California Ends Food Stamp Fingerprint Requirement

Registering for food stamps is a tough step for many people. For some, pride trumps need, and they don't register. Others prefer to stay away from the law's reach. That does not necessarily mean they are illegally requesting assistance, but they just have a bad feeling about governmental institutions, especially those that require fingerprints as the psychic price of admission. (Surely right-wingers would sympathize with this sentiment!) And yes, some applicants have something illegal in their records that would red flag them.

However, fingerprinting does little to prevent the determined from scheming to commit fraud. My strictly uninformed guess is that fraud costs a tiny fraction of the overall food stamp budget. What's left are the needy who are too shy or uptight to act on their legal rights to assistance. It is an absolute scandal and shame that any American citizen should go hungry.

California governor Jerry Brown

That's why California governor Jerry Brown did a good and right thing today, by signing into law the termination of the state's requirement that food stamp applicants submit to fingerprinting. Brown's action is a human triumph at a time when the poor and powerless are experiencing escalating malice from misguided ideologues and the simply callous. The story didn't get much play outside the Golden State, but it deserves greater attention. (The San Jose Mercury News covered this story and other legislative actions Brown recently enacted.) So does the governor who shows he cares about his weakest fellow Californians, even though it's not the political stance du jour.