Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton 94.1 Lumberton 99.9 Southern Pines 89.9 Chadbourn
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Bill Would Require Background Checks For Benefits

NC Legislative Building
Dave DeWitt
/
WUNC
N.C. Legislature Building

A bill in the legislaturewould require county social services offices to conduct criminal background checks on people seeking and receiving federal benefits.

Right now, social services workers may ask applicants for food stamps or cash payments if they have any outstanding warrants. But they're not allowed to disclose that information to local law enforcement officials.

Under the bill, social services would be required to conduct criminal background checks. The bill's sponsor, State Representative Dean Arp, says people with felony charges or probation or parole violations are not eligible for federal food and cash assistance programs, so the state needs to work harder to make sure they don't receive those benefits.

But the cost of background checks might be too much for strapped social services agencies to bear. Lawmakers haven't said how much the bill could potentially cost the state. The measure passed a House committee yesterday and now goes to the House floor.

Jessica Jones covers both the legislature in Raleigh and politics across the state. Before her current assignment, Jessica was given the responsibility to open up WUNC's first Greensboro Bureau at the Triad Stage in 2009. She's a seasoned public radio reporter who's covered everything from education to immigration, and she's a regular contributor to NPR's news programs. Jessica started her career in journalism in Egypt, where she freelanced for international print and radio outlets. After stints in Washington, D.C. with Voice of America and NPR, Jessica joined the staff of WUNC in 1999. She is a graduate of Yale University.
Related Stories
More Stories