Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Bob Ferguson

AGO 1960 NO. 166 >

(1)  Without an amendment to existing state law, the department of public assistance is not authorized to increase the exemption of the first fifty dollars to the first eighty-five dollars of earned income in aid to the blind assistance which is now embodied in the Federal Social Security Amendments of 1960.(2)  The state law must be amended by July 1, 1962, to embody the increased exemption to eighty-five dollars which was provided in the 1960 amendment to the Federal Social Security Act. However, the legislature, if it so desires, may enact legislation to become effective at any time prior to July 1, 1962, and thus authorize the state department of public assistance to make the increased exemption effective prior to July, 1962.