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Deal OKs bill requiring drug testing for welfare recipients

TheDemSocialist

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Legislation requiring drug tests for some people applying for welfare benefits goes into effect July 1.

Gov. Nathan Deal signed House Bill 861 into law Monday.

Rep. Christian Coomer, R-Cartersville, said the provisions of the Social Responsibility and Accountability Act are not too much to ask.

“We have a history and a policy in Georgia for making people accountable for government funds they receive,” he said. “I think it’s a fair stipulation that people asking for money for subsistence ought to be able to demonstrate they are not using it for drugs.”

The Georgia General Assembly votes on the measure fell mainly along party lines. However, all five members of Floyd County’s delegation — three Republicans and two Democrats — supported the final version of the bill.

Democrats criticizing the proposal said it’s an unfair burden on the poor, and Gerry Weber of the Southern Center for Human Rights said the organization is prepared to file a lawsuit once it is put into practice.

“We are disappointed that the governor signed this and we believe that the state should await the outcome of Florida litigation involving the exact same drug testing scheme,” Weber said Monday. “It’s going to take a while for them to implement this. That would all have to happen before any lawsuit can be filed.”

Coomer said reports that Florida’s law netted a smaller percentage of drug-users than appear in the total population don’t prove the initiative is a failure. Rather, he said, it could have deterred drug-users from seeking benefits.

“This law is not about keeping people who need it from getting public assistance, it’s about being responsible with the very limited amount of resources we have,” Coomer said. “I think it helps not only the state to be more responsible with its funds, but it helps the person dealing with an addiction by motivating him to get help.”

State Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, said lawmakers worked to make sure the bill would pass muster with the courts and that Georgia’s law addresses concerns about privacy and illegal search and seizure raised in other states. Albers said Monday he is not worried about a legal challenge.

The state Department of Human Services is being directed to create a drug-testing program that would be paid for by welfare applicants.

Under the bill, those able to prove they are receiving Medicaid would pay a maximum of $17, and those without Medicaid would be responsible for the full cost of the drug test. Applicants who take the drug test at their own expense would be eligible for reimbursement if they test negative.


Read more: RN-T.com - Deal OKs bill requiring drug testing for welfare recipients

Gonna be yet another giant waste of money. Nothing but a giant pointless waste of money

Thoughts?
Comments?
Response?
 
I am in favor of this for those on the dole, but I would include politicians.
 
I support very stringent requirements for receiving government aid, specifically aid to those capable of acquiring advanced employment if not for a lack of education. Drug testing is only one such requirement I would like to see implemented on a grand scale. It should be easier and less time consuming for people to seek education and find suitable, legitimate income than to apply for and receive government entitlements. In line with making it obligatory that an adult seeking aid be able to pass a drug test, I fully support mandatory enrollment into a field of study for which an employee deficit exists, paid for via government grants, and mandatory volunteer services in the recipient's municipality.
 
Just more feel-good laws. You know how to pass a drug test? Don't take any drugs! Pass the test. Buy some drugs. Not very complicated.

I fully support mandatory enrollment into a field of study for which an employee deficit exists, paid for via government grants, and mandatory volunteer services in the recipient's municipality.
would be a much better investment but who needs logic?
 
I remember seeing a study saying that doing this costs the state more money than it saves. Thanks for wasting my money!!
 
Read more: RN-T.com - Deal OKs bill requiring drug testing for welfare recipients

Gonna be yet another giant waste of money. Nothing but a giant pointless waste of money

Thoughts?
Comments?
Response? [/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT]

It's a giant, pointless waste of money for sure. I would much rather we look at our interventionist wars, our pandering to banks and wallstreet at the expense of middle and lower class America, the overextending of government force against the free exercise of our rights and liberties, etc.

Welfare people using drugs are not very high on the priority list. When it is, we will be in a good place.
 
Remember how Florida's law came out?
 
Yea the law generally applies to the applicant and not the household.
Most often a female applies for benefits, with a live in male partner, who would be more likely to fail the test.
 
I am in favor of this for those on the dole, but I would include politicians.

Why? So we can waste more money? We already know that politicians waste our taxpayer dollars by going on all-expenses paid trips to "conference" with their fellow politicians and lobbyist. Them being on drugs is the least of my worries.
 
I have no problem with people whose lives suck taking drugs to make those lives more bearable. Sometimes you need a pick me up. I do not get this hang up some people have against certain kinds of highs. We spend our lives in search of highs. Love and sex are two of the most prominent. Power and excitement work, too. We ban weed because people get high from it, should be ban roller coasters, too? They both produce a rush using brain chemicals. What's the difference? Life is too short not to enjoy every moment of it that you can.
 
I'm going to start selling my urine!
 
Read more: RN-T.com - Deal OKs bill requiring drug testing for welfare recipients

Gonna be yet another giant waste of money. Nothing but a giant pointless waste of money

Thoughts?
Comments?
Response? [/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT]

Good for Georgia. People are always complaining about those on welfare buying pop and what not but when it comes to drugs its all "OH NO YOU DON'T!". Drugs are bad period. If you want to limit people on the type of food they can buy then I have absolutely no problem limiting people that want to do drugs from getting welfare.
 
I support very stringent requirements for receiving government aid, specifically aid to those capable of acquiring advanced employment if not for a lack of education. Drug testing is only one such requirement I would like to see implemented on a grand scale. It should be easier and less time consuming for people to seek education and find suitable, legitimate income than to apply for and receive government entitlements. In line with making it obligatory that an adult seeking aid be able to pass a drug test, I fully support mandatory enrollment into a field of study for which an employee deficit exists, paid for via government grants, and mandatory volunteer services in the recipient's municipality.

Agreed. I think that in order to get welfare money, you need to be in school, learning a trade, you need to be drug-free and you need to be out working at least some of the day, even if it's digging ditches, to earn your money. You'd have less people on welfare if you had to go sweat to get it.
 
Just more feel-good laws. You know how to pass a drug test? Don't take any drugs! Pass the test. Buy some drugs. Not very complicated.

That's why drug tests are random and often.
 
When considering that people on drugs no longer receive welfare, it pays for itself.

Starve children because mom smoked a joint? I don't think so. Let me guess, they'll take the kids away and pay foster homes to take in those kids. It won't pay for itself. I imagine crime would spike too.
 
Just more feel-good laws.
Yep. Honestly, it's a waste of time. It's a waste of resources. It's also a diversion from real problems that they cannot solve, as it appeals to our collective need to feel superior, and too many otherwise intelligent people fall for it.
 
Starve children because mom smoked a joint? I don't think so. Let me guess, they'll take the kids away and pay foster homes to take in those kids. It won't pay for itself. I imagine crime would spike too.

OH look..another "THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!!" post. :roll: Maybe if mom spent money on food instead of that joint the kids wouldn't "starve"? Maybe if mom hadn't smoked that joint then she would have gotten that assistance?

WTH happened to the concept of personal responsibility in this nation?
 
OH look..another "THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!!" post. :roll: Maybe if mom spent money on food instead of that joint the kids wouldn't "starve"? Maybe if mom hadn't smoked that joint then she would have gotten that assistance?

WTH happened to the concept of personal responsibility in this nation?

Would you like to give the government the power to sterilize irresponsible people?
 
Starve children because mom smoked a joint? I don't think so. Let me guess, they'll take the kids away and pay foster homes to take in those kids. It won't pay for itself. I imagine crime would spike too.

It's called being responsible. I know you liberals don't have a clue what that means.
 
Would you like to give the government the power to sterilize irresponsible people?

Maybe you could just answer the question instead of running around waving your arms.
 
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