N.C. can be better

Published October 3, 2015

Editorial by Greensboro News-Record, October 3, 2015.

An identification card tells who a person is. And a state’s laws tell what that state is.

North Carolina should be better than what would be indicated if House Bill 318 is signed by Gov. Pat McCrory and becomes law. Such a law would say that North Carolina believes some people who live within its borders aren’t worth recognizing, aren’t worth helping.

The bill, which the legislature passed Tuesday along party lines, will have a negative impact in Greensboro. It will weaken an innovative and successful program by FaithAction International House to provide identification cards to people who can’t get them otherwise.

Some of these people are illegal immigrants, who are among the targets of this legislation. But some are elderly Americans whose birth information was lost long ago. They could be anyone. The FaithAction ID cards were initiated in cooperation with the Greensboro Police Department two years ago because they help officers know the residents of their city. The City Council agreed to accept these cards from residents who want to sign up for utilities, obtain library cards or participate in parks and recreation programs. It is a convenience and a courtesy.

But the legislature believes North Carolina is “overrun” by illegal immigrants. It wants them to know they don’t deserve courtesies and conveniences. Its bill prohibits cities like Greensboro from recognizing such unofficial forms of identification and even official identification cards issued by a foreign consulate — never mind that the city of Greensboro doesn’t feel like it’s being overrun by anyone.

Such an attitude in Texas — a state that seems to serve as a social policy guide for North Carolina Republicans — has led to a quandary. Because women who are illegal immigrants can’t obtain identification accepted by the state, many who give birth to children in Texas haven’t been issued birth certificates for them. The children are U.S. citizens by birth yet will have difficulty proving it. This is the subject of a lawsuit in federal court, which Texas is bound to lose. North Carolina should not go down that thorny path.

This same bill contains a provision that drew a protest from U.S. Rep. Alma Adams, a Greensboro Democrat. It prohibits the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services from applying for a federal waiver to time limits for food and nutrition benefits for able-bodied unemployed adults without dependents. Such adults are limited to three months’ food stamp benefits during a three-year period. States can request waivers at times when unemployment is high — as it is in many parts of North Carolina.

“The 12th District of North Carolina has an unemployment rate of 13.8 percent, more than any other district in the state,” Adams wrote in a letter to McCrory urging his veto. “Two of the counties I represent, Guilford and Mecklenburg, also have the largest populations of people receiving SNAP benefits in North Carolina.” She noted that the state doesn’t pay for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. On the contrary, food stamps bring federal dollars to local grocery stores and generate sales taxes for the state.

Imposing hunger on people who can’t find work in a tough economy and telling cities they can’t recognize some of their residents is poor policy. North Carolina ought to be kinder and smarter than that.

http://www.greensboro.com/opinion/n_and_r_editorials/our-opinion-n-c-can-be-better/article_049f8c61-1896-5941-91ca-4d843110eb90.html