Social Action Linking Together (SALT) has over 1,300 members supporting SALT’s goal to help shape social policy that advances the common good and supports human services in Virginia. We urge your support for:
SALT TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) Legislative Priorities:
#1) Continue Increasing TANF Benefits 10% each Session. This will bring the benefit level up to the General Assembly Mandate for (DSS), thereby increasing the standards of assistance annually until the standards equal 50% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) for a family of three. Read more>>
#2) Adjust TANF Income Disregard. Welfare reform’s work requirements ensure that TANF recipients able to work must do “Rewarding work.” SALT recommends a change in the Virginia Earned Income Disregard, increasing it to $200 + 25%, at a cost of $4.4 million NGF and $400k GF. Read more>>
#3) Stop Funding ”TANF Programing.” Virginia must stop using TANF to fund state programs previously funded under the state General Fund – i.e., the practice of supplanting needs to end. Read more>>
#4) Enact a TANF Family Living Allowance. Simply put, keeping in mind that TANF is a Federal Block Grant, Virginia needs to kick-start efforts to correct current policies that leave behind the small 1-3 person families in Groups II & III. Read more>>.
#5) Strengthen TANF as a Lifeline. SALT is calling for the passage of partial family sanctions and the ending of full family sanctions. Read more>>
- Also, see FACT Sheet (click on): Strengthen TANF as a Lifeline—Vote Yes. Learn more here-- (HB 1158).
SALT Criminal Justice Legislative Priorities:
#6) Limit and end solitary confinement. Solitary confinement -- also referenced as restrictive housing, local control, administrative segregation, special housing units, and management control units – “of more than 15 consecutive days is regarded as a form of torture,” says the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner. Read more>>
- SALT does support what should be the aim of the penal system, namely rehabilitation and successful reentry of the incarcerated into society following their incarceration.
- Click here to view the legislation and names of patrons.
- Also, be sure to read the recent report by the Virginia Coalition on Solitary Confinement.
#7) Place a moratorium on private prison (for profit) facilities. A report -- Lawrenceville Correctional Center: For-Profit Prison Run Amok -- prepared by Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (VICPP), with special assistance from Social Action Linking Together (SALT), was recently released. Read more>>
- In addition, please read what Senator Adam Ebbin recently said in a letter to Mr. Harold Clarke, Director Virginia Department of Corrections; the letter from Delegate Kaye Kory to the Virginia Department of Corrections; and what the Sheriff of Brunswick County had to say.
#8) End Profiteering in Virginia Prisons. Virginia’s DOC forces incarcerated people to pay private providers for everything from emails to toothpaste. These providers make a profit from the sales, but so does the Virginia DOC, which takes a commission (tax) of the revenues. This business model is what has caused 1 in 3 families with an incarcerated member to go into debt to communicate with them. The high cost of these goods and services keeps families disconnected and makes successful reentry more difficult. Read more>>
- See report: Reduction or Elimination of Costs and Fees…in State…Facilities.
- See Virginia Mercury – October 5 and December 7 -- coverage of costs.
#9) Create Office of the Department of Corrections Ombudsman. For specifics, go to the 2022 legislation (HB 655) introduced by Delegate Patrick Hope to establish an Office of the Department of Corrections Ombudsman. Virginia needs this legislation that can assure taxpayers that their tax dollars are being spent wisely and that VADOC is doing their job, namely rehabilitation and preparing the incarcerated for successful reentry back into society following incarceration. Read more>>
#10) Increase access to SNAP by allowing incarcerated individuals to apply for SNAP prior to their release so they have access to SNAP and education and training programs upon release. Learn more here -- (HB 1270).