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Group Meets to Consider Implementations of Welfare Restrictions

A group working to enforce a new ban on the purchase of tobacco, alcohol, lottery tickets and other items with cash welfare benefits met for the first time Friday.

The Legislature created the prohibition earlier this year, but it also sought to determine whether retailers can block the sale of the outlawed items at the point of sale.

Some retailers and large grocers have worried about the cost of implementing a point-of-sale block. But Democratic state Rep. Drew Gattine argued it would take the enforcement burden off clerks and store owners.

“It takes away the role of a grocery store clerk as being, for lack of a better word, a policeman,” he says. “It’s pretty clear with a lot of it, but there will be situations where there will be disputes, frankly, about whether something can or cannot be purchased.”

The issue is complicated because Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits can be withdrawn as cash. Of the $30 million distributed in TANF funds last year, $20 million was withdrawn as cash, according to state data. A block at point of sale would affect items purchased directly with EBT cards.

Journalist Steve Mistler is Maine Public’s chief politics and government correspondent. He is based at the State House.