Gov. Nathan Deal hinted Monday that he will sign House Bill 772, the nation’s toughest effort to drug-test some recipients of welfare and food stamps, and said he may want to take the idea further. Drug screenings, the governor said, should be extended to recipients of unemployment benefits as well.
That wasn’t the only surprise in Deal’s remarks at a Gwinnett County event Monday. In addition, he said he would seek to establish a state-funded drug treatment program for those who test positive for substance abuse.
“We can fool ourselves, but drug use is the thing that causes people to lose their jobs many times, it causes people not to be able to get a job because they can’t pass the initial screening,” Deal said. “Until we confront that and require them to confront that, we will continue to cycle people through the system – whether it be food stamps, whether it be unemployment benefits. You name it.”
Deal’s proposals also intensified questions about the cost to the state of the drug-testing measures, which could run into the millions.
Unlike some other states that have taken up the issue, Georgia has done little if any analysis of the impact on the state’s budget of implementing such measures. Opponents allege the effort will cost the state far more to administer than it will save in denied benefits.
“It’s a complete myth that government benefit recipients are spending their money on drugs,” said state Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta. “The only thing mandatory drug testing accomplishes is to insult and demean Georgians who are in need of a bridge over troubled waters.”
‘We can devise a drug program’
An exclusive survey of all 50 states by the AJC found that HB 772, if signed by Deal and approved by the courts, would put Georgia in a class by itself. Only Georgia would force applicants for welfare and food stamps to pay for their own drug tests, pass or fail; and only Georgia would try to drug-test food stamp recipients, something that federal law does not currently permit.
Deal said he believes HB 772 strikes a “delicate balance” between helping the neediest and protecting taxpayer dollars, though he would not say definitively whether he would sign the measure into law. He has until Tuesday to decide.
But he said he was exploring a plan with Labor Commissioner Mark Butler that would require drug tests of those who apply for unemployment benefits and would set aside funding for treatment programs if they fail.
The move would require legislative approval in 2015 as well as sign-off by the U.S. Department of Labor.
“I believe if we put our minds to it, we can devise a very intensified drug treatment program to try to break the cycle of addiction,” Deal said after the event. “Because if we don’t, we’re going to continue to see people who get turned away at the office where they are applying for jobs simply because they can’t pass a drug test.”
Deal’s proposal notwithstanding, HB 772 specifies that the state will not pay for rehab, or even for the drug tests of those who pass the test.
Unknown costs
Georgia’s drug testing bill would have costs that, opponents assert, are likely to be far greater than the savings from people who don’t get benefits.
- The state would incur legal costs in defending against the inevitable lawsuits the law would attract.
- If implemented, the bill will require setting up a program to administer the drug testing paperwork, perhaps with new computer systems, too. After initial startup costs, Tennessee estimated it would cost more than $170,000 a year to administer, over and above any savings; Kansas estimated double that.
- The bill also requires Georgia to place a photograph on each food stamps card. Washington state estimated that photo cards there would cost about $17.6 million, a spokeswoman for the Washington Department of Social and Health Services said.
- HB 772 specifies that people on Medicaid will pay no more than $17 for a drug test, although drug tests may cost double that, or more. It is unclear whether Medicaid would pay the difference.
Drug-testing the unemployed
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, four states have passed laws to drug-test unemployment recipients: Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi and Texas. Indiana’s is the broadest, requiring all recipients to be tested.
The Georgia Department of Labor did not respond to questions about the issue Monday because state government was closed for Confederate Memorial Day.
The effort is fraught with legal hurdles.
Federal law prohibits conditioning unemployment benefits on passing a drug test, with limited exceptions, according to Rebecca Dixon, who follows the issue at the Washington-based National Employment Law Project. (It used to be completely illegal, until U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia kicked off an effort in Congress to change the law.)
Under one exception, a person who lost a previous job because of a drug problem could be ordered to take a drug test to qualify for unemployment insurance. A second exception, concerning workers in sensitive jobs, such as train operators, is not yet in place.
Any state trying to go broader than that would risk losing a big tax credit, hiking employers’ tax bills by more than $200 per employee, Dixon said.
“It’s a lot of posturing, it’s blaming people who lost their jobs during the worst economic downturn since the great recession,” Dixon said.
State Rep. B.J. Pak, R-Lilburn disagreed. He was one of the few Republicans to vote against the bill requiring drug tests for some food stamp recipients, partly because he worried it would get struck down by the courts. But he said he doesn’t have the same legal concerns over jobless benefit tests.
“It’s a smart thing to do,” said Pak. “Someone who is struggling with drug addiction needs help to become a productive citizen. It fits really nicely with the governor’s passion, to show that every citizen has the opportunity to be productive.”
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