- Kansas bill requiring drug testing for unemployment, welfare advances, By Brent D. Wistrom, February 25, 2013, Kansas City Star: “State officials would require drug tests of any Kansan they have reason to believe may be using controlled substances and also getting unemployment or welfare benefits under a bill a Senate panel advanced Monday. Under the proposal that is now poised for a vote in the Senate, welfare and unemployment recipients who fail a urine drug test would lose state cash assistance until they complete a substance abuse treatment program and job skills training. They would then be subject to periodic tests…”
- Indiana House backs drug tests of welfare recipients, By Mary Beth Schneider, February 26, 2013, Indianapolis Star: “Indiana welfare recipients would face drug testing, and the possible loss of benefits if they fail to stick to treatment, under a bill that passed the Indiana House Monday. House Bill 1483, which passed 78-17 and is now headed to the Senate, is part of a growing nationwide movement among states trying to ensure that those who receive tax dollars because they are poor don’t spend them on illegal drugs…”
- Temporary ban on Fla. welfare drug testing upheld, By James L. Rosica (AP), February 26, 2013, Houston Chronicle: “A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a temporary ban on a law requiring drug testing of Florida’s welfare recipients, prompting Gov. Rick Scott to say he’ll now appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled that a lower court was right to temporarily halt enforcement of the state’s drug-testing program. The opinion said the state of Florida hadn’t shown a ‘substantial special need’ for a mandatory testing program with no suspicion of an individual’s drug use…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty