Quinn and Palma will introduce legislation next week requiring the Human Resources Administration submit an annual report to the Council on the use of finger imaging in detecting fraud<\/p>\n
City Hall- On the heels of the bi-partisan actions in California and Texas that ended the practice of requiring federal food stamp applicants to submit to finger imaging to receive benefits, New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, Council General Welfare Committee Chair Annabel Palma, Executive Director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger Joel Berg, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, Deputy Majority Leader Leroy Comrie, Council Members Daniel Dromm, Brad Lander, Robert Jackson, Domenic M. Recchia, Jr., Stephen Levin, Melissa Mark-Viverito, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Triada Stampas of The Food Bank for New York City, Karol Markosky of the Council of Senior Centers and Services and Mark Dunlea of The Hunger Action Network of New York State today gathered on the steps of City Hall to call on Mayor Bloomberg to end the practice.<\/p>\n
The officials announced legislation will be introduced next week that would require the Human Resources Administration to submit an annual report to the Council on the amount of money spent on finger imaging each year, and the number of fraudulent cases detected and referred to for criminal prosecution as a result of the practice.<\/p>\n
Last week, the state of California eliminated finger imaging requirements leaving New York City and Arizona as the only two places in the United States that still use the process as an eligibility requirement for receiving public food stamp assistance. Texas eliminated the finger imaging practice earlier this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cRequiring food stamp applicants to submit to finger imaging to receive benefits is an ineffective way to detect fraud and wastes millions of dollars in taxpayer money each year,\u201d said Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn. \u201cThe City spends its own scarce tax dollars on a process that serves no public good, reduces the amount of federal dollars coming into the city and keeps working families from receiving with the assistance they need to keep food on the table. Given that food stamp benefits are paid for by the federal government, and that they are the single most effective way to combat hunger, we should do everything possible to encourage, not discourage, eligible families to apply.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNew York City and the state of Arizona are the only localities in the country that still engage in the shameful practice of finger imaging food stamp applicants,\u201d said Council Member Annabel Palma, Chair of the Council\u2019s Committee on General Welfare. \u201cThis practice is meant to prevent fraud, yet the fact of the matter is that finger imaging has not resulted in one prosecution for fraud, but has instead systematically discouraged people from seeking assistance and driven up administrative costs. This legislation will expose the real costs of this harmful practice by requiring HRA to disclose the amount spent on finger-imaging, as well as the number of fraud cases detected and prosecuted. Hopefully, this is another step in the direction of ending this harmful, destructive and discriminatory practice once and for all.\u201d <\/p>\n
“Requiring finger imaging to get access to food stamps is nothing more than an ideological hang-up that hurts vulnerable New Yorkers and small businesses,\u201d said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. \u201cI applaud Speaker Quinn and Council Member Palma for their legislation. It is time we joined nearly every other state in the country and the rest of New York State, and put an end to this policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finger imaging discourages program participation from working families who are unable to take time off and legal immigrants who may be reluctant to submit to the practice.<\/p>\n
At least 30,000 New Yorkers are deterred from signing up for food stamp benefits each year because of finger imaging requirements, costing low-income families \u2013 and the city\u2019s economy \u2013 $54 million a year in federal benefits.<\/p>\n
Last week Governor Edmund Brown of California signed a bill to eliminate finger imaging for food stamps applicants. Previously, the Texas State legislature passed a bill that eliminated finger imaging for both food stamps and cash assistance recipients.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is bad enough that the City is pursuing polices too punitive for Rick Perry and Texas, but it\u2019s even worse when we are policy bedfellows with Arizona,\u201d said Joel Berg, Executive Director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger. \u201cMayor Bloomberg has forcefully and eloquently spoken out against Arizona\u2019s discriminatory immigration policies. Similarly, he has wisely decried Arizona\u2019s unwillingness to reduce the ability of murderers to access handguns. Arizona does not even accept Daylight Saving Time. Surely the City of New York shouldn\u2019t be proud to share a policy failure with Arizona. Finger imaging most harms working parents who have to leave work and lose wages just to spend a day at a City government office to prove they are virtuous enough to obtain the federal nutrition assistance benefits for which they have already paid taxes to support. Thus the greatest irony is that the very people that Mayor Bloomberg most believes deserve food stamp benefits \u2013 working poor families \u2013 are those that are most harmed by the City\u2019s finger imagining policy. We strongly support Speaker Quinn\u2019s common-sense legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n
