States Move To Link Welfare Benefits to Personal Behavior

By Deborah L. Cohen

Seeking to stem rising welfare rolls, cut spending, and champion "mainstream values," several states have plunged into a highly controversial, yet largely untested, area of welfare reform: linking benefits to personal behavior.

In its most basic form, the notion was embedded in the landmark 1988 federal welfare-reform law, the Family Support Act, which required recipients to pursue education, job training, or employment in exchange for their welfare benefits.

But the recent spate of state proposals-most of which will require legislative approval or federal waivers in order to be implemented-extends beyond...