© 2024 Maine Public | Registered 501(c)(3) EIN: 22-3171529
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scroll down to see all available streams.

Lewiston Mayor Wants Online Registry of Welfare Recipients

LEWISTON, Maine - Lewiston's mayor wants to create an online registry of Maine residents who receive welfare benefits.

The Portland Press Herald reports that Republican Mayor Robert Macdonald wrote in a column in the Twin City Times that if the public can find out information about public pensions, they should be able to do the same for welfare recipients.

He says they'll be submitting a bill asking that a website be created containing the names, addresses, length of time on assistance and the benefits being collected by every individual on the dole.

He says he plans to also resubmit a bill that would limit an emergency benefit program to 60 months over a person's lifetime and another prohibiting the state from paying benefits for any additional child born after the recipient has been accepted into general assistance.