MONTGOMERY – An Alabama lawmaker has proposed that welfare applicants show that they have applied for at least three jobs before they are allowed to sign up for benefits.

Alabama State Sen. District 3 Arthur Orr. (Times file photo by Robin Conn)

Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, said he is introducing the bill for the 2014 legislative session that begins Jan. 14.

“No one is against extending a hand to those genuinely in need, but the hardworking taxpayers who fund these benefits deserve to be protected against abuse of the system,” Orr said.

Orr said he did not think it was too much to ask to require that people "try to secure a job before turning to the taxpayers for help.”

"I don’t see that being an unreasonable requirement for people seeking taxpayer assistance,” Orr said.

A spokesman for the Department of Human Resources did not have an immediate comment on the proposal.

In July, there were 44,832 Alabama people -- of which 32,931 were children - receiving benefits from Temporarily Assistance to Needy Families, according to DHR.

The average per family payment is $191-a-month, according to DHR.

An advocacy group for the poor said Orr's bill is missing the real problem.

"In our current economy, there’s only one job opening for every three unemployed people. We can’t create new jobs by forcing people to look for jobs that just aren’t there," Kimble Forrister, executive director of Arise Citizens’ Policy Project, said.

Forrester noted that the maximum welfare benefit in Alabama is small, $215 for a family of three, and that the rolls have plummeted since the mid-1990s

"The real problem is not a bloated TANF program. It’s the lack of jobs,” he said.

Orr said it would be up to DHR to develop rules on how people could prove they applied for the jobs. Caseworkers could also waive the requirement for special circumstances, he said.

Orr pointed to a news report that the state of Pennsylvania denied as many as eight of every 10 applications for cash welfare in 2013 after implementing a similar rule.

Orr in the last legislative session introduced legislation to prohibit Alabamians from using welfare benefits to buy booze, cigarettes, lap dances or advice on the psychic hotline.

The bill was approved by the Senate but did not get a vote in the House.