[T]he state will continue benefits for disabled Vermonters for 60 days while lawyers prepare for arguments in a discrimination case.
Vermont Legal Aid agreed to the extension period on Thursday.
The class-action lawsuit filed by Vermont Legal Aid on July 23 alleges that the reduction, which the Legislature approved in the fiscal year 2016 state budget, is unconstitutional and that it discriminates against households with family members with a disability.
Sandy Paritz, Poverty Law Project director at Vermont Legal Aid, said cuts that were already made for the Aug. 1 distribution of benefits would be restored by the state.
“These families are already experiencing severe economic distress and cannot afford to lose a dime,” Paritz said in a statement. “The state did the right thing to continue their benefits.”
Christopher Curtis and Paritz, attorneys with the nonprofit legal group, are seeking to halt implementation of a $125 reduction in the monthly Reach Up benefit for 860 Vermont households with an adult who receives a monthly Supplemental Security Income benefit. The reduction, which Curtis has dubbed “a poor tax” would impact more than 15 percent of the homes that receive the program’s cash benefits.
The lawsuit is based primarily on federal laws and benefits, including the Americans with Disabilities Act and Social Security policy.
According to a statement issued by Legal Aid, courts have halted similar cuts to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families grant programs in other states. Reach Up, Vermont’s TANF program, helps some 5,200 households statewide. Funded partially by the state and partially by the federal government, the program aims to help families with children meet basic needs and services, the state website says. It includes a work requirement.
Federal courts issued injunctions against policies in Washington and West Virginia that would have counted the SSI benefits of children as income, thereby reducing their TANF benefit. Vermont’s law only counts the SSI benefits of adults, not children.
The Vermont Attorney General’s Office is handling the case for the Vermont Agency of Human Services.
The two parties will return to court in early September.
