Snyder Signs Suspicion-Based Drug Testing Law

Gov. Rick Snyder has signed legislation that establishes a three-county pilot program that requiring welfare recipients suspected of using drugs to take a drug test to continue receiving benefits.

“We want to remove the barriers that are keeping people from getting good jobs, supporting their families and living independently,” Snyder said in a press release. “This pilot program is intended to help ensure recipients get the wrap-around services they need to overcome drug addiction and lead successful lives. We’ll then have opportunity to assess effectiveness and outcomes.”

Legislation allowing the pilot program was approved in a lame-duck session of the Michigan Legislature. The three counties where the effectiveness of suspicion-based drug testing haven’t been determined, the Associated Press reports.

Critics of the plan have argued that innocent children could be harmed if their parents lost benefits. The majority of Michigan’s 80,000 welfare recipients – 59,000 – are children under the age of 18.

Sen. Vincent Gregory, D-Southfield, said the law targets “the poorest of the poor.”

“We give out tax credits to schools, we give out tax credits to students, we give out tax credits to police and fire (departments),” he said on the Senate floor early this year. “And yet the only (group) that we are now saying is subject to drug screening are the poor – the poorest of the poor.”

The Michigan League for Public Policy, which also opposed the bill, said similar programs in other states haven’t saved taxpayers any money. In Michigan, the nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency estimates the program could cost between $700,00 and $3.4 million to implement, and save between $370,000 and $3.7 million in caseload reductions.

The pilot projects must be completed by Sept. 30, 2016.

The Michigan legislation is different than a Florida drug-testing law struck down as unconstitutional by a federal appeals court. In Florida, drug testing is mandatory for all public assistance recipients and is not based on suspicion.

The plan would allow recipients who initially fail drug tests to continue receiving benefits if they enroll in treatment programs. If they failed subsequent tests, they would be kicked off the program. Recipients who refused to take drug tests would be denied benefits for six months.