“The practice of fingerprinting already vetted citizens to receive food stamps is demeaning, intrusive and further diminishes the self-esteem of a population whose access to needed services and benefits we should be seeking to improve rather than disprove,\u201d said Deputy Majority Leader Leroy Comrie.<\/p>\n
“Finger imaging for food stamps applicants is a waste of time and money,” said Council Member and Immigration Committee Chair Daniel Dromm. “With so many hungry New Yorkers in need of assistance, we should clear the way to make sure they get the food they need. This legislation will require HRA to disclose the cost associated with finger imaging so we can get a better grasp of how to spend the money and provide more New Yorkers with food stamps. This legislation will eventually help numerous immigrants feed their families.”<\/p>\n
“It is unconscionable that people are treated like criminals just because they need basic food security,\u201d said Council Member Brad Lander.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to thank Speaker Quinn and General Welfare Chair Annabel Palma for their leadership on this issue,\u201d said Council Member Stephen Levin. \u201cRequiring food stamp applicants to submit to finger imaging is unnecessary and ineffective. Individuals and families who need food assistance face enough barriers. It is time to end the practice of fingerprinting food stamp applicants immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cImplementing finger imaging as a tool to prevent fraud for food stamps is a useless and cost consuming practice that serves no purpose to our communities,\u201d said Co-Chair of the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus Robert Jackson. \u201cWe cannot allow such practices that are deemed to detrimentally hinder working families and poor communities of colors who are in dire need of public assistance. With the enactment of this legislation, we will be taking the right steps in preventing future federal dollars from being wasted by requiring the Human Resources Administration to report finger imaging costs and fraudulent cases recorded to the New York City Council. Therefore, we must put a stop to finger imaging practices and put to good use federal dollars that will provide ample resources for food assistance and promote community development.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all understand the need to defend our social services from those who would misuse the funds appropriated for those truly in need,\u201d said Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito. \u201cStill, fingerprinting the poor amounts to criminalizing not just poverty in the abstract but over 1 million poor New Yorkers. The Mayor has claimed to want to tackle poverty in our city, but in order to redress poverty we need to stop submitting poor and low income individuals to treatment that no other New York City resident is forced to endure. I salute Speaker Quinn and Councilwoman Annabel Palma for addressing this issue head on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe process of finger printing applicants is discouraging and unnecessary,\u201d said Council Member Domenic M. Recchia, Jr. \u201cIt is an intrusive mechanism which deters eligible families from applying for a benefit as essential as food stamps. It is imperative that we, as members of the City Council address this unjust practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
“All finger imaging does is deter eligible families from accessing food stamps,\u201d said State Senator Daniel Squadron. By cutting down on the number of people who access food stamps, which are funded by the federal government, finger imaging is a double-whammy that hurts needy families and our local economy. I thank Speaker Quinn and Council General Welfare Chair Annabel Palma for their leadership in working to end this counterproductive practice. I look forward to working together on today’s proposal and in passing my bill to prohibit finger imaging on the state level.”
\nThe jurisdictions that have finger imaged applicants have had lower program participation rates and higher errors rates than those that don\u2019t. The federal government and 49 states have determined that not only does finger imaging fail to detect fraud, it also discourages eligible families \u2013 and particularly working families \u2013 from applying.
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Quinn and Palma will introduce legislation next week requiring the Human Resources Administration submit an annual report to the Council on the use of finger imaging in detecting fraud<\/p>\n
City Hall- On the heels of the bi-partisan actions in California and Texas that ended the practice of requiring federal food stamp applicants to submit to finger imaging to receive benefits, New York City Council Speaker Christine C.<\/p>\n
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