(a) Assistance shall be granted under this article to any blind person who:

(1) Does not have sufficient income or other resources to provide a reasonable subsistence compatible with decency and health, except that, after March 1, 1961, in making such determination, the first $85.00 per month of earned income plus one-half of earned income in excess of $85.00 per month shall be disregarded;

(2) Has been a bona fide resident of the state for not less than one year;

(3) Is not receiving old-age assistance; and

(4) Is not publicly soliciting alms in any part of this state by the wearing, carrying, or exhibiting of signs denoting blindness, by the carrying of receptacles for the reception of alms, by the doing of such acts by proxy, or by begging from house to house.

(b) All assistance under this article shall be suspended in the event of and during the period of confinement in any public penal institution after final conviction of a crime against the laws of this state or any political subdivision thereof.