Congress urged to lift food stamp drug testing ban

urged congressional lawmakers via a letter to support a proposal that would give states the right to drug-test food stamp recipients. Republican Rep. Robert Aderholt introduced a proposal in February that would scrap the drug-test restriction, aiming to reduce fraud and abuse within the food stamp system. The eleven Republican governors that sent the letter in…

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SCOTUS declines to hear Florida drug testing appeal, Scott fights on

The U.S. Supreme Court has turned down an appeal to hear arguments about Florida’s controversial drug-testing policy, which lower courts have declared unconstitutional. In 2011, Gov. Rick Scott signed executive orders that required mandatory drug testing for all state employees, and those receiving welfare benefits. Since the orders were given, state and federal judges have…

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Texas approve drug tests for unemployment applicants

drug testing for welfare recipients when lawmakers approved a bill last week that would require drug testing for some of those seeking unemployment benefits. Under the bill, first-time unemployment applicants who are looking for jobs in fields that require drug testing (e.g. trucking, aviation or hazardous material industries) must undergo a preliminary written screening test.…

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Tennessee studies welfare drug testing in six other states

The Tennessean. Legislation approved this year mandates the drug-testing program and gives the Department of Human Services until January 2014 to finalize a plan. Over the next two years, the department must submit quarterly progress reports to two General Assembly committees. “The Department hopes to gain insight on how other states have implemented their policy…

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Florida passes drug testing for state workers

Scott’s legal team has helped the bill’s House and Senate sponsors persuade lawmakers that the drug screening will be upheld even as they defend the policy in court. The governor is being sued over a drug-testing policy he imposed on state workers last year. After the ACLU and the state workers’ union sued the state, Scott…

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Florida welfare recipients refusing drug tests

Welfare drug testing is nothing new. It has been causing debate for a while now, as we see drug testing for welfare recipients legislation being introduced in states across the country. Florida has certainly been one of the key states in this debate. The debate has taken another turn, as Rep. Paige Kreegel claimed last week that…

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New payroll tax deal would increase drug screening

84 percent of employers required new hires to pass a drug test. Federal law currently does not allow states to deny benefits for reasons other than misconduct, fraud or disqualifying earnings – so this move is a significant one. I’m glad that it’s in there,” Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) told HuffPost in an interview. Kingston was…

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Drug testing for welfare recipients: Update

implementing it in May only for others to be calling for the law to be repealed a couple of months later. In what has surely been one of the most controversial years for the welfare system, where do we stand now as we head towards 2012? Currently, 36 states have implemented welfare drug testing –…

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