A look at one of the fifteen policy proposals put forth by Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell in his thesis and the extent to which he attempted to implement the proposal during his career as a legislator and attorney general.
Continue welfare reform to promote work and eliminate all anti-family provisions, with an ultimate goal of transferring social welfare responsibility to the private sector in local communities.
The McDonnell thesis may have never come to light had he not mentioned in an interview “I wrote my thesis on welfare policy.” It should come as no surprise, then, that one of his family policy proposals is in reference to welfare reform.
On his website, McDonnell boasts of having been chief patron on Virginia’s “historic welfare reform legislation.” He is, as best as I can determine, referring to the floor amendments he offered on HB2001 from the 1995 session. The bill passed the legislature and was signed into law by then Governor George Allen.
One area that McDonnell appears to have attempted to “transfer social welfare responsibility to the private sector” was in the area of child care services. When child care regulations were being overhauled in 1993, McDonnell was the point man for opposition to the application of the regulations to church-run facilities. Articles from February 1993 in both The Virginian-Pilot and The Daily Press point to his efforts. He called the regulations “onerous” and even tried – unsuccessfully – “to shield churches from investigations that would result from calls to a proposed statewide hot line for day-care complaints.” (The Virginian-Pilot, 02/09/93)
In 1998, McDonnell voted against allowing the state to discipline child care providers who failed to comply with the regulations, one of only 17 House members to do so. He voted against allowing local distribution of TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) benefits in 2000. In 2001, he voted against studying ways to improve child care and in 2003, opposed then Governor Mark Warner’s proposal to raise the standards for child-care centers. ‘‘That goes far beyond the reach of what the state should be doing,’’ McDonnell said. (The Virginian-Pilot, 09/08/03).
It appears, then, that this is another of McDonnell’s family policy proposals that he attempted to implement during his career as an elected representative.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Looks good to me.
(It seems to me that local distribution of TANK funds would violate the law.
In your TANF link, what precludes the state from allowing local departments of social services to provide TANF services? I only see that the section is not to be construed as an individual entitlement.
On the looks good to me point, are you against the state regulating child care providers?
If the state delegated distribution of TANF funds to the localities, it would be unable to properly submit a plan that provides all the details required by law.
There was already such regulation, and it was sufficient.
Allowing localities to distribute does not preclude the state from furnishing a plan as they are required to do.
What constitutes sufficient and how do we measure whether current regulations are effective?
A plan that says, “We’re going to let the localities do it,” would not satisfy the requirements of the bill.
I think that the onus should be on those who want more regulation to show that the current ones are not effective.