Welfare office in downtown Atlanta
State Sen. William Ligon (R-Brunswick)
Welfare office in downtown Atlanta
State Rep. Scott Holcomb (D-DeKalb County)
ATLANTA - Earlier this month we told you about some Republican state lawmakers who want Georgians on welfare to submit to a mandatory drug test.
Now a similar group of legislators have come up with Senate Bill 312.
It would require people on food stamps or who're getting Temporary Assistance to Needy Families to take personal growth courses.
Those would include such things as getting a GED for a high school diploma, technical, self-improvement or possibly even literacy classes.
The bill's sponsors say it's meant to help people better improve themselves to make them better qualified to work.
"It's actually geared to enable people, to empower them to rise above their circumstances, to make sure that they have the tools that are necessary to improve their lives," State Senator William Ligon (R-Brunswick) told 11Alive News on Monday.
Some Democratic state lawmakers say there's nothing wrong with helping people help themselves.
But like the drug test bill, they see this personal growth bill as an attack on the poor.
"I don't naturally assume that people that are on welfare are lazy," State Rep. Scott Holcomb (D-DeKalb County) told 11Alive News.
"I know others do, but I think many of them are caught in these really difficult economic times," he added.
The personal growth bill does have some exemptions for people with a certain level of education or if they're already working forty hours a week.
It also gives the state's Commissioner of Human Services some discretion to exempt people.