Gov. Eric Greitens said Friday his administration has found possible fraud in Missouri's Blind Pension Fund system.
But the director of the state's St. Louis-based Council of the Blind urged Missourians to be slow to jump to conclusions while the information is sorted out.
Chris Gray added: "We don't support that sort of thing going on."
The governor's news release said an investigation "showed that hundreds of people currently claim to be blind, and receive taxpayer-paid benefits for it, while also claiming the ability to drive."
In that news release, Greitens explained: "Our team found people in Missouri who were taking money from the taxpayers because they claim to be blind - all while driving, speeding, and even driving drunk."
Spokeswoman Rebecca Woelfel told the News Tribune Friday: "The Department of Social Services (DSS) Welfare Investigations Unit (WIU) regularly conducts investigations involving suspected fraudulent use or applications for the Blind Pension program and other DSS programs. Each case was investigated and resolved individually on its own merits."
Gray told the News Tribune the state's Family Support Division is the gatekeeper "for making sure that every person who receives a Blind Pension has met the criteria - and one of those is a very stringent eye test."
To be legally blind in the United States, he explained, a person has to have a visual acuity of 20 over 200 - when "normal" is considered 20/20.
The American Optometric Association says that means a "normal" person sees at 20 feet what they're expected to see, while a legally blind person must be as close as 20 feet to see what a person with normal vision can see at 200 feet.
But, Gray said, to qualify for Missouri's Blind Pension, a person's eyesight can't be any better than 20/800, and with a field of vision that is only 5 percent or less.
That's only 25 percent of the vision of a person who's legally blind, Gray said, adding: "It's a very hard standard to meet."
In the news release, Greitens reported: "We did an investigation, and we found that 436 individuals who get a Blind Pension benefit - at least $738 a month of taxpayer money - also have a valid driver's license. One had a license to drive a commercial truck. One had multiple driving violations and a DWI. One was already under investigation for providing false information for a different program."
Gray, who is totally blind, said he didn't know any of the details the governor cited, but said it's possible for a blind person to have a valid driver's license under current law because people "don't have to give up" their license if they become blind - or when they qualify for, and begin receiving, Blind Pension benefits.
"Most of the people who have these driver's licenses are not currently driving," he said. "They're people who got the license three, four, five (or) 10 years ago (and) in the meantime lost their vision but still have their driver's license."
That would change if lawmakers pass state Rep. David Wood's proposal to modify parts of the law creating and controlling the Blind Pension Fund.
Among its provisions, the Versailles Republican's bill would require people receiving, or seeking to receive, a pension payment to relinquish their valid license to the state Department of Revenue - and show proof they had done so.
And pension recipients would be prohibited from operating a vehicle, with or without a license.
Gray said the bill "strengthens the law with regard to a person not being able to have a driver's license if they receive a Blind Pension, and it's certainly a great remedy for whatever's going on in the (current) process."
Woelfel said: "It would also strengthen protections against fraud and abuse in the program."
The House passed the bill last week and sent it to the Senate.
The governor's news release said: "An investigation launched by the Department of Social Services, with the help of the Department of Revenue, found that 436 individuals who received a Blind Pension benefit also had a current (license) or had renewed/obtained their Missouri driver's license while receiving a blind pension."
Greitens said the state launched its investigation "after an increasing number of Blind Pension applicants presented a valid Missouri driver's license."
The governor said at least 100 people currently are "under investigation" by the Welfare Investigations Unit, "which investigates reports of possible fraud, waste, or abuse of welfare benefits."
Gray said he and others have been talking with the state "for at least the last six months, (and) they assured us that the number of people actually violating the law is very small compared to the number of people who have driver's licenses and get Blind Pension."
He said the Council of the Blind agrees with the governor that people who cheat the system hurt those who are eligible for, and need, the benefit.
Although no one pointed to a direct connection, Greitens' news release came a week before Cole County Circuit Judge Pat Joyce is scheduled to meet with state officials and representatives of the fund's recipients, to approve a negotiated $21 million settlement in a long-running legal battle over state payments that had been smaller than required.