Welfare recipient drug testing proposed

Nebraska applicants and recipients of cash assistance benefits under the Welfare Reform Act would be subject to drug testing under a bill heard March 10 by the Health and Human Services Committee.

LB221 would require the state Department of Health and Human Services to develop a program to screen Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) applicants or recipients for use of nonprescribed controlled substances, if there is reasonable cause to believe the individual is using such a substance.

If a positive result is confirmed after an administrative hearing, the individual would be ineligible for ADC assistance for one year and the department would refer the individual to the division of behavioral health for referral to a treatment program.

Fremont Sen. Charlie Janssen, sponsor of the bill, said he introduced the measure after many Nebraskans told him it was unfair for them to be drug tested to qualify for employment when no such requirement exists for those receiving cash assistance from the state.

Janssen said he limited the bill’s provisions to individuals receiving ADC out of concern for their ability to parent.

“Clouding this important responsibility with drug use is not fair,” he said.

Fullerton dentist Daniel Maas testified in favor of the bill, saying the state should have the same ability to drug test welfare recipients as employers have to test employees.

Tax dollars from citizens’ payroll deductions should not be used to subsidize drug use, he added.

“I am disturbed that some of the money my staff has earned is going to support people who are abusing drugs,” Maas said.

Aubrey Mancuso of Voices for Children in Nebraska testified against the bill, saying its provisions are punitive and contrary to ADC’s goal of moving families to self-sufficiency.

A family that qualifies for ADC already is in a desperate financial situation, she said, and any reduction in cash benefits would have a significant impact.

“LB221 will harm innocent children and struggling families,” she said.

Saying the bill would be more likely to harm children than help them, James Goddard of Nebraska Appleseed testified in opposition.

The state’s child welfare system currently has mechanisms in place for addressing parental drug abuse, he said, adding that the bill’s effect may be the opposite of what is intended due to parents’ fear of losing benefits.

“This bill could deter them from seeking treatment in the first place,” Goddard said.

Amy Miller, legal director of ACLU Nebraska, also testified in opposition, saying the state likely would face legal challenges if the measure becomes law. She said the only court that has examined the issue of drug testing as a qualification for public assistance ruled that doing so violates the Fourth Amendment.

Drug testing for private sector employment is not the same as the government engaging in drug testing, Miller said, because Fourth Amendment search and seizure prohibitions do not apply to the private sector.

“That’s a private arrangement with an employer,” she said.

The committee took no immediate action on the bill.