francisco Food Bank.
George Manalo-LeClair is director of legislation for California Food Policy Advocates.
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