Research

Administrative History

Spurred by the loss of public confidence in public welfare objectives and programs and the lack of understanding of facts relating to aid, care, and support of the needy, Governor Nelson Rockefeller appointed the 11-member Moreland Commission on Welfare on August 30, 1961. The commission was directed to study and make recommendations concerning laws, practices, procedures, costs, and organization of public welfare programs.

The commission focused its study on the area of greatest public concern: public assistance programs, and in particular their costs; chronic dependency; "chiseling"; and "immorality" of certain recipents. To carry out its investigation, the commission: studied reports and analyses of public welfare; visited local welfare offices throughout New York State; and interviewed public welfare experts.

The commission also held public hearings on September 11-13, 1962 to hear opinions concerning: organization of State Board of Social Welfare; qualifications of local welfare officials and employees; public welfare programs and operations (e.g. work relief, voucher payments, welfare fraud); public reaction to public welfare; and economic climate (e.g. relationship between caseloads and employment levels). Among the witnesses testifying at the public hearings were: state agency officials; welfare workers; policy makers of private welfare agencies; representatives of organized labor; and professors and other welfare experts.

The commission submitted its report to Governor Rockefeller on January 15, 1963. Among the recommendations in the commission's report were: the State Department of Social Welfare should cooperate with the State University of New York and private institutions to develop undergraduate and graduate public welfare or public social service programs; all public assistance applicants should be thoroughly evaluated and an appropriate plan of services scheduled for each; establishment of qualification standards for local welfare commissioners; combine positions of Chair of Board of Social Welfare and Commissioner of Department of Social Welfare, and make the position a full time paid position; and the Board of Social Welfare should evaluate its current programs to see if any could be more effectively carried out by other government agencies.