In an effort to lower their welfare expenditures, California enacted a law to restructure benefits paid to families under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. Under the new law, enacted in 1992, AFDC applicants that had resided in California for less than one year would receive benefits at the level paid in their previous state if that amount was lower than the California benefit payment. (Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code Ann. §11450.03. Because the law …showed first 75 words of 809 total…

…showed last 75 words of 809 total…below poverty level, simply because the state from which they arrived has a lower cost of living, that will lead to more dependence on public programs, and more problems for the families involved. The theory behind the new federal program, PRWORA, was "a hand up, not a hand-out." For that to work, states like California must provide at least a minimum level of benefits, and not one based upon the cost of living in Mississippi.