Bill requiring welfare recipients to take drug tests headed to governor
A measure requiring the tests passed the Senate on Thursday and is headed to Gov. Rick Scott, who called it one of his legislative priorities.
This is an effort to stop this cycle of drug abuse, said Sen. Steve Oelrich, R-Gainesville, one of the sponsors, who added the requirement was similar to one that many employers make of workers.
Bill requiring welfare recipients to take drug tests headed to governor - Legislature - MiamiHerald.com
BS its an assault on the poor and designed to discourage those who dont use drugs from applying for benefits because of the cost and intrusive nature of the testing.
Just as in Michigan over a decade ago, drug testing in Florida is a violation of ones 4th Amendment right to be free from unwarranted searches. In Marchwinski v. Howard, 2000, the US District Court, E.D. Michigan, Northern Division ruled:
As in Chandler, the State in this case has not demonstrated a special need that justifies departure from the ordinary Fourth Amendment requirement of individualized suspicion. The State has not shown that public safety is genuinely placed in jeopardy in the absence of drug testing of all [public assistance] applicants and of random, suspicionless testing of [public assistance] recipients.
The primary justification advanced by the State for instituting mandatory drug testing is to move more families from welfare to work. In House Legislative Analyses of House Bill 4090, the "Apparent Problem" was described as follows:
Michigan reformed its welfare system in 1995.... While the new program has been largely successful, none of the reforms have been able to overcome one persistent problem: for some people, the major barrier to employment is rooted in substance abuse.
The State's desire to address substance abuse as a barrier to employment is laudable and understandable in view of the Federal mandate to move welfare recipients to work. Yet, it does not constitute a special need sufficient to warrant a departure from the Fourth Amendment's main rule. "[W]here, as in this case, public safety is not genuinely in jeopardy, the Fourth Amendment precludes the suspicionless search, no matter how conveniently arranged." Id. at 323, 117 S.Ct. 1295. The State does not even attempt to argue that its goal of moving welfare recipients to work is a public safety issue, nor could it. Consequently, the State's [public assistance] drug testing does "not fit within the closely guarded category of constitutionally permissible suspicionless searches." Chandler at 309, 117 S.Ct. 1295.