THE SENATE

S.C.R. NO.

77

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002

  

STATE OF HAWAII

  
   

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

URGING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO RESTORE FOOD STAMP BENEFITS TO LEGAL, NONCITIZEN IMMIGRANTS.

 

WHEREAS, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996, Public Law 104-193, bars legal, noncitizen immigrants from receiving assistance under the federal Food Stamp Program; and

WHEREAS, food stamp eligibility is barred until legal immigrants become citizens, can demonstrate forty qualifying quarters of work in the United States, or meet five-year or military exemptions; and

WHEREAS, immigrants who lost their food stamp benefits under PRWORA are legal immigrants, residing in the United States under one of several immigration provisions that permit noncitizens to permanently reside in this country; and

WHEREAS, within most immigrant households that lost benefits, there is at least one child who is a United States citizen; and

WHEREAS, a large proportion of the legal immigrants who lost food stamp benefits were the most vulnerable, including children, the elderly, and disabled; and

WHEREAS, based on an average household size of 2.23 individuals, the Hawaii State Department of Human Services estimates that there are approximately 3,608 fewer immigrant households receiving food stamp assistance; and

WHEREAS, the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 began to restore other types of benefits to legal immigrants, such as disability payments and indigent health care to disabled legal immigrants who were in this country in 1996; and

WHEREAS, progress towards restoring the nutritional safety net to some of the most vulnerable groups of legal immigrants must be continued to make it possible for all working families to meet the responsibilities of health and economic self-sufficiency; and

WHEREAS, the Bush Administration, as a part of its 2003 budget proposal, proposed to restore federal food stamp benefits to legal immigrants who have been in the United States for at least five years; and

WHEREAS, the United States Senate has passed S. 1731 that restores food stamp benefits to permanent, legal immigrants who have been in the United States for at least five years; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-First Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2002, the House of Representatives concurring, that the United States Congress is strongly urged to restore food stamp benefits to legal, noncitizen immigrants who have been denied participation in the federal Food Stamp Program due to Public Law 104-193, PRWORA; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, and Hawaii's congressional delegation.

 

 
 

OFFERED BY:

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Food stamp benefits for legal non-citizen immigrants.