Utah is looking to reduce the time that a person can receive general cash assistance in any five-year period, cutting it from 24 months to 12 months. If approved, the one-year time limit would go into effect on Sept. 1, stopping aid over the course of the year to an estimated 600 individuals - more than a third of the state's 1,733-person caseload.

The department plans to make the change by adopting an emergency rule. Low-income advocates appealed to lawmakers for some financial relief at a legislative briefing on Wednesday.

"A lot of these folks are going to wind up on the streets or knocking on the door of our homeless shelters," said Steve Erickson, a policy analyst at Utah Issues.

Workforce Services officials say they are $3.4 million short of the $13.3 million needed to preserve benefits. Utah's state government will end the budget year June 30 with surplus revenues in the neighborhood of $300 million.

The flood of extra cash is largely a result of growth in personal income tax collections, up 18 percent from the previous year, and corporate tax collections, up 80 percent, according to figures released Wednesday by the State Tax Commission.

But Erickson's pleas drew little debate and no promises from House work force services chairman Rep. Stephen Clark.

"This is a perplexing problem," said the Provo Republican. "I'm not sure what the solution is."

A form of welfare, the general assistance program caters exclusively to disabled adults without children.

"The popular myth is these are bums living high on the hog off welfare," said Erickson. "But their monthly checks total $261 per individual or $362 per couple. That's not much to live on."

To qualify for general assistance, applicants must provide medical documentation of a disabling condition that prevents them from working for at least 30 days. Some need cash to tide them over until they can return to work, such as a construction worker undergoing a hernia operation. But the vast majority - as many as 80 percent in the Salt Lake City region - suffer from permanent disabilities, such as multiple sclerosis.

It's this group that Erickson worries most about. General assistance helps them buy groceries or pay the rent while they wait months, sometimes years, to be approved for Social Security benefits.

Utah has one of the lowest approval rates in the nation, at 28 percent for first-time applicants. And the average time it takes for Social Security to approve or deny a new Utah disability claim is 107 days, compared with 92 days regionally and 94 days nationally.

More claims are approved on the second or third tries, but those require expensive appeals and legal representation.

Over the years, Utah's general assistance budget has remained flat, despite an increase in enrollees. This year, there was a slight drop in the caseload, which Workforce Services director Tani Downing ties to the improved economy and new strategies for helping people get back to work sooner.

Downing said her agency has leveraged federal dollars and squeezed its budget, imposing a hiring freeze on all departments. But under the federal Deficit Reduction Act, Downing she said she lost $2 million this year.

"We can't squeeze any more," Downing said.

Downing said she could hold out until this winter in the hopes that lawmakers will provide relief, but Republican leaders rejected a similar $1.5 million request last year.

Alerting clients now, during the summer months, will make it easier for people to find new housing or get into a homeless shelter, she said.

Another alternative would be to reduce the monthly benefit to $150, but Downing said such a payout is hardly worth the costs of processing the claims.

"Given our options," the stricter time limit is the "most humane" course to take, she said.

kstewart@sltrib.com

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Tribune editor Dan Harrie contributed to this story