00SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 48                                                                                          
01 Relating to welfare reform.                                                                                             
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
03  WHEREAS there is growing concern among the states that the current welfare system,                                     
04 comprised of aid to families with dependent children, food stamps, and Medicaid, is largely                             
05 ineffective in assisting welfare families to become independent wage-earning families; and                              
06  WHEREAS the increasing costs of the welfare system have contributed to the fiscal                                      
07 straits of many states as well as having a substantial effect on the budget of the federal                              
08 government; and                                                                                                         
09  WHEREAS one advantage of the federal system of government is that each state can                                       
10 serve as a laboratory for social and economic experiments designed to improve the lives of                              
11 its citizens, and the experiments that are successful can be models for programs in other states                        
12 or for the nation as a whole; and                                                                                       
13  WHEREAS the uniform requirements of the federal welfare system and the federal                                         
14 government's reluctance to grant waivers to the states stifles the states' ability to experiment                        

01 with programs that may be more effective in reducing welfare dependency and decreasing                                  
02 welfare costs;                                                                                                          
03  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Congress to modify                                          
04 the federal laws governing the welfare system so that more flexibility is granted to the states                         
05 to design their welfare programs and so that the Secretary of Health and Human Services may                             
06 be more liberal in granting waivers from federal requirements; and be it                                                
07  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Secretary of                                              
08 Health and Human Services to use liberally its current authority to grant waivers to states that                        
09 want to design different welfare programs and to faithfully execute the intent of the Congress                          
10 if the laws governing the welfare system are amended in the future to grant broader authority                           
11 to the secretary to grant these waivers.                                                                                
12  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President                                  
13 of the United States and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Robert C. Byrd, President                          
14 Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Thomas S. Foley, Speaker of the U.S. House                                
15 of Representatives; the Honorable Donna Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services;                                
16 and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and                                  
17 the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in                                       
18 Congress.